INTERVIEW
He had particularly privileged access to Calypso, Captain Cousteau's boat. Guest of the show, There is not only one life in life, by Isabelle Morizet, this Saturday on Europe 1, Pierre-François Martin-Laval, dit Pef, told of his childhood alongside the most famous French sea explorers. Pef revealed some anecdotes about his childhood alongside the "man in the red cap". The father of the French actor, Denis Martin-Laval, was none other than the ship's doctor. He notably participated in the documentary film, "The world of silence", the gold palm of the Cannes festival in 1956 and Oscar for the best documentary film in 1957.
Commander Cousteau "had a side of Gaulle"
Reminiscences of this atypical childhood and of Commander Cousteau, the former member of the comic troupe Robins des Bois, has his head full. "I remember someone very impressive. There was something like a ray all around him that you cannot cross. He was huge. There was a side to Gaulle when he spoke to you, even when we were head to head. We played a kind of lotto. But still it was no ass and shirt, it was Cousteau. I remember the Shepherdess, his wife, Simone, whose I was very in love, who was my father's best friend and who said to me 'Go carry his suitcases!' ", remembers the French director.
His experience alongside Commander Cousteau was in any case inspiring for Pef, for his soul as an actor in the making. "It was incredible to see him filming. I already wanted to be an actor. I saw cameras. I saw him take shots and start again ...", he recalls. At 15, Pef had an extraordinary experience: he boarded the Calypso to cross the Gulf of Mexico, thanks to Simone, the wife of Major Cousteau. "Simone was crazy about my father," says Pef. Before continuing: "And Cousteau only trusted my father."
"It was his wife who lived on the boat!"
During the crossing of the Gulf of Mexico, Pef discovers the true rhythm of life of Commander Cousteau, who is not every day on the boat. "We cross the Gulf of Mexico without him, so already I said to myself 'Well, Cousteau, he's not there all the time on his boat!' And in fact, his wife was living on the boat! His wife spent 11 months a year on the boat and a month in Monaco in their apartment, while he was the opposite, he came by helicopter as soon as there was a filming ... "And where was he the rest of the time? Everyone has his own opinion, Pef has his own: "Maybe he was fooling around with young ladies?"
During this crossing, Pef becomes aware of the notoriety of Commandant Cousteau, a big star in the United States, "more than in France": "We arrive in New Orleans, there, he arrives by helicopter on the boat before accost, there were thousands of people waiting, people wanted to touch the boat, "recalls the French actor, before concluding:" When a woman touched the boat, the Shepherdess said 'Get out!' in French (...) She did not like women, I understood later why, because maybe her husband loved them too much. "