Adapted from the successful Finnish medical series Syke, H24 , broadcast this Monday at 9 p.m. on TF1, follows the daily lives of four nurses in an emergency department. Frédérique Bel camps with one of them, Florence, a nurse who suffers from an addiction to morphine. Meet the actress who delivers an interpretation full of emotions.
What made you want to play in H24 ?
I have dreamed of a dramatic role for a long time! TF1 tends to give me amazing things, like the role of Camille, the transgender serial killer in La Mante. When I passed the casting, I thought it would be so cool if I could finally show my weakness. It touched me to see that TF1 trusted me.
Have you watched the original Finnish version of the series?
I did not see the Finnish series because I did not want to imitate, nor to be frustrated, nor to challenge myself on a bizarre thing to want to look absolutely like a Finn because she plays very well. I wanted to create my own vision of Florence.
How do you see your character, Florence?
She could be me if I was a nurse. I am an idealist and she has this ideal of saving people and giving hope to all her patients. She dedicated her life to her profession. Unfortunately, when she signed on to become a nurse, she did not integrate death. She is hypersensitive and I also have this point in common with her. It has become unmanageable because it has to hide something. I decided to swallow it. I did not compose anything, I played myself. Florence has my voice, my way of moving, my way of loving and crying too.
Your interpretation is very sensitive…
I did not know how these actors who cry on command do. I did not have basic drama training. I wondered how to do it. And I took refuge in something quite intimate since my dad had a fairly serious health concern some time ago. Whenever I pushed open a hospital door, I thought it was my daddy behind. Except that when you do this for three to four months, you get dark. I put my own tears in it. I did not repress this slide since it was useful to me. Before, I did not understand the actors who said on the radio: "I put myself in danger for this role". I said to myself, "I'm fine! You didn't save anyone! You did not operate with an open heart! You're just an actor! ". I now know what it means to leave feathers there. Dare to bring your fragility in front of people ... I stressed a lot, I was afraid of not getting there. When tears, emotion and sincerity started to come, I started calling my father every night to tell him that I loved him. It was nonsense! I put a little too much on myself. I gave everything.
You refused technical preparation ...
I hate hospitals and lost a large part of my family there. I avoid, it is full of nosocomial diseases. And then, I also imagine that the day when I will need to have surgery, I would not necessarily have appreciated that actors come to watch my intervention. On the set, a nurse showed us the gestures. And then, from the moment my character is always between two shoots, either she is extremely relaxed and a little loose, or she is in lack and she trembles. So, she is not able to make a specific gesture, she is left under products, so I do not have to learn the gestures that it takes.
So you are not a fan of medical series?
Not specifically, no. When I come across it, I look. But I did not follow medical series. I love romance, people tell me stories, that's what I love about this H24 series.
The originality of this series is to feature the nurses…
Yes, because they are constantly reminded that they are "only nurses" and we always put surgeons first. Even in TV series, nurses suffer from their condition. It's nice to go and watch what is happening at the “bottom of the ladder”. It's terrible to say this sentence because they are so much higher than us. We don't save anyone, we try to distract people from watching their TV. On the humanity scale, nurses are way above many people. We will all have a Florence by our side when we die. It's a shame it is underpaid! It's great that we focused on them.
And to be centered on female characters too?
I'm happy because TF1 dares to do things with women. The Mantis , The Bazaar of Charity and now H24. I like the idea of this femininity which passes in a democratic, hertzian, free chain. I like the idea that my parents can turn on the TV and see me. I have no snobbery about the fact that I make more cinema than television. The supports are a detail. I'm a Buddhist, so I really take what I get. In H24 , a redhead, an unknown territory, the drama. Let's go! Everything I do is widely seen, my agent says that I am the four-leaf clover of French cinema. When I get kicked out of a movie a week before shooting because the producer met a nicer actress, #MeToo, there is nothing to worry about because I realize that every time the movie does not work !
Are you ready for a season 2 even if the shooting was trying?
Yes, I am the humble servant of Florence. Yes, I never let go of a character in my life, apart from the Blonde whom I had to strangle with my own hands because I had been assimilated. I had to free myself from the yoke of misogyny and this suspicion of stupidity that was starting to pursue me, I even had to dye my hair. It was necessary to dissociate so that it did not become monstrous. There, it is an interesting monster, which I am willing to carry again, as long as it is well written.
What are your future projects?
I have been playing in Ducobu 3 in theaters since February 5. In Divorce Club with Michaël Youn, which comes out on March 25, I play a rewind, a love in love, a real stalker. After there will be Uman , an author film by Xavier Durringer, which follows a woman who buys a humanoid robot to help her with her household chores… I cannot say more except that I play a somewhat nymphomaniac neighbor.
Series
"Baron Noir": "Everything that happens in the series ends up happening, that's what is a little creepy! "Says Kad Merad
Series
"Skam France": "Noée, I called it" Tempête "in sign language", says Winona Guyon
- Hospital
- TF1
- Series