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Xavier Dolan | Ouvre ton jeu avec Marie-Claude Barrette — Transcript

by Marie-Claude Barrette · 17,030 words · 2,587 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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  1. 0:00Hello everyone. Welcome to Ouvre ton
  2. 0:02jeu in the studio. And if I say in the
  3. 0:05studio, it’s because the last Ouvre
  4. 0:08ton jeu on stage will take place on
  5. 0:11December 7th at the Octave Crémazie
  6. 0:14hall in Quebec City, and the guest is
  7. 0:17Mathieu Dufour. Mathieu has already
  8. 0:20been on Ouvre ton jeu in the studio,
  9. 0:22and when he saw that we were doing it
  10. 0:23on stage, he told me, "No, I want to do
  11. 0:25it on stage too." Actually, there are
  12. 0:28other guests who want to come back a
  13. 0:30second time. Obviously, for a second
  14. 0:31time, it's fun to do it on stage, as we
  15. 0:33also did with Janette Bertrand. There
  16. 0:35are tickets left; it's only on December
  17. 0:387th. But if you want to make sure you
  18. 0:40get a good seat, you can buy your
  19. 0:41tickets now at ouvretonjeusurscene.ca.
  20. 0:45And I can tell you that when we do it
  21. 0:46this way, well, first of all, I meet
  22. 0:48all the Marie Club members. We hold a
  23. 0:50VIP cocktail hour with the members from
  24. 0:531:00 PM to 2:00 PM. After that, the
  25. 0:57Ouvre ton jeu on stage is at 3:00 PM,
  26. 0:58and for roughly the first 20 to 25
  27. 1:00minutes, I draw people's names. You put
  28. 1:03your name in a box, and if I draw you,
  29. 1:05you come up on stage, you choose an
  30. 1:08Ouvre ton jeu level, and you answer one
  31. 1:10of the questions, which leads to
  32. 1:12incredible moments. So, it makes it
  33. 1:16interactive with you, the audience, and
  34. 1:19I just love doing it this way.
  35. 1:22There’s a kind of improvisation to it
  36. 1:24, but at the same time, it’s based on
  37. 1:26the story of the person in front of me.
  38. 1:28And sometimes, there are even standing
  39. 1:30ovations following the "Ouvre ton jeu"
  40. 1:32of certain people who agree to come up
  41. 1:34on stage. And what's more, there’s
  42. 1:38another box where you can write
  43. 1:39questions for the guest—in this case,
  44. 1:41for Mathieu Dufour—and there’s a
  45. 1:43blue level on stage, and that level
  46. 1:45consists of the five questions that
  47. 1:47Mathieu draws. He chooses one, and so
  48. 1:51it’s the audience and intimacy level.
  49. 1:56These are different "Ouvre ton jeu"
  50. 1:58sessions, but it’s nice to have
  51. 1:59special editions too. So, I hope that
  52. 2:02those of you in the greater Quebec City
  53. 2:04area will feel like coming to see us.
  54. 2:06And besides, it's a very large hall, I
  55. 2:08really like the Octave Crémazie hall.
  56. 2:10So, I would love for it to be full. So,
  57. 2:13come, maybe bring some friends along. I
  58. 2:16think you’re going to have a lovely
  59. 2:17afternoon. It's a Sunday at 3:00 p.m.
  60. 2:20It ends around 5:30 p.m., then we leave
  61. 2:21, and I don't know, every time people
  62. 2:23stay for a long time to meet us
  63. 2:25afterwards, and it's always such
  64. 2:26beautiful moments. So there you go, I
  65. 2:29wanted to talk about that. Obviously
  66. 2:32our partner Karine Joncas, you know
  67. 2:34Karine has been a partner since the
  68. 2:36very beginning of the podcast, and what
  69. 2:38I admire about Karine Joncas is that
  70. 2:40she's a businesswoman who runs a
  71. 2:42company with her husband, and it's
  72. 2:44truly a completely Quebec-based family
  73. 2:46business. And when I say that, it's
  74. 2:51them: they are certified "made in
  75. 2:53Quebec" because from the ideation to
  76. 2:56the design of the little jar, the box,
  77. 2:59and the final product, everything is
  78. 3:02now made in Quebec. And I think we must
  79. 3:05highlight this effort to keep people
  80. 3:07working in Quebec and to have products
  81. 3:10that are entirely from Quebec. So
  82. 3:13Karine is present in 1,000 points of
  83. 3:15sale, so she's easy to find. And if you
  84. 3:18go to her website, well, she offers 15%
  85. 3:21off, and the promo code is Ouvre ton
  86. 3:23jeu 15. And Rose des Compagnons too,
  87. 3:26they have several boutiques across
  88. 3:28Quebec. You can obviously go there in
  89. 3:31person, but if you prefer to head to
  90. 3:34their website to make purchases, well,
  91. 3:37the promo code is ROSE 15 for 15%off.
