In an almost full room, Noémie Merlant came for the first time to GrenobleFriday November 29, 2024, present his new film, Women on the balconyau Le Club cinema. The actress said she was delighted after the discussions with the spectators present, while expressing her nervousness as December 11, the date of the theatrical release, approached.
Noémie Merlant at the Le Club Grenoble cinema: “These are attacks that I needed to externalize”
It must be said that his second feature film, a horror comedy(pleasantly) surprised many spectators who did not know what to expect; the poster and the plot summary are rather evasive and do not mention at all the central theme: the denunciation of sexual and gender-based violence. A spectator also questioned the director: “Is there a desire to make a Trojan horse with this film?”
Noémie Merlant explained that the film started from very personal things: “Not only from the friendship between women that was able to help me in my life, but also the story with the photographer is taken from a story that happened to me when I was 17. With marital rape, These are attacks that I needed to externalize. This film is a way of evacuating violence that has been accumulated, hidden under the carpet and, as I don't like violence, I added it. humor that encompasses and allows the discussion and perhaps an awareness of this patriarchal society.”
To tell this story driven with beating speed and nourished by cinematic references (Hard court window d’Alfred Hitchcock, Ghost by Jerry Zucker with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, in particular),Noémie Merlant called on Souheila Yacoub and especially the relatively unknown actress, Sanda Codreanu who was already starring in his first feature film of 2021, My beloved mon amour.
Noémie Merlant: “I felt really relaxed because there were no more stares”
“She has been my best friend for a very long time. The story was born at her house. Like my character Élise, at one point I left everything and went to live with her and her sisters for a long time. I had a very organic revelation: for the first time I felt truly relaxed because there were no more stares, no more need to play a role to please, to be what I am not At home, there is. had this relaxation of the body and a particular listening in relation to the attacks. It's through humor, together, that I managed to get a lot of things across.”
Sandra Codreanu participated in the writing of the script while Celine Sciamma, “with whom I became very good friends since Portrait of a Girl on Fire” subsequently worked as co-author for a year.
“It's a lot of good, a film that deals with all these subjects with a lot of joy and colorcommented a spectator summarizing the opinions expressed in the room. And to those who would judge the film as being anti-men, Noémie Merlant responds: “It’s a fantastic film where women talk about their attacks and therefore their attackers. They are in a nightmare where they only see that and they need to externalize.”
