“I lie to make my films”

The director of How I argued… (my sex life) (1996), Kings and queen (2004), A Christmas story (2008) or even Roubaix, a light (2019) sort Spectators!on January 15, a hybrid film mixing documentary and fiction in homage to cinema. At 64, he has also just finished editing his next feature film, A deal. The World met him in a café on 3^e district of Paris, its neighborhood. After lunch service, the owners left the music on, gave him the keys and left to let him tell his story.

I wouldn’t have gotten here if…

…If I hadn’t met an extraordinary man, Pierre Amzallag, who gave me back my self-confidence. He was part of a group around Eric Rochant, whom I had known at Idhec [Institut des hautes études cinématographiques] in 1981. I had a very unhappy schooling there, even though I had made strong friendships there. I finished my studies feeling like a failure. I felt like I hadn’t gotten into the question of cinema. He helped me find myself.

Who was Pierre Amzallag?

He was handsome, lively, he had a devastating sense of humor and, above all, he was a huge movie buff. He read a lot, he was a fascinating guy. With him, I experienced total friendly love at first sight. This is truly the man I fell in love with. Born in Morocco, he had a different perspective from the one I had learned at La Cinémathèque or in my film classes. He introduced me to Clint Eastwood as well as Eric Rohmer. It was to him that I submitted my first drafts, he was very generous with me, he advised me. Above all, it was he who first prompted me: “Why don’t you allow yourself? Why don’t you make your film? » As our friendship was very strong, I said to myself: “But yes, why not? »

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