INTERVIEW
His series acclaimed by the public has consecrated him as one of the most renowned authors in the world of comics in France: Riad Sattouf continues his successful adventure by publishing on Thursday the fifth volume of Cahiers d'Esther (Allary editions) , which follows the evolution of a young girl today and evokes current society through the eyes of a teenage girl. And for the author, this prism is not trivial: "Being interested in the world of young people, it makes me change my ideas", he explains at the microphone of Matthieu Noël in L'Équipée sauvage sur Europe 1, Monday.
The "refreshing" world of youth
And if this interest in the stories of adolescents, their torments and their hopes, came above all from a form of weariness in the face of speeches denouncing the decline of the young generations? "The older they get, the more intellectuals and specialists say on TV that the world is falling apart and that 'we are facing a major extinction'. In fact, I think they are talking about their own sexuality" , laughs Riad Sattouf.
>> Find all of Matthieu Noël's programs in replay and podcast here
On the contrary, he decided to take a more understanding look at the challenges of adolescents, by taking an interest in their concerns and aspirations. "Finally, when we listen to young people, they say that they are starting their life and that they want to take things head on. This is precisely 'fumbling'!" Defends Riad Sattouf, happy to "change your way of thinking" by giving voice to adolescence. "It's funny, someone who dreams of the job he will do later, how he sees the future ... It's refreshing."
A film, "more complicated" than a series of comics
But while the fifth volume of Cahiers d'Esther arrives in bookstores this week, with a teenager who is now 14 years old, Riad Sattouf has no current project in the cinema. However, the director of Les Beaux gosses in 2009 "would very much like" to redo a film on youth. Problem: "As I have so many readers who are awaiting the continuation of Esther's Notebooks and The Arab of the future , I can't leave them in the lurch and put myself on a film subject", deplores- he.
Beyond his desire to continue his successful series, Riad Sattouf also points to the intrinsic difficulty of making a film. "It's more complicated because of the other people with whom we have to do it. When we make a film, we have to explain to 400 people what we want," he explains, convinced that "the director's job is the human opposite of the profession of comic book author ".