  92. 3:41Opto-Réseau, as a reminder, is 86
  93. 3:43clinics owned by independent owners
  94. 3:46across Quebec. So it's always good to
  95. 3:50go and get an eye exam. And, as I was
  96. 3:53saying the other day, I find it
  97. 3:55interesting to mention that they have
  98. 3:58lenses that can help you if you play
  99. 4:00pickleball and perhaps your vision is
  100. 4:02an issue and you don't dare wear your
  101. 4:05frames; well, they have contact lenses
  102. 4:07suitable for you. That's what I was
  103. 4:09told the other day. I'm sharing this in
  104. 4:11a really personal way because they told
  105. 4:13me about it the other day. I have so
  106. 4:15many people in my circle of friends who
  107. 4:17have taken up pickleball. I think to
  108. 4:19myself, well, maybe it's an issue for
  109. 4:21many and I don't know it. So I wanted
  110. 4:24to spread the good news. We also have
  111. 4:28Spaa Eastman, which is a partner of
  112. 4:30Ouvre ton jeu. The Spa I would say is
  113. 4:35iconic among spas in Quebec. It was one
  114. 4:37of the first. They have been around. I
  115. 4:40have the date somewhere, just a moment,
  116. 4:41because I didn't think it had been that
  117. 4:43long. They were founded in 1977. So, I
  118. 4:49can't believe they've been around for
  119. 4:50that long. I go there on a regular
  120. 4:53basis because they have great tonic
  121. 4:55cuisine. So for those who have
  122. 4:58intolerances or whatever, it's
  123. 5:00something that is very, very good for
  124. 5:02your health. You eat very well, by the
  125. 5:04way. There's a wonderful wine cellar
  126. 5:06too when you visit that place. But
  127. 5:08what’s special is that you can stay
  128. 5:10there. They really have uh incredible
  129. 5:13cabins in the heart of nature. And so
  130. 5:17you can stay for a few days, have a
  131. 5:19wellness retreat. Uh here are my
  132. 5:22colleagues who are so valuable for
  133. 5:24every recording. Caroline Dion on
  134. 5:26coordination, Jérémie Boucher for
  135. 5:28social media, Elisabeth Lemieux for
  136. 5:30online posting, Jonathan Fréchette for
  137. 5:32digital creation, and Maël Le Devin
  138. 5:35for filming. Today is a big day because
  139. 5:39, actually, I’ve already done the
  140. 5:41recording—we didn't have time to do
  141. 5:43the intro before, but that’s okay
  142. 5:45because it lets me tell you about it
  143. 5:47since I finished it earlier. Uh I’m
  144. 5:52hosting someone I’ve been looking
  145. 5:54forward to interviewing for over 15
  146. 5:56years, and in every interview I’ve
  147. 5:58done, people would ask me, "Who do you
  148. 6:00dream of interviewing?" And I would
  149. 6:03systematically answer his name. It’s
  150. 6:05Xavier Dolan. Uh he’s someone who
  151. 6:08impressed me early in his career when
  152. 6:10he—when I saw the film "I Killed My
  153. 6:13Mother." I wanted to know who wrote
  154. 6:15that. How could a young man already
  155. 6:17have those reflections, have such
  156. 6:19perspective on what he might have lived
  157. 6:21through? I had the feeling there was
  158. 6:24something autobiographical in that film
  159. 6:26, and I always wanted to have him on,
  160. 6:28but for all sorts of reasons, it didn't
  161. 6:30work out. And now uh he came today to
  162. 6:34do "Ouvre ton jeu." It’s a—for me,
  163. 6:38there are moments like this that are
  164. 6:40exciting. It’s like making a wish
  165. 6:43come true, but doing it professionally,
  166. 6:45and I’m always happy to host everyone
  167. 6:47who sits in front of me. But him, let's
  168. 6:51say, he made me wait, and I think it
  169. 6:54was worth it to wait this long to have
  170. 6:56him on. Uh I—you will see, right,
  171. 7:00he’s someone real, authentic, who has
  172. 7:02great passion. He’s someone who has a
  173. 7:07bit of rebellion inside him, but he was
  174. 7:09so generous with "Ouvre ton jeu," he
  175. 7:12really came to do it. He wanted to be
  176. 7:15there, and I am thrilled about it. I am
  177. 7:18so happy to have had him on. So, I
  178. 7:20can't wait to present this to you. So,
  179. 7:23let's get right to it and welcome
  180. 7:25Xavier Dolan. Were you ever a child?
  181. 7:29Not for long. Uh, not for long. It's
  182. 7:35it's between the ages of 1 and 4 or 5.
  183. 7:43And then afterwards, it was a mix of
  184. 7:48all kinds of eras, all kinds of
  185. 7:50backgrounds, environments. But I think
  186. 7:56we left the territory of childhood
  187. 7:58behind. "Ouvre ton jeu" is presented by
  188. 8:09Karine Joncas, the reference in
  189. 8:10skincare, available in nearly 1,000
  190. 8:13pharmacies in Quebec, and by Le
  191. 8:15Marieclob, a space dedicated to
  192. 8:17well-being where you can find over a
  193. 8:19hundred masterclasses led by experts,
  194. 8:21available on mariecloude.com. The board
  195. 8:26games "Ouvre ton jeu" original and the
  196. 8:28couple edition are available everywhere
  197. 8:31in Quebec and on Randolph.ca. We're
  198. 8:35good.
  199. 8:36Everything is great. We can say you
  200. 8:38aren't an amputee, it's up to you.
  201. 8:39Yeah, perfect. Well, I'm not an amputee
  202. 8:42.
  203. 8:42Big news.
  204. 8:43No, but I'd like to start with that. I
  205. 8:46I like to put a foot under my my butt,
  206. 8:48the left one, the right one, it doesn't
  207. 8:50matter. But I don't know, that's just
  208. 8:53how it is. Even if I put my leg on the
  209. 8:56floor, it would definitely end up back
  210. 8:59under my my my my butt.
  211. 9:01That's a lovely introduction to our
  212. 9:03meeting. But hi Xavier Dolan. Hi.
  213. 9:07Uh, I said it right from the start in
  214. 9:09the opening, though you weren't there
  215. 9:10for the opening, but I was saying how
  216. 9:11much I was waiting for you. Like Daniel
  217. 9:14Bélanger in his song. I was waiting
  218. 9:16for you, and for years, honestly. So to
  219. 9:20have you here, I see it as a great
  220. 9:22privilege, a great privilege also to do
  221. 9:24this job, to be an interviewer and to
  222. 9:27have the honor of meeting someone like
  223. 9:29you. Well, that's extremely flattering
  224. 9:33and I'm very happy to be here. And, uh,
  225. 9:36like I told you earlier when we were
  226. 9:38when we were talking, uh, when I
  227. 9:39arrived, I like the game, I I play it,
  228. 9:41I'm not sure if I'm playing it
  229. 9:43correctly, but I play with a friend who
  230. 9:45who gave it to me, so, uh, there you go
  231. 9:47, I'm looking forward to understanding
  232. 9:50lots of little nuances.
