With “Trois amis”, the author of “Mademoiselle de Joncquières” continues his subtle chronicles on the mysteries of passion… this time in the feminine way.
There are many preconceived ideas about Emmanuel Mouret. He, the admirer of Sacha Guitry and Woody Allen, who we label a little too easily as a new François Truffaut. There is also that of the marivaudage that we bring back to him each time, while his films are always more dense and fleshy. Even touching on drama and brushing shoulders with death in his twelfth feature film, a cross-story of the disappointed loves of three friends from Lyon. “I grew up admiring great melodramas but also comedies, particularly American ones,” explains the 54-year-old filmmaker, who looks like a discreet and dreamy teenager. “Billy Wilder or Lubitsch had this talent for combining these two genres. But I’m sure I wouldn’t feel in my element in a pure melodrama. »
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The critics adore it, the public follows it faithfully, even if the Césars or the Cannes Festival have politely snubbed it for more than twenty years. It was therefore at the Venice Film Festival that “Trois Amies” competed in September. If he never writes with actors in mind, the stars make no mistake and come running. From Virginie Efira to Sandrine Kiberlain, from François Cluzet to his almost cinema double, Vincent Macaigne. Today, it’s the turn of Camille Cottin, Sara Forestier and India Hair.
“I never start from a specific theme,” continues the director. Rather of a character, in this case the one played by India, a woman who confronts her lost love. Then her friends came as counterpoints, perhaps lighter. I also wanted to explore the conflict of loyalties. » His scenarios remain truly rich, full of red herrings and twists and turns: “Hitchcock or Truffaut said that, even in sentimental relationships, the virtue of suspense is essential. »
“I feel freer to express myself through female characters”
Emmanuel Mouret or constancy made man: this Marseillais would not leave his hometown where he lives for anything. He releases a film every two years, even if he has given up acting as when he started, perhaps to avoid the confusion between fiction and quasi-autobiography. It is also loyalty incarnate. It has the same producer, Frédéric Nedermayer, from “Vénus et Fleur” or “Changement d’adresse”, to the more recent successes of “Mademoiselle de Joncquières” and “Chronique d’une liaison passagère”.
Don’t tell him that his films are feminist: “I feel freer to express myself through female characters but I’m not a spokesperson for anything,” he smiles. In my films, the words of some people always oppose those of others. » In his pantheon also throne Blake Edwards, Douglas Sirk, Pagnol, Rohmer. “I don’t know why people always need to find references in my films. Are we bringing all thrillers back to Scorsese? Very often, abroad, I am told that my films are typically French. Whereas in France I am considered typically apart…”
