The only Oscar-winning French actor has a reputation as a joker. Jean Dujardin (Rueil-Malmaison, 1972) is the king of comedy in the neighboring country since the 1990s. And beyond his silent film gallant in The Artist (2011), he has a degree in Philosophy and Arts Plásticas, who worked as a locksmith until he wrote his first sketches in the military service, has marked his career as an odd crowd. But little joke with its last protagonist.
In The officer and the spy embodies Colonel Georges Picquart, the military and politician who at the end of the 19th century demonstrated the larval anti-Semitism in France when he discovered the injustice committed by condemning the army captain Alfred Dreyfus for treason. The historical thriller , which premieres on January 1, is a project long cherished by its director, Roman Polanski .
Polanski has a reputation for being precise and meticulous, how did it turn out to work with him on such a personal project? It has been so moving ... Roman was a little obsessed with this film, so indeed, during the filming it was very rigorous. I pampered all the details. We get to spend two hours before filming to practice 30 times each scene. And as he studied Fine Arts, he planned each frame as if it were a painting. In fact, Emmanuelle Seigner has stated that during filming you, who are known to always be messing around, seemed very serious. At first I was scared, because it's a job very different from my previous ones: it is a very severe performance, very solemn. In the movie, in fact, there isn't much psychology. My character is, above all, at the service of the Dreyfus Case. It is the transmitter of information.Unlike in fiction, Dujardin is not acting as a transmission belt in the promotion of this film. Despite winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival , the officer and the spy has made more headlines for the personal life of its director.
Polanski has just been accused of another violation , allegedly committed in 1975. The complaint coincides with the rebound in France of the #MeToo movement following the statements of actress Adèle Haenel denouncing the director Christophe Ruggia for touching and harassing when she was a teenager.
The interpreter has come to affirm in the Mediapart digital newspaper that Polanski's situation was "unfortunately, an emblematic case" of abuse. All this explains that there was an attempt to boycott the French premiere of The Officer and the Spy .
Are you happy with the result of the movie? It has marked a second stage in my career, because it has given me the opportunity to learn. I have worked with Polanski interpretive aspects such as cold anger, containment, martial authority ... Many will think that what marked a second stage in his career was the Oscar. I did not decide to win that award, but I was part of a film That aroused great interest. It was a great pleasure, but there hasn't been a before and after. It has not affected me, destroyed, or transformed, because I did not want it to change me. How do your countrymen take that indifference? It is hard for them to understand it, but basically it is that I am a very normal and very banal person. I am only interested in my work. I do not vote in the Oscars or in the César: I do not think there is something like the best director or the best film. After winning it, many of us assumed that I would live between two continents. It was never my idea. I have not returned to the United States since The Artist. And it is not posturing, I simply am and I will never stop being a French actor. The Oscars were a beautiful parenthesis. After winning it, I met my wife, who is an elite athlete. And little by little I went back to my job, because I didn't want to accept any role. Have you stopped to think about where your interest in playing guys, say, lunatics, comes from? My mother was very pious and did charitable acts. There was something about those people that scared me, and at the same time it moved me. I was attracted to his loneliness, but I was very afraid of becoming a homeless. It still scares me to degrade myself to that point. Really? Yes, when you are alone, neurosis and madness can be around you. And that explains why things work so well: not to find myself an abandoned day. Sometimes I see them in the street, shouting their loneliness at the red traffic lights. It seems terrifying to me and I feel like shaking them in my arms. It's weird, isn't it? Speaking of oddities, his latest movie is 'Deerskin', about a sociopath obsessed with his fur jacket. Is there any garment in your wardrobe that you feel so attached to? I don't feel attached to anything material, no garment, no car, no watch. Just for my married alliance. That is all. My love is to humans, not to objects. What is your antidote to the fears you have referred to? I run a lot, with music. In the countryside, in the city, even during filming. It is the best way to discover a place, because it allows me to look at people. If I walk, the walkers recognize me, at least in France, but if I run, I go faster than them and I can still see them. So it offset my loneliness with running. I run very slow, but a long time. I choose music that is appropriate for the light, the site ... And it is a great pleasure. And in the film festivals, does it also go for a run? Yes, and I make a playlist of film music, with John Barry, Mancini ...According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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