Agnès Jaoui, Vincent Perez, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, who directed the film in the running for a Palme d'or, Thibault de Montalembert... are among the former students of this school created within the Nanterre-Amandiers Theater, co-directed at the era by Chéreau.

An ephemeral but intense adventure remembered by Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi.

She is inspired by her itinerary through the characters of young actors who will pass the entrance exam, with Louis Garrel playing Chéreau who died in 2013.

"It was a unique experience, there was the + Amandiers generation +", recalls for AFP the actor Marc Citti who was part, like the director, of the second and last promotion of the school (1986- 1987), the first being between 1983 and 1984.

At the time, "Les Amandiers was an essential crossroads for everything that was happening in the theater", adds the actor who, in 2015, published a book "Les Enfants de Chéreau".

The goal of Chéreau and Pierre Romans, director of the school, was "to build bridges between the theater and the profession", explains Mr. Citti, evoking the plays of Bernard-Marie Koltès played at the Amandiers, internships in the States States and above all a "Hamlet" by Shakespeare which made history at the Festival d'Avignon in 1988.

Immerse yourself in the reality of the profession and "learn on the job rather than being in a didactic apprenticeship", like that provided at the famous Conservatory or at the Cours Florent, according to Mr. Citti who even speaks of "anti-pedagogy".

"Grail"

Chéreau's notoriety attracts thousands of applications for the second promotion.

Only 19 actors are selected after a "very long" competition.

"It was really the place to be, it was the Holy Grail" for young beginners, said Mr. Citti who was then 18 years old.

For the lessons, there was "no pre-established method, no preconceived idea at Chéreau. We were at work all the time and we learned on the set", he still remembers.

The passage of Chéreau in the rooms caused "invariably a kind of general thrill", he recalls in his book.

A star director who was also a hard worker.

"We were exhausted and he continued as if he was not tired even though he was much older than us. He wanted us to play our life," said actress Marianne Denicourt to the daily Le Monde in 2018 She also evokes a sometimes macho atmosphere: "you had to be a good little soldier when you were a girl", even if "it changed the treatment that men in the profession reserve for young actresses".

The theater becomes very exposed to the media and, at the end of the course, "we were already known, it opened a lot of doors", remembers Mr. Citti.

In 1987, Chéreau presented "Hôtel de France" (a contemporary adaptation of Chekhov's "Platonov") at Cannes with the band of Amandiers as the cast... including a certain Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi.

© 2022 AFP