The 74-year-old filmmaker swears that he did not want to make an "autofiction" with "Le Grand Chariot", in the running for the Golden Bear: the film nevertheless stages his own family in an almost transparent way and questions the idea artistic legacy and success.
Louis Garrel, the eldest, plays under his own name, as does his half-sister Léna, while his other sister Esther has chosen to be called Martha in the film.
They play the children of a puppeteer, a profession exercised by Philippe Garrel's own father before becoming an actor.
On the death of the puppeteer, each child will make or not their own artistic choices, Louis flying on his own and becoming a known actor while his sisters prefer to take over the family puppet theater.
“It is the destiny of all artists to have the chance or not on their side”, explained Philippe Garrel, questioned by AFP: “there are talented people who succeed, talented people who fail , talentless people who succeed and talentless people who fail".
"It's not like the work, the art, that's what's great," added the New Wave heir, who seems to be signing a kind of artistic testament with this film.
"I would like you to be happy in front of my film, because I was happy on the set as never on a set, because I was with my children", added the one who has already offered by the past of roles to those close to him, and in particular Louis, in "Regular lovers" (2005), during the period of May 68 which marked him a lot.
© 2023 AFP