"The book of solutions", where the role of a filmmaker going into a spin is entrusted to Pierre Niney, is inspired by a "difficult period" in the life of the director of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" or "Be Nice, Rewind", that of the post-production of "L'Ecume des jours", with Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou, released ten years ago.

"It was a difficult time in my head, in my behavior, but at the same time very productive. It went in all directions," Michel Gondry told AFP in Cannes, where the film was highly applauded Sunday at the Filmmakers' Fortnight.

Pierre Niney plays a director who leaves his producers and takes refuge in a house in the Cévennes, with only his editor (Blanche Gardin), his old aunt (Françoise Lebrun) and his assistant (Frankie Wallach) for company, to try to finish his film with the means at hand.

A situation inspired by that of Gondry at the time, where we discover a very unstable filmmaker, crossed by flashes of creative genius, but unmanageable and tyrannical with his loved ones.

"In those moments, there are times when there are little nuggets that come out. On the other hand, for the people who are around, it is exhausting. They are there to help you and have to respond to completely absurd requests," he explains.

"People reacted, exhausted themselves and finally left," adds the one who makes the character of his film say, in a tantrum, that "if you are not the leader, it is useless to be a director!"

"I tried to make (the story) funny but not to erase the difficulty caused by the people around him," says Michel Gondry: "We realize that they suffered in situations that we thought were acceptable or normal, but we did not realize what they had suffered."

After this period of "great suffering" and "megalomania", he experienced "a big hole of a year" and then regained his footing, before finally writing and shooting "The Book of Solutions", with "a bunch of completely hilarious and absurd things, which often had nothing to do with the film", lived at the time.

The lessons he learns from that time: "You really have to think about what it will happen if you get angry, keep a little humor and not be malicious. I've since learned that."

© 2023 AFP