Xavier Beauvois is the director, among others, of the films Don’t forget that you are going to die which received the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995 and Of men and gods crowned by the Grand Prix of the Cannes Film Festival in 2010 and by the César for best film in 2011. Who could have predicted that this little boy would fall in love with cinema through Jean Douchet, a cinema historian, who came to give a conference in Calais? His latest film The Valley of Fools with Pierre Richard and Jean-Paul Rouve, in particular, was released in cinemas on Wednesday November 13.
The Valley of Fools tells the story of Jean-Paul who accumulates debts, which puts his restaurant in danger. And one fine day, the sailing enthusiast that he is, decides to take part in Virtual Regatta, the virtual Vendée Globe race, from his boat at the bottom of his garden, isolating himself during the three months of racing in the conditions of a real skipper. His goal at the start is to make money and in the end, he’s not going to win the race, but to win one thing is his place within this family.
franceinfo: We understand the entire human dimension through your film. Isn’t that what identifies you as a director?
Xavier Beauvois: Yes, that’s what interests me, humans and through them, emotion. To bring emotion to the spectators. When I go to the cinema, it’s to get it, it’s to laugh, to cry and when I’m on the other side of the camera, I try to give it.
This film is a tête-à-tête with yourself. You tell us how a skipper who prepares for many years lives. There’s a real metaphor and correlation between cinema, how you create a film and make it, and how you organize yourself for a race.
We realized this by doing it especially with Jean Le Cam. I told him: “but it’s funny, you put the same preparation time as us, your budget is roughly the price of my boat. Filming is about the time of the Vendée Globe“. We have moments when we cry, moments when we are angry with the sea. We can settle things on the boat without looking at the sea and we have moments of absolute euphoria, moments of grace. And a shoot , it’s the same afterward, the film can crash completely too, just like they can encounter a UFO, an unidentified floating object or the falling mast. Cinema and navigation are two adventures that have things in common. .
Your father was a pharmacy technician, your mother a sewing teacher and socialist municipal councilor in Pas-de-Calais. How did you experience this childhood? More like a comedy-drama film, a love story, a fairy tale?
Something I wanted to escape from as soon as possible. No, it wasn’t a great childhood. I think that’s partly why I do this job. It’s to escape, escape on the weekend with Belmondo films, things like that on VHS and the cinema saved my life a bit, yes.
Let’s talk about your first big success which still earned you awards: Don’t forget that you are going to die. For the film, you were even arrested by the police. You have decided to commit to Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina to document your work. Is commitment what defines you the most?
From the moment we presume to talk about something, we must know. It’s very simple to write a police custody, but if you don’t know from the inside… So I met police officers who had me arrested by other police officers. Really. And then it’s easier to write. That’s why the Vendée Globe, I read everything I could on the subject. I read the writings of Bernard Moitessier, I watched the documentaries, I followed the game, Virtual Regatta four times.
You participated in this, especially during the pandemic.
That’s where I said to myself, there are 1,000,000 people playing this game. How are the first ones? Even if we do everything well, even if we get up at night, my best score is 65,000th out of a million. I wondered how the first ones did it and I said to myself: hey, if we did it real for fake, maybe we would have a better chance of being among the first ones. But it is a very addictive game. These are the exact conditions of the Vendée Globe.
Modesty is at the heart of this feature film. I was wondering how you experienced success Of men and gods and of Don’t forget that you are going to diethis recognition?
Paradoxically, you have to digest it quite quickly. We must avoid dwelling on this, and not get too big-headed.
“I must admit that it’s a pleasure to be recognized by your loved ones, to have prizes, to travel all over the world, that people still talk to me about these films, that’s why we work .”
Xavier Beauvoisat franceinfo
To finish, there is one last character who is not an actor, he is a singer. I think of Peter Doherty who said: “Diving in the cold sea is like a dose of cocaine“. Do you agree with that?
He does this every day even in winter in Étretat, he swims and he is in great shape! He is addicted to Norman cheese and sea bathing and this is the first time he has made a film score, so he had a lot of fun. I think he wants to do more.
Does this mean that cinema is your cocaine fix for you?
It’s my dose of adrenaline rather like an athlete who needs his endomorphin because he runs every day and the day he doesn’t run, he’s a little lacking.
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