  233. 9:51Yeah, and you know, for me, rules are
  234. 9:53always, it's good to know the rules so
  235. 9:55we can break them.
  236. 9:56Exactly. I always like to know what the
  237. 9:58convention is, so if I don't want to
  238. 10:00follow it, I won't be ignorant. I'll
  239. 10:01have done it, I'll have done it on
  240. 10:03purpose.
  241. 10:03But that's it. So I had, in order to
  242. 10:04break them better, I broke them before
  243. 10:06I knew them. So let's invert the the
  244. 10:08But you didn't see what's written. Tell
  245. 10:10me, how are you doing? Very well, very,
  246. 10:13very well. Uh, I don't know if this is
  247. 10:16coming through. What’s the what’s
  248. 10:18the what’s the timeframe between now
  249. 10:20and I have to act as if, uh, I’m 37
  250. 10:22now, and it’s going to be, like, in
  251. 10:24two or three weeks, something like that
  252. 10:26, let’s say three weeks. Look,
  253. 10:28what’s keeping me busy right now is
  254. 10:30that I’m I’m shooting a commercial
  255. 10:32that’s taking up all my time and
  256. 10:34energy, but it’s very positive. But
  257. 10:37otherwise, outside of that, because you
  258. 10:40know, that’s the thing: I can go
  259. 10:42months, a year, a year and a half
  260. 10:44without working, and then, suddenly,
  261. 10:46poof, something comes in, and it’s
  262. 10:48extremely demanding and energy-draining
  263. 10:51, whereas before I was, I was just kind
  264. 10:53of slacking off, just waiting around
  265. 10:55playing Alto’s Odyssey on my phone in
  266. 10:58my living room for something to happen.
  267. 11:01And so, yeah, that’s it, but
  268. 11:03otherwise, apart from this little gig
  269. 11:05that’s pretty intense. Uh, things are
  270. 11:08going great. Uh, the the mental, the
  271. 11:12physical, all of that.
  272. 11:15Are you are you often in that state?
  273. 11:19Uh, it had been a long time since I had
  274. 11:21been. Yeah.
  275. 11:23What were you missing?
  276. 11:27Uh serenity. Serenity. serenity uh the
  277. 11:39the I’m trying to find the word, a
  278. 11:44hygiene a mental and physical hygiene.
  279. 11:47I can’t say that I I wasn’t washing
  280. 11:49myself. No, but ever since I started
  281. 11:52taking showers, things are going so
  282. 11:53much better now. I discovered a whole a
  283. 11:57world of No, no, but uh a lifestyle and
  284. 12:00and habits, you know, like sports, like
  285. 12:03the gym,
  286. 12:06Reconnecting with people to talk to
  287. 12:08like my therapist, like my you know,
  288. 12:11it’s...it makes me...it makes me very
  289. 12:13happy and it allows me to...to confide
  290. 12:15in someone and to...to keep a kind of
  291. 12:17journal, in a way, of where I’m at,
  292. 12:19what I need, and what I don’t need
  293. 12:22anymore, too. A lot of things have
  294. 12:25happened. Did you feel like you needed
  295. 12:27to let the dust settle to actually see
  296. 12:29clearly?
  297. 12:30But it’s because there’s a lot of
  298. 12:32there’s a lot of there’s a lot of
  299. 12:34settling. There has been a lot of dust
  300. 12:35settling, you know. It’s like it’s
  301. 12:38been a long time now. I feel like I've
  302. 12:40been fighting against various things
  303. 12:42for several years, and for several
  304. 12:43years, I've had to let the dust settle.
  305. 12:46It's like it keeps coming back all the
  306. 12:47time. There's always something, but as
  307. 12:49soon as you move, you stir up a lot of
  308. 12:50things, basically.
  309. 12:52Because you are reactive, you provoke
  310. 12:53—you provoke without meaning to. And
  311. 12:55I appreciate that about you a lot. You
  312. 12:59know, there are people we might
  313. 13:00consider rebels, but they do it
  314. 13:02intentionally.
  315. 13:04They act—they aren't actually rebels.
  316. 13:06It's that they are performing rebellion
  317. 13:08.
  318. 13:09Exactly. You, I get the impression that
  319. 13:11...I don't know if we can say rebel, I
  320. 13:13find that a bit strong, but still,
  321. 13:14there's something there. I think we can
  322. 13:16see you that way, we can say that. You
  323. 13:18aren't...You recognize yourself in that
  324. 13:19, but it's embodied, it's who you are
  325. 13:21deeply, and on your own, you're not
  326. 13:23like that. It's when you're in contact
  327. 13:25with others that it causes a reaction.
  328. 13:28Yeah, but that's just it, there's no
  329. 13:30intention. I don't—I don't need to
  330. 13:33get a reaction. I don't need to provoke
  331. 13:35. I don't think about it. It's not
  332. 13:37strategic. It's not part of an image or
  333. 13:40career strategy, you know. I just want
  334. 13:43to talk about what moves me. I want to
  335. 13:48defend the causes I care about, expose
  336. 13:50the problems that enrage me, and then
  337. 13:53...fix some things, expose others. But
  338. 14:01it's not for show, you know. It's an
  339. 14:03instinct, it's a need. So, yes, I am a
  340. 14:08reactive person, I am a hot-blooded
  341. 14:11person because everything I do in life,
  342. 14:14I do it wholeheartedly, lovingly,
  343. 14:16ardently, and...excessively. So, it's a
  344. 14:23bit of the...it's a bit the story of my
  345. 14:29life, learning to tame those instincts,
  346. 14:33those passions, to pick my moments—
  347. 14:36you know, to sometimes roar, and other
  348. 14:40times to keep quiet. It's very
  349. 14:45difficult. And...when you're a public
  350. 14:49figure, well...there are an enormous
  351. 14:53amount of things you don't control. So
  352. 14:57you are reacting to things you didn't
  353. 14:59choose and at times you didn't choose.
