Cécile Bois on the set of season 8 of Candice Renoir - F. Malot / FTV

It's off for a season. Candice Renoir returns to France 2 on Friday evening with the new episodes of season 8. In addition, in mid-May was to resume filming for season 9. The coronavirus and containment decided otherwise. Cécile Bois, principal interpreter of the series, knows something about it. The actress was infected with the coronavirus.

Modest about her situation, the actress answered questions from 20 Minute s to talk about the evolution of the character she has accompanied for seven years.

Under what conditions are you going to watch this season 8 of Candice Renoi r?

Confined, of course. The shooting on which I was in March was stopped in the middle, and that of Candice Renoir was to start in mid-May. We are like everyone else, we are waiting to see what will be possible.

Last year, you had expressed your desire to play other roles and the need to lighten your shooting agenda for the series. Was this season shorter for you?

The season is still ten episodes but the production was able to organize the shooting so that I have more time for other projects, in theater, television and cinema. There has really been writing and organizational prowess for this and I am very grateful to them. This series is really wonderful for me, it accompanies me…

This season 8 promises to be difficult for Candice with Antoine's amnesia following her brain operation…

Yes, but the general tone is comedy. The hardest season was season 4. We had put all the bases in the air, we were entering Candice's “dark”. It was necessary to bounce back. There, we continue to accompany the characters who are still maturing.

The series nevertheless tackles difficult questions such as bereavement, illness…

Yes, but even when Candice cries, there is comedy. This is the strength of this family series. The lesson of the tests that Candice goes through is that life is a continuity, and not always a beginning.

It's a bit of a cliché but you feel you are maturing with your character?

It's not at all a cliché, it's just very true. When you have the chance to follow such a strong character for so long, the borders are sometimes abolished a little between her and me. In the coming episodes, she finds herself without her children. It is a new fact of her life as a woman. And she faces a new lesson: we can lose the people we love overnight, and the history that binds us.

One has the impression that the character experienced everything she had to live. How do you manage to renew your game?

This is what I prefer in this series, telling a story over the length. You have to be able to assume it. My character must have strength, otherwise it is not credible. She is a character of an aging woman, who matures in her relationship with man, society, work ... Mentalities evolve, and Candice with them. No, she did not give everything she had to offer in terms of evolution…

Do you think that the episode that France is experiencing, between the epidemic and containment, will be found in the scenario of a next season of Candice Renoir  ?

I do not know. Maybe in the blink of an eye. The next season is already written. But all of this will necessarily flow through books, films, testimonies. Culture is and will be there. This is one of the lessons I draw from what we all experience, collectively, at this moment, across all social strata. There is something essential, it is culture. To get out of all this, you will need shows, books, music, humor…

How do you personally live this period of confinement? Do you keep practicing, rehearsing?

No, I stopped completely. I am fortunate to work quite well then there, I take the luxury that this period offers me, to have time for myself. I turn it all into something positive. I live, I share, I cultivate my children.

You said that the next season of Candice Renoir was already written. Do you participate in writing?

No, there is a team for this, each one has his role. But it is true that I am well placed to know how Candice would react to this or that situation. We sometimes have discussions, at one point I did not agree with the evolution of the relationship between Candice and Antoine. We interact with the scriptwriters, and when I receive the scripts, I screw and unscrew a few things here and there. Then once on the set, as I am someone of instinct, I can also change some dialogues, when it takes me, because I feel it.

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Four episodes unpublished for the moment

France 2 will broadcast unpublished episodes until May 1. From May 8, it will be reruns. The other six episodes of season 8 will be released later, on an unknown date. Because of the coronavirus epidemic, not all episodes of the season could be fully edited.

  • Containment
  • Covid 19
  • Coronavirus
  • Series
  • Comedy
  • France 2
  • Television