How Benoît Magimel gives "a breath of life to death"

• How does a man react when he knows he is condemned by an incurable disease?

• This is the stake of the film “De son vivant” in which Benoît Magimel delivers a remarkable performance between Catherine Deneuve and Cécile de France.

• An assumed melodrama, Emmanuelle Bercot's film knows how to move while offering a beautiful reflection on the end of life.

Perhaps that is the role of his life.

And yet, Benoît Magimel plays a man who is going to die, suffering from an incurable cancer in 

by Emmanuelle Bercot!

An assumed melodrama presented out of competition at Cannes last July.

The actor revealed in

 has filled up since the film, and it is therefore all smiles that he answered the questions of

on this film which makes torrents of tears shed.

How did you react when you found out about this story?

Few scenarios have moved me so much.

After reading it, I sat down on the floor to think.

I was stunned by the frontal impact this man undergoes when he learns that he only has a few months left to live.

I wondered if I would have the strength to face such a truth.

How did you approach the role?

I identified as much as possible with the character.

I very quickly understood that it is necessary to work from oneself to understand the different states that this young man undergoes who knows he is condemned and who must accept it.

Is he going to be an undead or will he die while he is alive, that is, put life into an inevitable death?

This is the whole point of the film which I consider to be a philosophical tale.

And the physical metamorphosis?

It was necessary to be credible even if Emmanuelle Bercot did not want to film the details of the physical decline.

I did three successive diets where I lost twenty pounds each time, which makes sixty in total over a year.

It was complicated even if I sometimes allowed myself a glass of wine or a slice of cheese.

I also had my pivot teeth pulled out to appear emaciated.

Does the idyllic image of the hospital from the film seem realistic to you?

What happens in the service of Gabriel Salat, a real doctor who plays a role close to his reality in the film, really exists.

This doctor wants to bring life all over his New York hospital.

Afterwards, I am aware that it is rather rare in establishments where everything is counted to be profitable.

What is the solution ?

When we are confronted with doctors who do not speak to us, we must not be overwhelmed.

He dares to ask them to take five more minutes to inform us.

This film gives the idea that we do not have to be silent in the face of so-called medical knowledge.

Do not accept that we are looked down upon: every life is worth lingering a few more minutes to explain or reassure.

Do you think viewers will want to see such a sad movie after months of pandemic?

Crying in the movies feels good.

The emotion is galvanizing!

This explains why melodramas are so successful.

They are an excellent outlet for all the tensions that one can feel.

This film breathes life into death.

You come out with the idea that life is worth living.

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• Miscellaneous

• Catherine Deneuve

• Cancer

• Cannes film festival

• Movie theater

• Benoit magimel

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