the critic Jean-Marc Lalanne rewinds his first sessions

You are a native of Orthez but you were not only born there…

I spent my first 18 years there, in the Magret district. I went to middle school, high school, and left after obtaining my literary baccalaureate.

Did your love for cinema grow in Béarn?

Absolutely. Television, in the 1970s, broadcast a lot of cinema. Even though our family isn’t extremely movie buffs, we would get together to watch movies. And at the same time, I went to the cinema very young. This was common with my parents. In the 1970s and 1980s, there were two cinemas in Orthez, including one run by an association, a friendly one with volunteer teachers, particularly erudite high school teachers and film buffs (the Cinema Studio which moved to become Le Pixel, Editor’s note ). Through altruism and dedication, they brought in extremely cutting-edge films. This is what allowed me to see, when I was young, filmmakers like Godard, Bergman and others, less known. Thanks to the tremendous educational work of these teachers, there was a very lively focus on cinephilia. The Studio in Orthez opened me up to alternative cinema.

At that time, did you perceive cinema as a window on the world or a way to cultivate your critical outlook?

Very early on, the desire to write about films appeared. When I was a child, I cut out the Télé 7 Jours reviews, I knew the authors by heart and I added my comments when it came to films that I had seen. The idea of ​​giving an opinion on a film was very important to me. It was my somewhat political way of expressing myself.

Within your group of friends?

I was always the one who saw the most films, I watched them with them but they didn’t make it the heart of their professional life. I knew, since high school, that I wanted to be a film critic, to write for Cahiers du cinéma…

And that’s what you did…

I started in the 1990s. I joined in 1994 and became editor-in-chief in 2001.

How have you polished your eyes and your pen since your childhood?

I didn’t learn to be critical, there’s no school for that. I was leaving to be a French teacher. I studied modern literature in Montpellier. I then left for Paris, I never qualified to teach and embarked on a thesis on cinema which I never finished. At the same time, I was doing replacements for French lessons. I realized that I had no skills, no authority. I sent texts to the editor-in-chief of Le Cahier, who took a little time to get back to me. And then, once I started, I learned by doing.

Son CV

Jean-Marc Lalanne joined Cahiers du cinéma in 1994, he became its editor-in-chief in 2001, before occupying the same position within the newspaper Les Inrockuptibles in 2003. From 2018 to 2021, in parallel with his contributions for the Masque et la Plume, on “France Inter”, started in 2002, Orthézien was editorial director of the “ Inrocks.” Since 2021, he has been editor-in-chief of the monthly’s cinema and culture sections.

What founding work and which creator conditioned your taste for cinema?

The matrix filmmaker, for me, is Jacques Demy. I saw Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1967) at the age of seven and this film loosened up the world in which I wanted to live. A colorful, enchanted world. All levels of my life have been filled with the works of Jacques Demy. There has always been a resonance with the big questions of my life. The thesis that I never finished was on the cinema of Jacques Demy. When I arrived in Paris, he had just died, but I had the chance to know Agnès Varda (who was his wife from 1962 until her death in 1990, Editor’s note) very well.

What would explain an appetite for musical films?

It’s deeper. Like with Vincente Minnelli, who I also adore. In their works there is a profoundly melancholic perception of the world, totally in tune with my sensitivity.

Is there a reason for this sensitivity in your Béarnaise childhood?

I will be forever indebted to these high school teachers who did this exceptional work of transmission. Laurent Lunetta, screenwriter, was also a high school student in Orthez and we often talk about this generation of teachers. Afterwards, I have an ambivalent relationship with Béarn, of attachment and conflict. I very often wanted to leave. Today, I return to the South-West very often.

Between your multiple collaborations, your position as editor-in-chief of the cinema and culture sections within the newspaper “Les Inrockuptibles”, how do you organize your weeks?

Today, I no longer go to the Inrocks premises every day. Every week, I go to press screenings to discuss. Then we talk collectively about their treatment by the newspaper. Once a month, since 2002, I go to Masque et la Plume. I have five specific films to watch. My week is made up of meetings, discussions, viewings… And every year, I go to Cannes. In my life, I have had the chance to travel a lot thanks to festivals.

Can experience become a pitfall when you are a film critic?

There is something that wears away over time, especially around curiosity about films. Since most of my work consists of organizing that of others, I have less time to watch films and that’s a good thing, because my propensity for discovery is weaker than when I started. I have delegated this curiosity to younger journalist colleagues, who have a less keen appetite. Today, I spontaneously go towards works that I know will be important to me. Experience is far from just an asset.

Do you write books too?

This is what I like more today. A long-term job. I have written six, on Gus Van Sant, Wong Kar-wai and previously an essay on Delphine Seyrig. I was interested in the figure of Fantomas, too. There, I’m working on Pedro Almodovar.

Is there a link between all these men and women, your writing subjects and you?

I think a psychoanalyst would find answers.

A good vintage

During his end-of-year vacation, Jean-Marc Lalanne kept his eyes open, watching one film a day, “Many were old, like ‘All That Heaven Allows’ (by Douglas Sirk, 1955, Editor’s note), which I wanted to see again. » Against the idea of ​​guilty pleasure, even if he cites the recent Wicked with Ariana Grande to clear his name, the Orthezian critic had his share of emotions in 2024. “Lots of films have upset me and there are what to be optimistic about the market shares of French cinema, the quality of the interpretation. We could fear the difficulties of art house cinema but he was able to escape them and films like ‘The Story of Souleymane’, ‘Le Roman de Jim’, by the Larrieu brothers who come from Lourdes, attracted a large audience . Alain Guiraudie, too, with ‘Miséricorde’, achieved one of his greatest successes. »