2023-09-13 12:15:32
Five years after the crazy Alien Crystal Palace, she put on her director’s hat again and released Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan, an adaptation by Balzac. A wiser film? Yes and no, because with Arielle Dombasle, nothing is ever completely conventional…
Balzac has definitely not said his last word. He continues to influence contemporary literature, and his aura is also found in cinemas. In 2021, Lost Illusions by Xavier Giannoli was one of the best films of the year. It is the same screenwriter, Jacques Fieschi, who was responsible for the adaptation of Secrets of the Princess of Cadignan. Behind the camera this time? Arielle Dombasle. She shot part of the film at Champ-de-Bataille, Jacques Garcia’s sumptuous Normandy castle. For a result that reflects the setting: unpredictable and baroque.
The last time we interviewed Arielle was in 2020, on the occasion of the release of Empire, her album recorded with Nicolas Ker. Nicolas is no longer in this world, but we find in Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan many close friends of Arielle: Julie Depardieu, Olivier Py, Vincent Darré or Michel Fau, excellent in the role of Balzac. A woman of habits, Arielle welcomes us at the bar of La Réserve – where she does not rely on coffee, like Balzac; but with tea, as always.
Why did you choose to adapt The Secrets of the Princess of Cadignan, which is a rather little-known book by Balzac?
Arielle Dombasle: We always read the same things by Balzac: La Peau de chagrin, Le Père Goriot, La Cousine Bette, etc. In truth I only had a poor idea of Balzac for a long time, he didn’t particularly attract me, then I started to really read him. As Baudelaire said, Balzac is a scholar, a great man in the full force of the term and the only one whose method is worth studying. He is rare, a genius for observation, for novelistic invention, notably with his heroes who come and go throughout La Comédie humaine – it is unique. His study of morals is phenomenal, particularly his analysis of the interiority of the “feminine”. He is the first to focus to this extent on the psychology of women, often these literate and fine aristocrats, these women from the Ancien Régime who under the Restoration saw the arrival of the silver bourgeoisie, which would explode under the July Monarchy. . The Princess of Cadignan is one! She is impoverished by the Three Glorieuses, her husband leaves her to follow Charles Balzac paints it with great acuity and tenderness.
THE BEST_
She was an actress for Houellebecq and played in an adaptation of Proust. Today, she adapts Balzac herself. The cream of letters.
“I HAVE ALWAYS REALLY LIKED THE AGE DIFFERENCES IN THE COUPLE. »
In the cinema, Balzac was recently brought up to date by Lost Illusions by Xavier Giannoli. Did this film inspire you?
It was successful, especially in its evocation of imperative censorship, too harsh, which, moreover, would lead to the fall of Charles , who introduced me to the character of the Princess of Cadignan, telling me that it was made for me. We started working on this adaptation. Jacques, who wrote for Sautet and Pialat, who is someone so rare, was therefore responsible for writing the adaptation, the script for the film. When we went to the channels with our project, Jacques had not yet received his César for the adaptation of Lost Illusions – we were told that a costume film was expensive, that the French no longer wanted it , blah blah blah. Once he got the Caesar, the doors opened! It’s as stupid as that: a Caesar is a game changer.
Do you see the Princess de la Cadignan as a strong and liberated woman or as a melancholy and wounded woman?
She has everything to be the perfect victim: the object of a forced marriage, the usual feminine condition of the time, but what’s more, married to the Prince of Cadignan, who was her mother’s lover. It was an “arranged” marriage so that his mother would have her lover within reach. She was never loved by her husband, who only loved his mother! What I like about her is her liberating force, the way she fights with her own weapons. Women had no rights at the time! She did not have access to politics either and, under the Restoration, it was still rare for women to publish, even if there were shudders. The Princess of Cadignan will use men as men have used women for centuries. She will use them. She is an unparalleled seductress, a diabolical collector beneath her angelic exterior. I like Balzac’s attachment to this formidable character, this ruined woman who, on the verge of old age, remains a breaker of hearts and nevertheless still believes in the mysticism of love.
