"The things that made me laugh no longer amuse me", proclaims Dupontel

Albert Dupontel in his film "Adieu les cons" -

• Every Friday,

  20 Minutes

   invites a personality to comment on a social phenomenon, in his meeting “20 Minutes with…”.

• On the occasion of the release of his film, "Adieu les cons" in theaters since last Wednesday, Albert Dupontel delivers an inventory of culture and society.

• If he admits to being pessimistic about the future, he keeps his faith intact in the solidarity of the population.

Albert Dupontel is a passionate man who hides a big heart behind a big mouth.

An actor and director, who has imposed, from film to film since

in 1996, his strong personality in the landscape of French cinema.

On the occasion of the release of

Wednesday at the cinema,

probed the concern of the artist in the face of the consequences of the health crisis.

There is certainly a little hope in his words, but above all a real feeling of helplessness and anger.

Do you think it really makes sense to release your movie right now?

In any case, I'm happy to see that people are trying to brave the Covid-19 to return to theaters.

I just hope theaters aren't going to have to shut down completely, and not just because it suits me and the cinema operators do.

The problem is much broader.

Culture is our identity and we are experiencing a real loss of identity right now.

It is important that there are cultural references.

It's time to reconnect with our culture while American films are not here!

And we still have a great opportunity ... Despite the restrictions, things seem to be going well.

We can sense a real appetite from spectators who have been deprived of a cinema.

The films that were supposed to work attract the public and that is reassuring.

What cultural references are you referring to and what can they be used for?

Personally, some works have helped me a lot by allowing me to have the impression of belonging to a group.

Some artists make me tell myself that I think like them, that I want to laugh like them, that I am like them.

It is essential, because it is heartwarming.

Art allows us to better accept reality, to make it more bearable.

I owe a lot to people like the Monty Python: Terry Gilliam the director of

, or Terry Jones who died this year and to whom I dedicated my film.

Their works allowed me to unleash my own imagination making me feel less alone.

I hope that the cinema can still provide this type of support to those who need it.

You mention artists and films from the 1970s and 1980s. How has cinema changed since that time?

As a teenager, I went to see Italian and Spanish films… Today, this Europe of culture has disappeared.

We have the same currency but the merchants have taken control and we have lost our community of mind.

This is terrible.

You cannot transform an individual into a consumer throughout a lifetime.

Culture is a good way to understand who you are, where you come from and how the world works.

It is essential in a distressing society like ours.

European leaders have created an economic Europe.

It may exist on paper, but not in practice since there is no mutual aid.

How does this anxiety-provoking situation end up in your film, which was shot before the pandemic?

We did not wait for the Covid-19 for things to go wrong!

I show the world as I see it by embellishing it as best I can.

And today's society has nothing to cheer me up.

Having said that, I do admit that I always do somewhat the same as the limited and redundant author that I am.

The only thing that changes is that my films are getting darker and darker.

It is a form of shamelessness to take off my red clown nose to show myself naked without gagging and without provocation.

Times have changed since

and me too.

I have matured.

The things that made me laugh no longer amuse me.

I want to talk about the current world, about this rigid society.

I am aware that I am pushing open doors, but I try to do so in the most entertaining way possible for the audience.

Why is what made you laugh no longer fun?

What Terry Gilliam told in 1985 in

, one of my founding films, came to fruition.

We are more and more connected, but less and less close to others.

It's hard to love and now we can't even touch each other.

I never thought it would go that far and yet everything is crazy around me.

I talk about it in my film, I add more but I'm not so far from reality when I show, for example, how my character is fired from his job.

These kinds of situations happen every day.

People who have given their all in their jobs find themselves in the ditch overnight.

I don't have to make this stuff up.

They jump out at us.

What makes you nihilistic?

I don't see myself as a nihilist, more as a hopeless romantic.

What we are experiencing today is not encouraging.

This does not prevent laughing, but it does not help to communicate when you are constantly asked on your tablet or phone.

I have the impression that we are oppressed from an early age and that this society does nothing to allow us to flourish.

But I keep some hope.

I continue to be able to make films, which proves that we can still exist even when we do not fit the mold. 

Are you having difficulty producing your films?

For ten years everything has been going well, because I am staying within a reasonable budget.

On the other hand, I couldn't find enough money for works like

, an adaptation of Victor Hugo that I have dreamed of for years.

Expensive costume movies have a very limited audience.

I know the popularity of platforms has exploded during the pandemic but that doesn't make me worried about the future of theaters.

People will continue to want to enjoy big screens and want to see movies together.

Of course, it's likely that they'll focus more on spectacular works than on mid-budget films like mine.

It is always these films that suffer.

But, for the moment, I am not to be pitied.

How do you see the “next world”?

I am quite pessimistic.

How not to be ?

I really believe in little people, and their innocence.

I also believe in collective intelligence, kindness and mutual aid, but it is never the people who carry these values ​​that we find at the helm.

Those who lead us, whether political or religious, impose their ambitions and other private interests on us.

We suffer a lot from that.

It will be difficult to get rid of these people, because they have so infiltrated governments and administrations that I do not see how it will be possible.

Does it make you want to be an activist?

I would be prepared to do so if our advice was taken into account when asked, whether it is about installing a bicycle lane in the street or whether it is more important causes.

There was indeed the referendum on Europe but we cannot say that our opinion was listened to… This leads to total distrust of politicians.

People don't know how to act anymore, they feel helpless.

Myself, I have the impression that the vote is no longer of much use.

We are consulted once every five years to elect people who are willing to introduce us and who do not necessarily excite us.

I find that there is a denial of democracy in our country.

What lessons could we learn from the health crisis?

The pandemic has pushed us towards the essential.

This is the way I take it.

As an opportunity to reflect and identify my priorities.

I would like the leaders to have the same reasoning, but I do not believe it.

They are too focused on the market economy to think of anything else.

The individual is aware that there are other emergencies but that is not enough.

We just have to see what is going on around us.

The last thing that made me angry is the return of pesticides that kill bees.

We want to shake up the leaders by telling them: "We have 40-degree heat waves every summer and the Covid-19.

What more do you need to see that it's time to do something for the planet?

Is that why you shout "Goodbye idiots"?

I am not passing judgment.

It is essential for me to love my characters.

I comment on what I see and I include myself in the idiots of the title of my film!

The important thing is not that we are stupid but why we became it and how we can stop being it.

This is what interests me and what I want to continue to explore as long as I have the chance.

My next film will be about the difficulties of confronting an idealistic and pure politician with the system in place.

Cinema

"Goodbye idiots": What we like about Albert Dupontel and that we find in this film

Cinema

Where is the surge of new films coming from this week, despite the curfew?

20 seconds of context

During the interview on October 12, Albert Dupontel confided in

 concern whether his film

 would be visible in good conditions a week later.

And then there was the announcement of the curfew on October 14.

After a weekend of discussing whether it was better or not to postpone the film's release,

is finally released on Wednesday.

To recover from his emotions, Albert Dupontel immediately went green and

was therefore unable to question him about this recent news nor to collect his reactions to the announced success of his squeaky comedy or to make him react on the he attack on October 16 in Conflans-Saint-Honorine.

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