  354. 15:04So, let's just say we don't exercise a
  355. 15:08lot of control. Yes. On, uh, on, on our
  356. 15:13lives necessarily, and then on, uh, on
  357. 15:15the, the, the moment of reaction, the
  358. 15:18reaction time, the, the, you know,
  359. 15:20people who don't have to deal with,
  360. 15:22with a public image or with, you know,
  361. 15:25who have complete privacy, they can do
  362. 15:27whatever they want, you know, no one
  363. 15:30will ever know. And uh they don't have
  364. 15:33to they don't have to account, sorry uh
  365. 15:35to anyone, they're not accountable.
  366. 15:37No.
  367. 15:37But at the same time, uh, what I'm
  368. 15:39hearing right now is that you've
  369. 15:41established a routine and you control
  370. 15:43that routine.
  371. 15:44Exactly. But that's it, when talking
  372. 15:48about control, it's about accepting
  373. 15:50exactly what I control and what
  374. 15:53and what I don't control.
  375. 15:54But you have to have some control to
  376. 15:55start with. So you've sort of regained
  377. 15:57control over your daily life, in any
  378. 15:58case. And and over my daily life, and
  379. 16:01specifically in the acceptance of...
  380. 16:05sometimes I realize that I've, well not
  381. 16:08sometimes, I realize that I've long
  382. 16:10been in a fight against problems and
  383. 16:13that, in adversity, I wanted to find
  384. 16:15someone to blame or or I was just
  385. 16:18pissed off that something wasn't
  386. 16:20working: "Dammit, why isn't this
  387. 16:22working? It should." And I realize to
  388. 16:26what extent...Uh,
  389. 16:30you spent to what extent Yes. To what
  390. 16:32extent you spent you spent so much
  391. 16:33energy on that.
  392. 16:34Yeah. Yeah. Whereas I could have
  393. 16:37invested that energy into resolving
  394. 16:40those problems. And finally, well, and
  395. 16:42it can be big problems just as much as
  396. 16:43small problems, you know. On a film set
  397. 16:45, for example, you always have little
  398. 16:48things that, that...And at some point,
  399. 16:50well, we can fret and, and uh, uh, get
  400. 16:57annoyed and, and be pissed off, but
  401. 16:58there's nothing more effective,
  402. 17:00honestly, than finding a solution and
  403. 17:01not being in reaction mode, being in
  404. 17:03resolution mode, you know.
  405. 17:05Are you ready to open up your game? Are
  406. 17:06you ready to
  407. 17:08I've been here for an hour and I
  408. 17:09started that sentence. There we go. So,
  409. 17:11the green level is, excuse me, general
  410. 17:15questions. Yellow level, those are more
  411. 17:17specific questions. Red level, those
  412. 17:19are personal questions. The question
  413. 17:21for the Patreon level is the space
  414. 17:22question. The level is intimate and
  415. 17:25sexual company. And the Optoro question
  416. 17:29is the one The one that always is the
  417. 17:35last question and we always leave on a
  418. 17:37good note with that one. And do you
  419. 17:39have your Joker? So if at any point you
  420. 17:42just
  421. 17:42yes, you only have one. So you know, if
  422. 17:44you don't want to answer anymore, you
  423. 17:45want to move on. As soon as you play it
  424. 17:47, I'll move on to another call, another
  425. 17:49question.
  426. 17:50So you can shuffle them on the table,
  427. 17:51these cards are actually quite big.
  428. 17:53You're going to give me five.
  429. 17:55Uh
  430. 17:55have you ever
  431. 17:56five? I'll give you five in total.
  432. 17:58Yeah. Have you ever had your cards read
  433. 18:00or
  434. 18:01Oh yes
  435. 18:01yeah.
  436. 18:02Do you go regularly or
  437. 18:03I don't go? Someone did it for me
  438. 18:06recently. a massage therapist, it was
  439. 18:09it was great. And well, it was tarot
  440. 18:12and uh it was impressive how much there
  441. 18:15was an alignment, not an alignment of "
  442. 18:17Oh, I want this to be true" and then it
  443. 18:20works, no, it was really
  444. 18:23stunning how much
  445. 18:25it worked, you know.
  446. 18:26Okay, you're going to give me that.
  447. 18:28I've shuffled that. But do you want me
  448. 18:29to shuffle all the piles
  449. 18:30later? Yeah. One at a time.
  450. 18:32Okay. Now I'll give you
  451. 18:34f
  452. 18:35green ones.
  453. 18:36Green five green ones.
  454. 18:42Wait, wait. Okay. Those two.
  455. 18:44Yeah, there aren't that many, right?
  456. 18:48There are only three left.
  457. 18:49Well, there you go. So, I'm going to
  458. 18:50read them to you.
  459. 18:51I'll put this here.
  460. 18:52You can put them over there, we won't
  461. 18:53need them anymore.
  462. 18:54You're going to I'm going to read them
  463. 18:54to you. You'll choose one that you'll
  464. 18:56answer and then I'll choose one that
  465. 18:58you'll have to answer.
  466. 18:59Okay.
  467. 19:00We'll answer two questions from this
  468. 19:01set. How much importance do you place
  469. 19:02on the opinions of others? What role
  470. 19:04does friendship play in your life? What
  471. 19:07is your worst flaw? How do you react to
  472. 19:10authority? What are you most often
  473. 19:13criticized for? Hm
  474. 19:17hm. You're the one who prepared all
  475. 19:19these lovely questions for me, right?
  476. 19:21Yes.
  477. 19:21H you know me well. Maybe even better
  478. 19:27than I know myself.
