With Un Ours dans le Jura, the actor, both in front of and behind the camera, astonishes with this dark and burlesque thriller which seeks to closely follow the style and tone of the Coen brothers.
After two romantic comedies – Everyone standing (2018) et Rumba life (2022) – going against the grain of Patrick Chirac, his character as the unrepentant seducer in the saga CampingFranck Dubosc signs a macabre comedy oscillating from laughter to fear. “I wanted this film to be as immoral as possible because not everyone is necessarily beautiful or nice…” he says. The story? Deep in the Jura, in majestic settings, Cathy (played by Laure Calamy) and Michel (Franck Dubosc himself), at the head of a fir tree farm, find themselves the target of thugs who suspect them of having killed two of them, pocketing loot of two million euros in the process. The investigation is led by the local brigadier, played by Benoît Poelvoorde who also delivers a composition off the beaten track.
“I wanted laughter to arise naturally, almost implicitly, without breaking the dark atmosphere,” confides Franck Dubosc. “Even if I was lulled by the films of Bourvil and Lino Ventura, in particular The Big MouthsI like the cinema of the Coen brothers. They dare to laugh at serious things. Where they inspired me was to tell me that I could also make people laugh with guns.” Beyond the plot, the heroes ofA Bear in the Jura are once again of deep humanity, the common thread of the films directed by Franck Dubosc. “It’s almost by force of circumstances: I have a DNA that I cannot and do not want to change. There is therefore a common denominator in each of my films: a human connection.
The realization “to explore”
He further points out: “There is always something extra behind the gag or the tragedy, perhaps because comedy is ultimately not my essence”, admitting in passing to being more naturally attracted to detective films. A Bear in the Jura would then be driven by an egocentric impulse. Apartment yes… “I have a long stage and acting career behind me. I have been doing this job for forty-one years. I have often sought to be loved, to please others. Now it’s my turn!”, specifies the actor-director. Which made Benoît Poelvoorde say: “There are a lot of preconceived ideas about Franck…”.
I like the Coen brothers’ cinema. They dare to laugh at serious things
“By moving on to directing, I move forward, I explore… My luck is to have started as an actor with very popular cinema, preventing me from locking myself into elitism. It gave me good “cardio” to go further, to do something else so as not to bore the public,” explains the 61-year-old actor and humorist who studied at the Rouen conservatory, with Valérie Lermercier and Karin Viard. Assistant to the Bogdanoff brothers for the TV show Timehe will make his cinema debut in To us boys (1985) by Michel Lang. In 1995, his duet with Elie Semoun in Classifieds will build its popularity, alongside several singles on stage.
Patrick Chirac, the double
“I have always loved directing. As a child, I already did it with a Super 8 camera and my friends. I even wanted to enter IDHEC (NDRL: Institute of Advanced Cinematographic Studies, now Fémis). And then, I imagined that the director was boring…” says Franck Dubosc, who is already working on a fourth feature film. Will he return to the one man show? “I’m not saying it’s over… Seducing the public closely is a good reason, as Dany Boon will do”, who is making his return to the stage in 2025.
Franck Dubosc does not intend to forget the indescribable Patrick Chirac either: “I am proud of him. I love him. I owe him a lot. It’s rare in an actor’s life to have such a character! When people call me Patrick in the street, I’m not offended. I already know that when I die, a newspaper will headline: “Patrick Chirac is dead”. I am absolutely not doing today’s cinema to make people forget Patrick. Especially not!”
A Bear in the Juraby Franck Dubosc.
Currently in theaters.
