If he is one of the best-known artists in France, Michel Fugain was not immediately destined for art. After failing the Baccalaureate three times, the man who didn't like studying so much enrolled in medical school. A choice motivated mainly by the fact that his father himself was a doctor. “I had no idea. At the time, a doctor thinks his son is going to be a doctor. When I was 21, I wrote a letter to my father. I told him: 'Dad, I wouldn't go into medicine.' I leave the letter for him on the kitchen table and run away. I'm going to a friend's house for a week.”remembered the singer and actor, in the show A Sunday in the countrysidebroadcast on France 2, Sunday January 5, 2025. But now, his father does not appreciate this big hasty departure: “After a week, he said to my mother: ‘Tell him to come home’.” Michel Fugain agrees to return to his parentsnot without apprehension. It must be said that the young Michel Fugain of the time has second news to announce to his parents.
Michel Fugain: “It’s not his thing”
Not only does he not want to study medicine, as his father did before him, but also, he is destined for a very different life path. “I tuck my tail between my legs. I see him, he comes into the living room. 'What is this? What do you want to do?' And I said to him: 'I want to make films.' He doesn't know what that means. He doesn't know. It's not his thing.”explains the singer of the title A beautiful story. It was then that his father was taken aback. Not knowing what career his son could aspire to, Michel Fugain's father called a friend: “He calls a friend of his who is a doctor in Paris. And he says to him: 'Do you realize that my stupid son wants to make films?'”. This friend will play a decisive role since it offers Michel Fugain's father another look at this potential career. He will in fact answer him: “This is great! Send it to me!” The start of a long career punctuated by great popular successes.
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