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| Mélanie Laurent |
A few months ago I read a really fantastic review of Mélanie Laurent's latest film, Respire. Soon after, I was invited to a screening of the film and an interview with the French actress-turned-screenwriter and director. I've admired Mélanie's work since I first saw her in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and Mike Mills' Beginners, so naturally, when this opportunity came up I avoided it for a week. It was only after I decided to stop behaving like a massive baby (proudly sponsored by Juicy Juice™) that I found myself sitting front row at a movie screening in Manhattan.
Respire (or Breathe, it's English title), adapted from Anne-Sophie Brasme's hit novel of the same name, is utterly captivating and absolutely sublime. Laurent plays with music, cinematography and language to create a world as engulfing and hypnotic as the friendship it portrays. It intelligently talks about relationships in a way that is real and personal-- even in extreme circumstances. The film is funny and sad and complex and beautiful in the way that friendship is funny and sad and complex and beautiful. With incredible performances from Josephine Japy and Lou de Laâge, dreamy and intimate, you find yourself struggling to catch your breath.
Although the film is about two seventeen-year-old girls, it's entirely universal and accessible to everyone. People of both genders and all ages gathered together to realize one thing: Mélanie Laurent is smart. Very, very smart. The film is never silly or condescending. It's honest, it's beautiful and it's one of the best films to come out this year.
Part of me, probably due to the fact that teenage girls are taken seriously by practically no one, really wants to shake you and make you take the film seriously. But I know that I don't have to. I know that the film can speak for itself--it can speak for us. Not only the teenage girls trying to find friendship, but for all of us. Even old people. And I know, finally, that I don't have to shake you at all-- the film does that on its own.
Claustrophobic and liberating, blissful and angry, Respire is one of the smartest, wittiest, and most fantastic films I've seen in a while-- and it leaves you almost unable to breathe.
Still trying to catch my breath as the ending credits rolled, I dug into my backpack (filled with Algebra homework and the sweater my sister told me I couldn't borrow) and scrambled for a pad and pen to write notes on the film, only to discover that I didn't have facts or observations, just emotions. Basically, I flipped out like an AP English student who just got a D on a test and is trying to get into Stanford.
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| Laurent at Dior FW14 RTW show during Paris Fashion week. |
But when Mélanie came onto the stage, I suddenly felt calm and able to breathe again. Refreshingly kind and funny, the Cesar Award and Screen Actors Gild winning actress, director and screenwriter, sat in front of me clad in loose fitting pants and heels while talking in a beautiful mixture of English and French about filmmaking, acting and getting away with murder. You know, the usual.
This interview has been edited and condensed for reading purposes.
How did Respire go from a thought in your brain to an actual film? I know you read the book when you were seventeen, did you realize initially that it would make a good movie?
I was in shock when I read the book, maybe because I was a little bit like Charlie, the main character in the book and movie. I called Anne-Sophie Brasme [the author] and she said "We are the same age"--
--Wait, what? You were seventeen when you read the book, Anne-Sophie Brasme was seventeen when she wrote the book, and I'm seventeen and interviewing you about it! That's so weird. Go on, keep talking!
I was like "We are all on the same page! You should give me the rights [to make the movie]." Anne was afraid that someone else would [do] a bad interpretation of that story. But I was seventeen, so I met producers, but nothing happened because I was a baby.
You got the rights to make the movie when you were my age? That's so awesome.
And I'm glad [I didn't make the movie then] because I think I had to take some distance [from] that and make some short films. When I adapted the book, I [hadn't] read it again. It was all from my memories. I wanted to keep that feeling of what I felt [at the time I read it].
Did you stay in touch with the author while you were making the film?
I betrayed her. I strayed far from the book. But, I saw her again. I told her I wasn't reading the book again. She let me. The story takes place over the course of four years! The film takes place in eight months. The book would make a good show for HBO. (Laughs)
(Laughs) Oh my God, yes!
But, seriously, as a film it was too long. The author was really happy about the movie.
Why didn't you want to re-read the book?
I was afraid of my feelings at seventeen. Sometimes when you adapt a movie, it's too nice.
Like, keeping the way you felt about it when you were seventeen and not having it totally change now. Sort of keeping that mood?
Maintaining the feeling of the book was more important [than getting it word-for-word].
The actresses in the film were both amazing. How did you cast them? Did you all know each other before?
I had both actresses in mind when casting the film. Josephine [Japy] played a legendary French singer named France Gall in a movie. Do you know who France Gall is? She's legendary in France.
Yes! I love her music.
She played her in the 2012 biopic of Claude Francois titled My Way [Cloclo in French]. She was absolutely amazing.
And Lou [de Laâge]?
That was funny because Lou is always playing the very nice, beautiful girl. I saw a picture of her and she was serious. Black and white picture.
Each actress knew which parts they would play, but the auditions weren't really that good. They were both terrible. They were so nervous! Josephine was so shy, she didn't play and Lou was so nervous she overacted. They were convinced they didn't get the part. But I knew they were capable actresses, and that I'd just need to guide them as a director.
The actresses became very close during shooting. We went to the country, where they shared a bed, brushed their teeth together and bonded.
Like how they did in the movie.
