If it happens to Jean-Jacques Goldman to respond in writing to fans, as last September where he explained why he would no longer be on stage, he has not given an interview for a long time. “Retired” from music since the early 2000s – even if he continues to write for others – and Enfoirés since 2016, he remains as silent as a carp.
But in the manner of a Stromae, it arises where it is not expected at all. To the point of pushing journalists from the Parisian to write that they are a little – a lot? – jealous of Victoria and Malena. Because these two 16-year-old high school girls from Montpellier managed to get the Grail: an interview with Jean-Jacques Goldman, for the xth time favorite personality of the French.
Was it through the intervention of two daring teenage girls that we were finally going to have the answers to all the questions that fans ask themselves about the career of the French artist who left his mark on the 80s, 90s and start of the new millennium? Not at all… If the interpreter of “Born in 17 in Leidenstadt” took up the pen to answer their questions, it is within the framework of a book produced by students of the Lycée Joffre, in Montpellier. Entitled Stars and high school students positive against the coronavirus, the book, magazine-style printed on glossy paper, offers an alphabet book on the Covid, analyzes of songs, but also ten exclusive interviews with artists each delivering their vision of the health crisis, with supporting anecdotes.
Victoria, Malena and their comrades were obviously very convincing because they managed to collect the confidences of very beautiful people. Confided in them: Sophie Marceau, Francis Cabrel, Pierre Richard, Patrick Bruel, Julien Clerc and Albert Dupontel. But also Mark Hamon from the series NCIS, Alison Arngrim, alias Nellie Oleson de The Little House On The Prairie, Jane Fonda. And so, Jean-Jacques Goldman as an unexpected guest, “the most difficult to have” confessed the professor who oversees the project. What to make jealous, indeed. Because not all of these personalities are fond of the media and getting an interview outside of the promotional framework is often complicated. But we must believe that Patrick Loubatière, the professor who oversaw the initiative, must have his inputs. At the same time author, journalist, director, screenwriter and director, this teacher has a few shows to his credit, notably with actress Alsion Arngrim (Nelie Oleson’s Treasure Chest, who went to Belgium, it is him) and carried out a number of interviews for our colleagues from Telepro. It helps, obviously. And as a teacher, he also regularly organizes meetings and conferences with personalities in his school. Patrick Bruel and Les Enfoirés were part of the game over time.
This in no way removes the merit of the Lycée Joffre team who achieved a very nice job, all with their hands on their hearts. Because the proceeds from the book, which is sold to the public, go directly to the Red Cross.
And the interview in all of this? We are not going to reveal all of it, of course. It would torpedo the project and its united purpose. But Jean-Jacques Goldman evokes the consequences of the pandemic, whether for him but also for others. The singers deprived of stages, the sportsmen who kill themselves for nothing. He also draws a parallel with what his family experienced during the war, the four years of confinement that it represented for his mother.