Saturday January 18, fans of French fiction and tourist thrillers will most likely rush to France 3 which offers Murders in Honfleur (our opinion), a new new episode of the successful detective collection not only embodied but also written by Bernard Farcythe unforgettable interpreter of Commissioner Gibert in the five parts of the saga Taxi and Charles de Gaulle in The Great Charles. His return to the air is an opportunity to hear news about this actor (much) appreciated by the public.
Murders in Honfleur: Bernard Farcy explains how he came to write his first screenplay
Télé-Loisirs: You play in this Murders in Honfleur but you also wrote the screenplay. Did you draw inspiration from yourself to imagine Paul Mesnil, your character?
Bernard Farcy. There is a formula among writers which says that we give birth to characters and then they take on their independence. Despite everything, when you write, things that you have within you come back. I love Normandy, the pleasures of the table, the art galleries… I didn't think of it right away, but it's part of what we have in the attic.
So this is your first scenario. Is it because, as the adage goes, you are never better served than by yourself or because you have wanted to for a long time?
I write short stories but I never really got into it. In this case, this was done by talking with a childhood friend who has a house near Honfleur, a town that I know well and that I love very much. I don't know how, in the conversation, we ended up talking about this collection. I said to myself “but why not make a Murders in Honfleur to try?” That's it, it happened like this. I enjoyed writing, I want to repeat the experience. Besides, I'm already working on another story. I'm not yet on the script but the characters are taking shape.
“His demons have given him an image that is not what he is”: Bernard Farcy talks about Samy Naceri, his former partner in Taxi
Was it always a question of you playing Paul?
Yes. I didn't write it for anyone else, that's for sure!
He is a restaurateur, a job that you would have liked to do if you had not been an actor?
Yes, I could have because I like to eat, not because I like to cook! [Il rit.] Yes, it's pleasant, if you have a good restaurant… I'm not talking about a three-star but a restaurant like the one run by de Paul: pleasant with a beautiful view and an unpretentious menu but which stands. Run a restaurant like that, yes, I could have. Once again, I love Normandy. My father was Norman, he was born in Rouen. I'm going to get naturalized Norman, I think. [Il rit.]
You played Commissioner Gibert in the five episodes of Taxi. Are you still in contact with Samy Naceri and Frédéric Diefenthal, who participated in the first four opuses?
Of course. I always liked Samy Naceri. I will never say a word against him. The Samy I knew was a very generous guy, a nice guy, professional, who knew his lines… His demons gave him an image that is not what he is. As for Frédéric Diefenthal and Marion Cotillard, we see each other less. We don't have any contact but if we cross paths, we won't turn our backs on each other. We made four films together over almost ten years. It's an adventure, we spend several months together. It doesn't necessarily create affinities but it creates links. Especially since between the four of us, it worked well.