Yes. I wanted them to be really close to be able to be in that relationship.
Was there a relationship that influenced the movie?
Blah, I wanted to dedicate the movie to a few... can I say bitches? (Laughs)
(Laughs) Yes! (Laughs even more) You can say whatever you'd like!
(Laughs) That and a very, very terrible love story.
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| Mélanie Laurent at the Cannes Film Festival 2015 |
I felt like the movie was about teenage girls, but it is also still really relatable for anyone.
Yes! [The relationship portrayed in the film] isn't the typical friendship when you are a teenager. To me, it's not a typical teenager novel or movie. It's more like a universal subject. Sarah is not the typical teenage friend. You know when you meet someone, when you get seduced by someone, he or she looks so carefree, so rock and roll, so cool, so nice...then everything changes. You're trapped in something very not sane. It's a more complex relationship.
Yeah! And, like, being really passionate about someone, a relationship, a friendship. Sort of like projecting onto them and imagining them-- it sort of all gets lost, and it's disappointing because they're not as perfect as you made them out to be in your head. Like, friendship can have a lot of heart break. We don't see that very often in movies, it's usually just about, like, a boyfriend and a girlfriend. I really like that about Respire. The entire movie is so layered and complex in a way that's really new and refreshing.
(Smiles)
Also, how that could get really dark and out of control. I'm sorry, I just really love the movie.
(Laughs) No! That's good!
(Laughs) So, in your first feature, you acted in the film as well. You didn't act in this one, though. What made you decide to step back and really go behind the camera?
That's a really nice question to ask, but who would I play?
A teenager?
A very old one!
Not at all. Have you seen some American movies? They get, like, 50 year olds to play 15 year olds. Besides, you're still young.
Thank you. I acted in my first film because I had to. I wanted Natalie Portman to be in the film! But she said no. (Laughs) But I prefer to film people, not to write something for me.
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| Mélanie Laurent on set |
Is it hard to go from the mind frame of, "Ok, right now I'm a director" to "And now I'm an actor?"
No, it's very different. I know where a director comes from and I understand the actors. It can be easy to be an actress, unless the director does not know what they want at all. That can drive me totally crazy. I have much [more] pleasure to be an actress now, though, since I've directed.
How much of the film was improvised and how much was scripted?
When I'm writing the script, I really don't care about the dialogue. I always tell them to say anything they want. I really respect most of their dialogue-- but then I add to the movie. Which is scary, because even with the extra improvisations, the movie is not that long. So, imagine!
For me, improvisation would be more, like, shots.
The movie was very visual, visually driven.
Exactly. There is a scene I remember, it's (Speaks French)...like, when Charlie is on the steps and she can't breathe, that was improvised.
Really? Wow.
Yes, and when I was editing the movie I was like "How didn't I think of that shot while I was writing the script?" That was one of the most important shots for me. I like improvisation of moments.
Some of these moments were really, like, difficult emotionally. How did you tackle filming intense scenes and the whole thing in general?
For Josephine, the most difficult part was when she was running-- that was really physical. You have to fake the [heavy] breathing. Personally, the most difficult thing was when she said "If you tell anyone, I'll kill you." That was the last shot of the movie that we filmed. I was crying so much. I was like (Cries out) "Ok, girls. That's a wrap!" (Mimics sobbing uncontrollably)
(Laughs)
But, oh, the last scene of the movie! The last scene that you see, the scene before was the last seen we shot. But the last scene of the movie was so, so difficult to shoot. But, not because we used an ear... An ear piece?
Yeah.
...an ear piece on Josephine, and we talked to her from the other room. No one had ever done that to me as an actress. She started to cry, and she couldn't stop crying. So, I was in a panic of "Ok, so I want something so precise, how do I get that?" I wanted her to look into the camera in a very special moment, but for it to be personal and not technical.
I put an earplug in her ear, and it was one of the best moments of my life. We played the role together. Her in front of the camera and me in the other room-- both of us had the ear piece. I saw a tears...tear? "Tears" or "Tear?" Anyway, I was like "Watch the camera! Watch the camera!" Then, a single tear fell from her eye, and I was like "Wow." It was the perfect moment.
And that whole ending is just breathtaking.
Thank you! The book is very different, though. (Ed. Note: SPOILER ALERT) In the book, Charlie goes to jail for ten years. When you kill someone in France, you only get ten or five years-- but that's if it's a crime of passion, of love!
(Laughs) I'm sorry, what?
It's true! In America, you can get, like, a lifetime in jail if you kill someone, even if it was a crime like the one in the film! In France, you're out [of jail] in a few years. So, if you're going to commit a murder, move to France! (Laughs)
Honestly, if there's a takeaway from this entire interview, it's that. If you're going to kill someone, move to France. That will so help the tourist board.
(Laughs)
(Laughs)
For everyone at home, we're joking! Great, now we're going to end up in jail. (Laughs)
(Laughs)
So, do you have any projects you're working on?
Well, actually, (Laughs) I'm acting in this little movie. It's with these American actors, but they're not very well known. The movie is with this man named Brad Pitt and [directed by] Angelina Jolie?
Oh, cool, never heard of them.
Watch Respire in select theaters now!