“Household scenes” has its “boomers” but still no gay couple

• Gilbert and Catherine, played by Didier Bénureau and Fanny Cottençon, join

  Scenes of Households

  on Monday January 23.

• “They have just met and sincerely love each other.

  It's a small couple of boomers who try not to be overtaken by society, ”describes Mathieu Laurentin, the executive producer.

• On the other hand, more than thirteen years after its creation, humorous fiction still refuses to include a gay or lesbian couple among the main characters.

  “ 

  Household scenes

  is not intended to reflect French society”, responds M6.

Gilbert and Catherine will join the main character gallery of

on Monday January 23, at 8:30 p.m. on M6.

“They have just met and sincerely love each other.

It's a small couple of

who try not to be overtaken by society, ”describes Mathieu Laurentin, the executive producer.

Gilbert is, in the words of Didier Bénureau who embodies him, “a redneck”.

Owner of a VSE in the field of transport, he is "vindictive and kindly upstart", adds the representative of Kabo productions.

Christine, she is a provincial notable.

“She divorced three times because she was bored with her husbands”, specifies Fanny Cottençon, her interpreter, who insisted that she be “never presented as a victim”.

Class struggle

These sexagenarians come from different backgrounds and their dynamic replays, implicitly, a form of class struggle.

Catherine, unbearable by her husband's passion for country music, discovers what work is like when approaching retirement.

She has invested in a campsite but prefers to speak of “outdoor accommodation”…

More than thirteen years after its creation,

thus presents a wide variety of profiles: retirees, neo-rural sores, mixed couples or with an age difference... On the other hand, the idea of ​​including a homosexual couple remains a sea serpent.

“I know that there is a bit of societal pressure to have a homosexual couple in

.

But I hate having my hand forced,” producer Alain Kappauf told

in 2018. He added: “We said to ourselves that with a homosexual couple, there were no specific asperities in what we are looking for.

»

No response from production

His position does not seem to have moved an inch.

would have liked to ask him the question, but at the time these lines are written, our interview request remains unanswered.

It's not really a surprise, we were made to understand that our request, on this subject, was likely to remain a dead letter.

Moreover, no member of the production was present for the question-and-answer session with journalists organized at the beginning of January.

Mathieu Laurentin slipped away just after giving a short introductory speech before the screening of a handful of unpublished sketches.

"He had to go on a shoot," his entourage told us.

“ 

Household Scenes

is not intended to represent society”

“We try to make a fairly broad typology around the characteristics of the couple in terms of age, professions, the social gap that there may be between each.

It's complicated to represent everyone and it's not the goal of the series in itself.

is not intended to reflect French society, responds M6 for its part.

We cannot impose on authors, directors, who work on a series on a daily basis, to have a homosexual couple or that it is representative.

»

Interviewed by

five years ago, Valérie Karsenti, who has played Liliane since 2009, said she was more than in favor of the arrival of a gay or lesbian couple in the program.

“I hope it will come because it would be representative of our society.

Through comedy, we could bring a lot of things.

Afterwards, it would be such a shame to have a homosexual couple and to make people laugh at this homosexuality.

»

"It may happen one day, but it's long overdue"

The fear of badly perceived jokes, bad buzz, being accused of homophobia on social networks is, we are told off, a brake on things changing – the screenwriters will appreciate.

It is also to start from the principle - problematic - that a couple of men or women cannot be perceived by any other prism than that of sexual orientation.

And that's how, ten years after the promulgation of the so-called “marriage for all” law,

continues to confine gay characters to secondary roles (which is so 2011).

"It may happen one day, but it's taking time," admits Fanny Cottençon.

Didier Bénureau has a suggestion: “Gilbert and Catherine could have a homosexual relationship on their own.

I am on it !

I want to be an activist.

»

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• Homosexuality