“I wonder if I’m that good”

It was art in all its forms that first attracted Françoise Fabian, between Algiers and Paris. Eric Rohmer decided to trust her and offer her this magnificent role of Maud in his 1969 film My night at Maud’s. Throughout his career, the greatest have trusted him in theater, television, cinema, Louis Malle or Luis Buñuel, Gilles Grangier, Michel Deville, Jacques Demy, François Ozon, Jean Marais. But in addition to the game, what we remember about her is her voice. And here too, Alex Beaupain, Charles Aznavour, Julien Clerc and Léonard Lasry were not mistaken. Today she releases her second album, Time for a meeting, which features nine new songs written by her and you by Lisa Point and a cover.

franceinfo: You started being an artist first at the Algiers Music Conservatory, where you learned piano and harmony. Is this the starting point?

Françoise Fabian: Yes. I went to the Algiers Conservatory. That’s how I did theater. My first flirt was a student actor and since the music conservatory was in the same building as the Drama Conservatory, he brought me to his class and said: “Come, come and watch the comedy class, it will be a lot of fun for you“. I went there and Professor Paule Granier told me: “Do you know any poems?“I answered.”yes, of course, I know poems“. “But come up, recite us a poem“. And I recited a poem by Baudelaire and she said to me: “Ah, but it’s very good!“And she called my father to see him and say:”You know, your daughter is very talented. If you want, I would love to give him lessons in comedy and tragedy for free“. And dad said yes. I took two years of lessons with her and she asked him: “Would you make the sacrifice of sending him to Paris? Because I would like to present it to the Paris Conservatory“. He said: “Yes, I trust my daughter and I’m giving her this chance“. That’s how I am here.

What’s surprising is that it took you this long to return to music.

When I arrived in Paris, I also took music lessons. I didn’t give up music, the piano. But at one point I broke my hand and I couldn’t play the piano anymore, and it was really a sacrifice for me not to be able to play it anymore.

I would like to talk about What do we know about ourselves which you perform with Léonard Lasry. This song also says a lot about the way you look at the world.

Of course, What do we know about ourselves? The question always arises, because it’s true that I feel different. It’s exactly like I’m gambling with my life. I’m playing the comedy of my life. This is the first time I’ve said it to myself because it all depends on how we get up and how we sleep, the dreams we’ve had, the appointments we have in the room. day, and it builds us.

“Every day is an adventure.”
Françoise Fabian
on franceinfo

What do you remember about this arrival in Paris in the early 1950s?

I was very poor. I was in small, unheated hotels. I had a hotel on rue Saint-André-des-Arts where there was no heating. There was a fireplace, so I went to the Bussy market and collected crates of wood to light the fire in the fireplace to keep warm. Nobody knew I was poor. I had friends at the conservatory who protected me, whether it was Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Jean Rochefort and all that. That said, they were all married. As boys from the Conservatory could, up to the age of 21, apply to the Conservatory. Obviously, they had done their military service and almost all of them had already married. And they were protective of me and they never tried anything with me. I swear!

You have always had a very strong character. You never gave in, in any case, things were clear. It’s part of your personality.

Things were clear. They had to be. I had to choose too. So, I wasn’t some kind of thing like that, that we put on one side or the other. I knew what I wanted. I knew how I should live. I knew I had to respect my parents. I was quite strong in the end, I didn’t realize it, but I always had a certain rigor.

How do you view your entire journey today?

What I did, I consider it a gift. I had so much happiness. I knew such wonderful people, I had such extraordinary parents who gave me, who allowed me to have an extraordinary life. I’ve known wonderful people, I’ve had extraordinary friends, but I’m losing more and more of them at my age, aren’t I? And I don’t know, do I want the future?