  479. 19:30Uh, I'll choose one.
  480. 19:32Yeah. Uh well look, I'm going to take
  481. 19:48I'm actually hesitating between one
  482. 19:50that is like more antagonizing, more
  483. 19:52confrontational for me uh or one that
  484. 19:54is that is that is easier. I don't know
  485. 19:58what to do.
  486. 20:00You can use a lifeline. But
  487. 20:07I'll take what I I I have a morbid
  488. 20:10curiosity about what is your worst flaw
  489. 20:13but I wouldn't know which to choose, so
  490. 20:19I want to take what place friendship
  491. 20:22has in your life.
  492. 20:23Perfect.
  493. 20:28So can you answer what place friendship
  494. 20:29has in your life? Huge. Uh in in really
  495. 20:40, friendship takes up a really huge
  496. 20:43place in my life. I have always had
  497. 20:50friends who have been be be beacons, in
  498. 20:59fact, in the night, in the storm, but
  499. 21:01also landmarks even in times of calm,
  500. 21:04you know. I have always gravitated
  501. 21:07toward friendship. Family is very I
  502. 21:09imagine we always contrast it: if
  503. 21:11it’s not friendship, then it’s
  504. 21:13family. We often tend to compare them.
  505. 21:17Uh, it’s not that I compare them
  506. 21:19because I have very strong bonds with
  507. 21:21my family, both families, my father's
  508. 21:22side, my family and my mother's, my
  509. 21:24family in general. You see, I’m
  510. 21:27changing positions here, I have no more
  511. 21:29circulation in my leg. But turning
  512. 21:35toward friendship for a need for
  513. 21:42comfort, for peace, for solace. Uh,
  514. 21:47it's something I have always done.
  515. 21:49Seeking the advice, the opinion of
  516. 21:51friends uh uh on my projects, on my
  517. 21:57loves, on uh, I've never been someone
  518. 22:00who keeps things to themselves,
  519. 22:02obviously.
  520. 22:04But do you have long-time friends who
  521. 22:06go back to childhood?
  522. 22:07I have long-time friends. I have new
  523. 22:12friends. It’s something I like to
  524. 22:14cultivate, friendship. I like
  525. 22:16discovering them, I like maintaining
  526. 22:18them. I can't say I like getting rid of
  527. 22:22them, but it’s true that I don’t
  528. 22:24maintain conflictual or toxic
  529. 22:26relationships, or else I like to
  530. 22:28resolve them. I have respect.
  531. 22:31Friendship has such a huge place in my
  532. 22:34life that I respect it enough to need
  533. 22:37to confront my friends as much as I
  534. 22:40need them to be able to confront me too
  535. 22:43, and they do. I like uh when
  536. 22:46friendships grow as well. That’s,
  537. 22:51it’s precious to me to look back at
  538. 22:54the past, and to say to myself: "Oh my
  539. 22:57god, you see, with this person, I was
  540. 23:01here, then there, then there, and we
  541. 23:04evolved, we changed positively." Uh and
  542. 23:10, and I’ve had great eras of
  543. 23:13friendship in my life. Sometimes, I've
  544. 23:17been drawn more to one person, and at
  545. 23:20other times, other eras, other moments,
  546. 23:24more toward another. But and then there
  547. 23:29are some in there, yes, that I've had
  548. 23:31since since childhood. There, it would
  549. 23:36be more the friendship with my cousins,
  550. 23:39you know, that I’ve maintained
  551. 23:41forever. Actually, as if they were my
  552. 23:44my sisters, my brothers, my cousins. Uh
  553. 23:47and there is always something friendly
  554. 23:49about being cousins. It's uh
  555. 23:52Are you one of the oldest, or the
  556. 23:54youngest? Because for me, for example,
  557. 23:57with my cousins, I'm always the
  558. 23:58youngest, it seems.
  559. 23:59Well, it depends on the family. OK,
  560. 24:01that's it, because for me
  561. 24:02in my father's family, I am the
  562. 24:03youngest. In my mother's family, I am
  563. 24:05among the oldest. Here, I am one of the
  564. 24:07two. We are the two oldest. Yeah.
  565. 24:09Stéphanie,
  566. 24:09I feel like I was, you know, sort of
  567. 24:11coddled when when I was the youngest,
  568. 24:14you know.
  569. 24:14But me, I sort of had both.
  570. 24:17But it's always been very friendly
  571. 24:19relationships, you know, of confiding
  572. 24:20in each other who have and what's also
  573. 24:25good with family is that there is still
  574. 24:27an understanding of your of your
  575. 24:28lifestyle. Uh, the fact that sometimes
  576. 24:32you get invested in something and then
  577. 24:34you disappear, uh, and where, uh, where
  578. 24:37in love or in friendship, people might
  579. 24:39not understand and might blame you for
  580. 24:41absences or...well, you can always go
  581. 24:43back home, you know, to the house, to
  582. 24:45your family's houses, I mean. Yeah,
  583. 24:48anyway, I don't have that type of
  584. 24:50relationship in friendships either, of
  585. 24:51blame or of people with expectations
  586. 24:54well there are expectations, you know,
  587. 24:55that I want to fulfill, but there isn't
  588. 24:57the expectation that there aren't
  589. 24:59unrealistic expectations in my
  590. 25:00friendships, there are a lot of people
  591. 25:02who are in the industry anyway. So
  592. 25:04there is an understanding of the fact
  593. 25:06that damn, it's been 2 months since we
  594. 25:07saw each other but we aren't not
  595. 25:08friends, you know. And we never see
  596. 25:11each other, we, you know, to be in the
  597. 25:13I have been before, plus I know that, I
  598. 25:15was reproached for it and I tried to
  599. 25:18work on it and
  600. 25:19you were demanding of others. Well no,
  601. 25:21but you know, sometimes I get lonely,
  602. 25:23and and you know, I've told friends: "
  603. 25:26We never see each other, you're...
