Lhe jack-of-all-trades director Michel Hazanavicius, behind the first two “OSS 117”, “The Artist” and “Le Redoutable”, once again changes register with “The Most Precious of Goods”, his first animated film . Adapted from the eponymous tale written by Jean-Claude Grumberg in 2019, and partly designed in Angoulême with the 3.0 Studio team, the feature film, recounting the discovery by two Polish lumberjacks of a Jewish baby during the Second World War , will be presented in preview at the Jean-Eustache cinema in Pessac on Monday October 21 (1).
You have always tried several different genres in cinema, espionage, comedy, war films… Why did you choose animation this time?
First of all, it wasn’t a need, it was offered to me [par Patrick Sobelman, le producteur, NDLR]. When I was sent the proofs of the book, there was already talk of making an animated film. The story, the context of the film, its themes, imposed this specific format. Being an animated film director is a special job, I had to learn by doing it.
Why was it necessary?
Jean-Claude Grumberg has been writing on the subject for around sixty years, but for the first time, he describes scenes inside the camps and convoys of deportees, choosing the form of the tale, thus using a distance from this that he tells.
The tale is neither a documentary nor a novel. I find it the closest thing to poetry. In this sense, animation is a bit to cinema what storytelling is to literature. In this space, the representation of the camps seems much more possible to me. Especially since she is not the main subject of the film, which focuses on the story of the Righteous.
“The Most Precious of Goods” was partly designed in Angoulême.
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What pushed you to make such a film?
Mainly the beauty of the story, its emotional power. It looks simple, but it packs powerful themes in a way I’ve never seen before. She heroizes figures of the Jewish genocide who are those who saved humanity. Those of normal people, coming from anywhere, but who, at one point, made the right moral choice, against all odds. I wanted to highlight them, especially since they resonate with our world today.
“What interests me most in drawing is not the finished product, nor showing it, but the practice itself”
Is it the same way of making a film?
It’s very different, but, in reality, each film is very different from the others. I always direct first films, even if there was “OSS 117” 1 and 2! Everyone has their own rules of the game, and my job is to find them and make them understood. You have to be a little carefree, not ask yourself too many questions, tell yourself to get started… As for the problems, we will solve them later. “The Most Precious of Commodities” is certainly very different in form, in its technique, but what matters most is the desire to see the film exist.
You have produced the pre-production drawings, what do they represent for you?
My drawing practice was rather personal, I studied in an art school, but we didn’t really do any in reality, it was more like a madhouse than a fine arts academy!
Do you make any in comic book form?
Oh no, never! What interests me most in drawing is not the finished product, nor showing it, but the practice itself, which I equate more to meditation. For a very long time, I didn’t keep them. For several years, Bérénice [Bejo, sa femme, NDLR] asked me to keep them, we are going to do a small exhibition on the occasion of the film’s release, but that was never the objective.
The film had a fairly long production period, stopped during the Covid-19 period. In the meantime, you went to shoot “Cut!” » with Romain Duris. Did this period of downtime make you want to get back into it?
In any case, it did me good! I was super excited to do a comedy, work with actors, work on the energy, and then come back fresh for the making of this one.
Was the voice of Jean-Louis Trintignant, who died in 2022, obvious?
I had no doubt about this choice of Jean-Louis Trintignant. Basically, it is a text written by an old man, who has experienced a lot. It was obvious to choose an actor with the voice of an old man and Jean-Louis Trintignant has one, if not the most beautiful voice in French cinema. A phrase recognizable among thousands, that of a great actor, of someone who has experienced a lot. Right now, when I preview the film and people hear his voice in the room, it’s almost like there’s a ghost in the room. Like a voice from beyond the grave, giving an even more particular echo to the film.
(1) Preview at the Jean-Eustache cinema in Pessac on Monday October 21 at 6:30 p.m. in the presence of the director.