Very young, Balzac was the lover of Laure de Berny, who was then twice his age. Loving an older woman, is this the best way for a young man to understand something of the feminine mystery?
Oh, sure, it’s probably very educational, of course. We see that Balzac is so learned from The Physiology of Marriage, which he published very young. What observation, what lucidity and what portraits of the morals of the time. Female infidelity, at all times, remains the great taboo, partly because of genealogy: women must remain faithful to be sure to transmit the essence of their very being… their blood! As for women older than their partners, I have always really liked the age differences in the couple, and Balzac is moving in his own love stories.
The Princess of Cadignan has a confidante in the person of the Marquise d’Espard, played by your friend Julie Depardieu. Do these two women have a relationship of sisterhood, as they say now, or of rivalry?
I don’t know what sisterhood is exactly… In Balzac’s book, the princess is in such a lamentable state that the marquise comes to see her out of “friendship” – let’s risk the word Balzac tells us! Beauty, intelligence and social position are unsurpassable values among women, so there should be a rivalry, but there the confidences take over, it is the Marquise herself who presents Princess Daniel with Arthez, the male figure who will crystallize his love.
Your previous film, Alien Crystal Palace, was quite psychedelic. Can we say that this one is more sober?
Certainly ! Alien Crystal Palace was a genre film, gothic, underground! Rock’n’roll… And then there was Nicolas (Ker, editor’s note). After that, we can only be more sober! However, The Secrets of the Princess of Cadignan is not a classic historical film. We had a small budget – fifteen times less than that of the last Maïwenn for example! Wanting a spectacular film, I had to be doubly inventive. There are surprising ballets, pieces of opera, the composition of the orchestras that play live, in addition to the musical soundtrack of the film, for which I was not satisfied with the music of the period. I worked with the brilliant musician friends of Pan European, Mike Theis, Luc Rougy… Koudlam, who I love so much, reinterpreted a piece by Rameau by modernizing it, between voguing and hip-hop.
CARDS ON THE TABLE?_
Despite a long career, she remains ambiguous and unclassifiable – therefore interesting. She is not about to show her last card.
“YOU MUST BE HYPERSENSITIVE AND NOT SET INTO A FIXED IDENTITY. »
These voguing scenes made me think of Madonna. Is this someone you’re interested in?
Absolutely ! I have always had immense admiration for Madonna, and in particular for the strength of her eternal protest, as well as for her eternal renewal. She’s amazing, she’s an artist but also an athlete who does four hours of gym a day. A performer, a worker! And who also started a family life! I would never have had the courage to adopt so many children! She is incredible, unique. Today they make fun of her, they say she is old. This is what I also admire about her: young or old, she is incredibly creative and assertive.
Your film also reminds us of Éric Rohmer at times…
Ah good ? Jean Douchet said that Rohmer invented talking cinema. In my film we actually talk, there is conversation, with this very beautiful Balzacian language – nothing is invented, the dialogues are from Balzac. Jacques is very radical on this… The big advice that Eric gave me is that in cinema you have to know how to do everything with nothing. My film is reminiscent of Rohmer in the sense that it is ambitious on all levels, aesthetics, accuracy of the sets, demands and multiple magnificences, while I had a small budget… But to be honest, among the directors with whom I have worked as an actress, I was mainly influenced by Raoul Ruiz and, strangely, by Robbe-Grillet too, in cinematographic grammar. No one today brags about watching Robbe-Grillet (we’d go straight to prison!), but it taught me a lot in terms of ellipse narration, apprehension of reality too, of romance…
The costumes and styling of your film are done by one of your close friends, Vincent Darré. D’Arthez is played by Cédric Kahn, who made you play in L’Ennui in 1998. We also find Michel Fau and Olivier Py. Is loyalty important to you?