  604. 25:28you're always at..." But you know, we
  605. 25:30give what we can, and when we are
  606. 25:32together, well it's good to spend that
  607. 25:34time, uh, complaining about what we
  608. 25:36didn't have or imagining what we could
  609. 25:39get next time we meet, you know. But
  610. 25:42hey, we'll see each other again soon.
  611. 25:43But right now, we are, we're seeing
  612. 25:45each other, damn it, we're together,
  613. 25:47we're having lunch, so let's enjoy it.
  614. 25:50And, and, but, but to conclude then on
  615. 25:53the, the role friendship plays, uh, a
  616. 26:01role, if not the whole role, actually.
  617. 26:06I eat with my friends, I I sleep with
  618. 26:11my friends, I I I I go on trips with my
  619. 26:14friends, I work out with my friends, I
  620. 26:16make films with my friends. I make
  621. 26:20films and I make friends, you know,
  622. 26:22everything in my life is done in in in
  623. 26:25there’s nothing, in any case,
  624. 26:27that’s done with distance or coldness
  625. 26:29, or there’s always, ultimately, a
  626. 26:32friendly dynamic that sets in. Uh I
  627. 26:35don't have to be friends with someone
  628. 26:37to work with them or to what I mean is
  629. 26:39that without saying I'm not selective,
  630. 26:42I think I make friends easily. I have
  631. 26:44warmth and friendship to give. And so
  632. 26:49if I meet someone who has that same
  633. 26:52propensity to to to give and to to I I
  634. 26:55we're likely to to fall into friendship
  635. 26:59, you know.
  636. 27:01Do you mix your friends together?
  637. 27:03Absolutely. Absolutely. And sometimes,
  638. 27:06I find it's also interesting to have
  639. 27:09friendships in different circles uh to
  640. 27:14change a bit of you know, there’s a
  641. 27:17bit of a chameleon-like quality uh
  642. 27:21in our camaraderie which means that,
  643. 27:22well, since we admire each other a lot,
  644. 27:24there's a lot of admiration in
  645. 27:26friendship, in love too, you know, you
  646. 27:27have to admire the other to to
  647. 27:29Yeah.
  648. 27:31It's essential, you know. To admire
  649. 27:32doesn't mean uh uh you have to be
  650. 27:34famous and and make good money, and you
  651. 27:36, it's not that kind of admiration.
  652. 27:38It's the admiration of small or big or
  653. 27:41medium things and it's it's uh we think
  654. 27:44we only admire a star or a...No, no. I
  655. 27:47admire...uh, I admire your, on a daily
  656. 27:50basis, your, uh, your rigor in your
  657. 27:53routine; you have your coffee, you set
  658. 27:55your cup just so, you choose beautiful
  659. 27:58things, you have a real regard for
  660. 28:01beauty. You speak well, you’re there
  661. 28:03when, uh, you’re punc—you’re
  662. 28:05punctual, it’s—it’s more
  663. 28:07straightforward. I admire—I admire
  664. 28:10the punctuality of certain people, me,
  665. 28:11who is not surprised. Uh, admiration is
  666. 28:15important. And so I think because we
  667. 28:18admire each other so much, well, we
  668. 28:20mirror each other a lot. We want to
  669. 28:22possess the beautiful things the other
  670. 28:24has, or we even want to laugh like them
  671. 28:26, or we want to imitate someone's
  672. 28:28rhythm of speech. And for me, a sign—
  673. 28:30well, you know, there’s something
  674. 28:33that can become unhealthy in that. You
  675. 28:35know, when you’re at an extreme. Uh,
  676. 28:37but for me, those borrowings are a good
  677. 28:40sign, you know. We borrow from those we
  678. 28:42love. Borrowing traits, or money too,
  679. 28:46but you understand what I mean. So
  680. 28:50it’s interesting sometimes to create
  681. 28:52amalgams and to have a blending between
  682. 28:55these groups. And generally, I notice
  683. 28:59that the friends I want in my life all
  684. 29:01get along well with each other, even if
  685. 29:04they come from different backgrounds.
  686. 29:07Yeah, even if they are different.
  687. 29:09Yeah.
  688. 29:09And at the same time,
  689. 29:10those differences are compatible.
  690. 29:11Yeah. But that also shows your open
  691. 29:14side. It completes all our facets, too.
  692. 29:18Openness, for sure, but I don't think
  693. 29:20I’d surround myself with people who
  694. 29:22aren’t open or who aren't...
  695. 29:25You know, it’s important to me to
  696. 29:27talk, to be interested in others;
  697. 29:28curiosity is asking questions, debating
  698. 29:30, talking.
  699. 29:33Sometimes it creates eclectic
  700. 29:34environments when you mix things up.
  701. 29:35That’s interesting. Well, but I think
  702. 29:38it’s essential, actually, because if
  703. 29:40we just have our nose and head stuck in
  704. 29:41one single thing, well,
  705. 29:45we become uniform; it becomes smooth,
  706. 29:47it becomes flat, it becomes boring.
  707. 29:51The question, there’s one that tempts
  708. 29:52me, for sure, but I’m going to go
  709. 29:53elsewhere because
  710. 29:54you can go with the flaw if you want.
  711. 29:56Was it that, or did you want authority?
  712. 29:58No, authority, but for sure, for sure
  713. 30:00you react to authority.
  714. 30:02We can—we can, go ahead, go ahead
  715. 30:03with whatever you want. Wait, wait,
  716. 30:06wait. Uh, wait, because I’m going to
  717. 30:11go—no, I’ll take "what importance
  718. 30:13do you give to the gaze of others."
  719. 30:16Because that can evolve over time, too.
