On screen, he plays just right with his charisma, his silences, his intonation of voice and his propensity to embody beings at work, masculinities that are both rough and fragile. Vincent Lindon is the pro, the demoted middle class, the senior executive mistreated by his management, the lifeguard who comes to the aid of an Afghan migrant or a teacher who takes a young Roma under his wing. In Play with firethe third very beautiful feature film by Delphine and Muriel Coulin, adapted from the novel by Laurent Petitmangin, What harm is neededt (the Book Manufacture), he plays Pierre, a widower and catenary railway worker. This Messin, father of two children, Fus (Benjamin Voisin) and Louis (Stefan Crepon), discovers, dismayed, the first’s connections with members of an identity group while the second prepares to continue his studies in Paris.
In this family drama where the ravages of deindustrialization fuel the political wanderings of part of the youth, the sister filmmakers delicately set the record straight. The far right has not become acceptable and continues to undermine the foundations of democracy. Without hitting him, they were able to find the right tone and offer Vincent Lindon a new major role, rewarded with an acting prize in Venice. In addition to his career choices which speak for him, his strong and memorable positions have established him among the popular figures of the committed artist.
During Covid, in a long text (“How is this country so rich…”), read in front of the camera, he tackles Emmanuel Macron’s health policy. In Cannes, president of the Festival jury, he questions the role of the artist and takes advantage of the platform to discuss the torments of the world. Same thing in Carcassonne where he is invited to the Political Film Festival. Certainly, he is clumsy at times, in fact sometimes a little too much with his overflowing generosity, but meeting the actor Vincent Lindon is the assurance of having a listener, ready to bounce back, to protest and even to acquiesce.
-Political radicalization is the backdrop to the film…
It’s not just in the background, it’s completely there even if the film shows almost nothing of it. I always thought the public was very intelligent. I want to give him space to think. It’s not all about making films where you get involved and denounce. It is still important not to give lessons. There are two stories: the radicalization of one of the two brothers who gets closer to a small violent far-right group and that of a devastated family who does not know how to manage it.
