It is a white house, backing onto a residential street. Those who live there have found the key to happiness… When Antoine Duléry welcomes us, we instinctively start to pastiche the words of the song San Francisco by Maxime Le Forestier. We are in Vincennes, at the gates of Paris. After a warm Welcome » launched from the steps, the actor takes us into his kitchen to share a coffee. “ There’s a bit of a mess », Laments his wife, director Pascale Pouzadoux, pointing to filming equipment stored in a corner of the living room. Above all, it is life that pulses between the walls. Colette, the only cat in the family since Romeo’s disappearance, looks curiously up the stairs. Lucien, the youngest son, greets before leaving for college. “ He is 21 years old, finished his studies and still lives here, but he has already made two short films. As for Raphaël, our 26-year-old eldest, he is an actor and has left home. But he returned temporarily while waiting to find a roommate. I take the opportunity to cuddle him, so that he doesn’t want to leave! », laughs his mother. Among the Dulérys, we flee the world of appearances, and that of vanities too. “ When you’ve been friends with Belmondo or Johnny, the most humble guys in the world, it’s impossible to get a big head, notes Antoine. It’s not in our nature, anyway. With Pascale, we never took ourselves seriously. »
The love of texts also brought them together when they met in 1994. Antoine has devoured books since childhood. “ I was a very shy kid and reading Tintin, Treasure Island or Captain Fracasse allowed me to escape. I thought I was these heroes, that’s what made me want to play characters. » And then, there was the office of Albert Duléry, this paternal grandfather who was a member of the Comédie-Française, who left too early for him to know him, which was overflowing with works. “ When I went to see my grandmother, I locked myself in and discovered Racine, Corneille. In the summer, on the island of Bréhat, I went dinghy sailing with my friends while declaiming classical music. It was my way of existing… and getting noticed by girls, even if I made them laugh more than I managed to win them over. » Fifty years later, this compulsive reader no longer knows where to put the books in his houses in Vincennes and Bréhat. “ Here there is a room carpeted from floor to ceiling, with piles in which only he finds himself », slips Pascale, falsely upset. “ I’m messy », confesses Antoine. From this passion was born his new solo on stage, This is not a reading*. “It’s as if I were inviting people here, to my home, to give them a taste for reading in the very broad sense. I go from Baudelaire to road signs, from Marguerite Duras to the Compagnie Creole. I even read a medication leaflet and have the spectators read it. It’s informative, interactive, joyful », enthuses the one who, Camping to the series The Little Murders of Agatha Christiehas always been keen to address the widest audience.
Daughter of a literature teacher, who went through hypokhâgne, Pascale had a taste for writing. “ Antoine read the scripts that I was making in my area and encouraged me to persevere, to make films of them. », says the woman who has already signed five feature films in which her favorite actor appears. Together, they have just written Première temps, a play inspired by their family life. “ It starts from a moment we lived with Raphaël, the first time we left our apartment with him and went to sleep at a hotel. It’s the story of parents who must accept cutting the cord… and growing old. » For Antoine, 64, and Pascale, eleven years his junior, it seems that the passage of time improves their relationship, like the good wine they enjoy. Their secret? “ We don’t hold ourselves accountable, we trust each other, notes Pascale. If, for example, I want to go on a four-day trip with friends, he will spontaneously say “go for it”, and vice versa. Even if we are married and united around our children, in fact, we are free together. » Free together… It sounds like the title of one of those romantic comedies in which they excel. Their definition of love.
* This is not a readingwith Antoine Duléry, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at the Studio des Champs-Elysées, in Paris 8th, from October 3
This article could be found in the Gala No. 1634, available on newsstands on October 3. To follow the news live, you can join the WhatsApp feed of Gala. The new issue of Gala is on newsstands from this Thursday, October 10, 2024. Enjoy reading.
Photo credits: Alexandra Isard
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