  720. 30:19Yeah, it has to evolve. Uh, it has to
  721. 30:23evolve. It has evolved. Uh, the big
  722. 30:30question in all this is, who are these
  723. 30:31others? Is it how my friends see me? Is
  724. 30:38it how my family sees me? Is it how the
  725. 30:42public sees me? Is it how critics,
  726. 30:45journalists, industry people see me?
  727. 30:48Whose gaze is it? And is that gaze
  728. 30:52well-intentioned to begin with? And
  729. 30:58that is the question I realize I need
  730. 31:01to ask myself at all times before
  731. 31:04assigning that importance, giving that
  732. 31:07importance.
  733. 31:09You have
  734. 31:10you have to you have to graduate
  735. 31:14not graduate, that's not the right word
  736. 31:16, like a dimmer, you have to
  737. 31:18that I dose that I distribute
  738. 31:24because well,
  739. 31:32if your intensity were always the same,
  740. 31:34otherwise.
  741. 31:35Yeah, but also because I need to
  742. 31:36protect myself in all that, and I
  743. 31:42didn't, I poorly, I poorly protected
  744. 31:45myself from that in the past. I gave a
  745. 31:51lot of time in my life, a lot of energy
  746. 31:55, a lot of hate, and therefore love,
  747. 32:01because these are feelings, I find,
  748. 32:04that have a mutuality, that have a very
  749. 32:07similar intensity.
  750. 32:10Mm-hmm.
  751. 32:11Uh, even though, even though they're
  752. 32:14very different,
  753. 32:15we're not dealing with indifference. No
  754. 32:17,
  755. 32:17we're dealing with something that
  756. 32:18triggers a reaction. In both cases, you
  757. 32:20react.
  758. 32:20Yeah. And uh I let, I let myself be
  759. 32:25hurt, be, and it also comes from the
  760. 32:28fact that, well, what others think
  761. 32:33matters. Yes, to me, because the others
  762. 32:36are my interlocutors. I don't, I don't
  763. 32:40do this all alone, you know. Making
  764. 32:42films, first of all, I...but then
  765. 32:44obviously, I do it in a community when
  766. 32:46we create them, but I mean, I address
  767. 32:48them to someone. I am, I am addressing
  768. 32:51these others. Uh, so it's certain that
  769. 32:56if everyone hates me and everyone says,
  770. 32:59"He's a jerk and he talks like an
  771. 33:01and he thinks he's something
  772. 33:04else," well I go: "Oh yeah, well, okay,
  773. 33:07it looks like there's a common
  774. 33:09denominator or that I have things to
  775. 33:12change or things to..." And after that,
  776. 33:15well, that's part of the game, I'd say.
  777. 33:18It's not really the game of getting
  778. 33:19criticized because we make films. It's
  779. 33:22more about understanding what we've
  780. 33:24done and growing, evolving. There is an
  781. 33:28academic aspect, even, in the idea that
  782. 33:31it's not just an emotional or artistic
  783. 33:33side, there's an academic aspect to
  784. 33:35creation and to cinema.
  785. 33:37But were you already reactive to the
  786. 33:39gaze of others when you were young? I
  787. 33:44don't really remember. I don't think so
  788. 33:47. I don't think so. I think that when I
  789. 33:51started to open up and, to present
  790. 33:53myself, and to expose myself, even
  791. 33:55unconsciously at first, but to expose
  792. 33:57myself, to expose my intimacy, but then
  793. 34:00even, you know, my films, uh, uh, uh,
  794. 34:05contain autobiographical elements but
  795. 34:08are largely fictional and for the most
  796. 34:12part, you know. So, it's just that
  797. 34:16there is intimacy from me, from others,
  798. 34:18from my family, from people I've
  799. 34:21observed my whole life that I come to
  800. 34:23insert into those plots, because I want
  801. 34:26people to be able to identify with them
  802. 34:29and for a human connection to be
  803. 34:31created with the public.
  804. 34:35Uh, uh. I lost my train of thought. You
  805. 34:40asked me if, when I was young, I...Yeah
  806. 34:41, that's it. I don't remember if other
  807. 34:43people's opinions mattered, but from
  808. 34:45the moment I started to tell my own
  809. 34:46story,
  810. 34:49well, you know, these films are
  811. 34:52essentially what I think, what I am,
  812. 34:55what I have to say, I need the gaze of
  813. 34:58others. I couldn't be without it at all
  814. 35:02. I couldn't completely detach myself
  815. 35:05from it and just not care. Conversely,
  816. 35:09I've never understood directors who
  817. 35:11tell me, "Oh, I don't read reviews, I
  818. 35:13don't read that, I don't need that.""
  819. 35:16I've never read a review of my..." I'm
  820. 35:18like: "Oh yeah, you can't know what...
  821. 35:22what...even just a little bit about
  822. 35:24what people think." That...there was,
  823. 35:27there was, there was in that sentence a
  824. 35:28contempt for criticism that, for me,
  825. 35:30was displeasing, you know. Because,
  826. 35:33well, when it's constructive, criticism
  827. 35:35, when it's not personal or doesn't
  828. 35:38have a malicious bias, well then it's
  829. 35:40interesting. For me, at one point, well
  830. 35:43, for "Heartbeats," there was a critic
  831. 35:45who wrote: "It's because, you know, we
  832. 35:47go from one...from one music video to
  833. 35:49another." So, you know, there isn't
  834. 35:51much substance between the two. And at
  835. 35:53some point, it just becomes a series of
  836. 35:55music videos. It's like, yeah. And yes,
  837. 35:59it's a musical film, I don't deny that.
  838. 36:03But I found it interesting, you know,
  839. 36:05to understand that everything is a
  840. 36:06matter of balance, and that at some
  841. 36:08point, if there's too much of a music
  842. 36:10video sequence, you can't get
  843. 36:11emotionally invested, you know. You
  844. 36:13might say "Ah, it's beautiful, oh the
  845. 36:15slow motion, oh the dress, oh the song,
  846. 36:16all that.""But a film is a story we are
  847. 36:19telling." It's not just images.