I am very loyal. I like to know who the people I am going to model are – because I ask a lot of the actors. And I only surround myself with polymorphous, inspiring, very artistic, very dazzling beings!
How do you get into Arielle Dombasle’s gang?
You have to be hypersensitive and not settled into a fixed identity, you have to be fragile on all levels. I like singular, curious, daring artists, people who have drive, passion, in a word – cheers!
At the end of the film we hear a song by Nicolas Ker, who died two years ago. What place does it still hold for you?
Nicolas is probably the most Nietzschean character I have known. The most rock’n’roll too, the most cultured (he had read everything) and the funniest (he was hilarious). He was demonic at the same time, although with the heart of an angel. A tragic, Shakespearean man who constantly came close to death before resurfacing. He was an immense singer, and I wanted his voice to be present in Les Secrets de la princesse de Cadignan.
Your tandem was disconcerting when you were seen together: he was an alcoholic while you only drank tea; you were talking to each other, but he was bullying you…
He was terrible! Our association was tumultuous, but the admiration and affection I had for him allowed me to overcome his unbearable sides. I always liked rare people, and he was. It was art for art’s sake. Radical !
Will you one day find such an artistic alter ego?
Our collaboration was like an interstellar journey: I entered a cosmos with Nicolas, now with Charly Voodoo who composed the song “Barbiconic” for me, we are finishing Iconics which will be released in November. It’s a whole different cosmos. With Philippe Katerine, my previous musical partner, we did large venues, marked tours; with Nicolas, it was the super underground, chaos! Artistic creation thus takes you… from one galaxy to another.
Is eccentricity a value in your eyes?
I am often told that I am eccentric when on the contrary I feel concentric. Really ! Things for me respond internally, I do very different things but they all make sense.
What do you like most today? Be a singer, actress or director?
For me it’s the same thing: when I shoot a music video, I’m on the same frequency as when I make a film. Between the arts there are like blood transfusions. The difficulty, when I’m a director, is to keep your cool, because it’s an obstacle course! It all starts from a sort of surreal dream. Then comes the hurdle of financing and pre-production: you have to slip through mouse holes, hearing nonsense and prejudices from the mouths of awful technocrats who know nothing about it. We ask you to explain yourself. People slice your dream into pieces to find out how much each minute of cinema will cost. We live more than ever under the reign of numbers, I am not at all a numbers person, so you have to know how to be cunning and adapt. But fortunately, there was Canal + who came to the film, wonderful, and Anne Holmes from France Télévisions who were up for it!
Are you moving freely in this current world, or is it getting more and more difficult?
I always put myself in the beginner’s position, that’s what interests me. When I’m offered a project, whether it’s marginal or more commercial, I see the talent, the passion, and I go for it, even when it’s risky. I like the strange, the foreign, the bizarre. I believe in the miracles of encounters… And I sometimes accept very mainstream comedies because I have fun in them, and I also like to laugh a lot.
The latest was Alibi.com 2, by Philippe Lacheau.
I got along very well with Philippe Lacheau, who is very kind and extraordinarily inventive, particularly in his technical agility: he moves from one support to another, from the GoPro to the Scarlet or the 35 mm, or drones, all in the service of fun, with the rigor that it requires in the rhythm and the game for it to work! Visual gags don’t seem like much, but they’re not that simple!
This is one of your great strengths: knowing how to naturally find your place with Philippe Lacheau as well as with Nicolas Ker, even though we couldn’t be more dissimilar!
I try to adapt to the world. I am a daughter of three cultures: I was born in the United States, I grew up in Mexico before arriving quite late in France, in 1976. Otherness is familiar to me. In any environment, I adapt or I am adopted… I don’t know anymore…
The Secrets of the Princess of Cadignan (on screens September 13).
Interview with Louis-Henri de La Rochefoucauld
Photos Jeanne Pieprzownik
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