  848. 36:20Malicious.
  849. 36:21Well, it wasn't malicious, it was just
  850. 36:22factual.
  851. 36:23That visual aspect, that, that was
  852. 36:24factual. So that's interesting. You
  853. 36:26take that, and you learn from it.
  854. 36:28Well, I learned from that at some point
  855. 36:30too. Oh, it's slow motion, it's...I was
  856. 36:33like, yeah, there is a lot of slow
  857. 36:35motion. We could use less. We'll use
  858. 36:38less in the next one. Uh, for me, I, I
  859. 36:41...actually, my big break with the
  860. 36:46world of criticism happened in my life
  861. 36:49because I used to like criticism: I
  862. 36:52liked reading it, I liked learning, I
  863. 36:54liked understanding what I had done,
  864. 36:57who I was, who I am, who...who...and
  865. 37:00I've always had negative ones. It
  866. 37:04wasn't, oh, a love story. And at some
  867. 37:06point
  868. 37:07no, that's it
  869. 37:08people didn't just decide I started
  870. 37:09making shitty movies and then people
  871. 37:11said it's, it's more complex than
  872. 37:13that.
  873. 37:14Uh, I felt that at some point it
  874. 37:16started to become something very
  875. 37:18personal, and, and from that point on,
  876. 37:21I stopped reading to protect myself,
  877. 37:23you know. So we come back to that
  878. 37:27protection we owe ourselves, because at
  879. 37:29some point, well, I understood that,
  880. 37:31yeah, it was no longer useful to me.
  881. 37:35I'm not saying there weren't any that
  882. 37:37were still relevant, but I could no
  883. 37:39longer, I couldn't take the risk of, of
  884. 37:40, of, of venturing into a read that
  885. 37:47would end up hurting me, doing me harm,
  886. 37:50feeding obsessive insecurities that
  887. 37:53don't make me grow, but just turn me
  888. 37:55even more inward and create doubts.
  889. 38:00with which
  890. 38:01I can't do anything. And what you're
  891. 38:03saying, it's not with doubts
  892. 38:04but but what you're saying applies to
  893. 38:06more but Yes. But but what you're
  894. 38:09saying applies to to a lot of people,
  895. 38:11you know, who will will get some some
  896. 38:13criticism at different moments in their
  897. 38:15lives on different things and. And it's
  898. 38:17about weighing the importance, because
  899. 38:20if you start doubting, changing for one
  900. 38:22person who criticized you, and you move
  901. 38:24away from yourself, you know, what's
  902. 38:27the point?
  903. 38:27You know, because what others think is
  904. 38:30when a critique is based on a value
  905. 38:33judgment or a projection of someone's
  906. 38:35idea of who they think you are onto you
  907. 38:38. What do we do with that? You know,
  908. 38:42for me, too much slow motion. Yes. Too
  909. 38:45this, too long. Too superficial, too
  910. 38:50this. That acting is too big. Perfect.
  911. 38:55But when we get into, "Ah, he must have
  912. 38:58made this film thinking..." thinking
  913. 39:00you're not in my head. And and don't
  914. 39:04try to be and uh uh you're not there.
  915. 39:10OK. I mean, he he's making a film about
  916. 39:16what it's like to be a genius and and
  917. 39:19to die and to feel alone.
  918. 39:24But but you know, your starting point
  919. 39:25is is just, from whose perspective?
  920. 39:28Yeah. To choose, yes the. The
  921. 39:30perspective, the, whether it's in a...
  922. 39:33that's it, in a film, if it concerns
  923. 39:35this film, if it's something I can
  924. 39:37change. We also come back to control:
  925. 39:39is this something I can control, or is
  926. 39:41it something I can't control? If you
  927. 39:44dislike me and you find this, and you
  928. 39:47find that, and you [] the person I am,
  929. 39:49and I get on your nerves, and I can't
  930. 39:52change that through a film or through a
  931. 39:54cosmetic or artistic or narrative
  932. 39:56choice, then it's useless to me.
  933. 40:01So, you're in a period now where it's
  934. 40:03like you're learning how to gauge your
  935. 40:06reactions to what others think. Is it
  936. 40:09...Did we start? I started a a while
  937. 40:11ago, it's been a while since I started
  938. 40:12telling myself, "Okay, I don't want to
  939. 40:14read reviews for this film," and they
  940. 40:15say, "But there are good ones." I was
  941. 40:18like, "Yeah, I I I I don't want to read
  942. 40:21them, I don't want to, no, I want to
  943. 40:23focus on my work." After here, we're
  944. 40:29giving capital importance to criticism
  945. 40:30anyway, even though there's also the
  946. 40:32criticism that our friends give us,
  947. 40:33that our...
  948. 40:34Well, yes, for me, that's what what
  949. 40:36others think is too. It's not just the
  950. 40:38gaze in the public sphere.
  951. 40:40No. And the look on Reddit from a girl
  952. 40:41who says, "Anyway, I ran into him on
  953. 40:43the street and he was really rude."
  954. 40:45Okay, but you see, that day my
  955. 40:47great-aunt had just died, so I owe you
  956. 40:50nothing, sweetie. And it's, it's a drag
  957. 40:53, but to go and capitalize on that,
  958. 40:55like, "Oh, I was an extra on a set and
  959. 40:58I saw that girl and she was really
  960. 41:00stuck up," and okay, that, that bunch
  961. 41:03of losers, for God's sake, who spend
  962. 41:05their time trash-talking people by, by,
  963. 41:08by, by, by putting in their two cents
  964. 41:10on what those people think, and what
  965. 41:13those people feel. That culture, it
  966. 41:16disgusts me, uh, I want nothing to do
  967. 41:20with it. And, and, and so if we're
  968. 41:24talking about, if those others, if the
  969. 41:25others are those people, there's no
  970. 41:27point in talking about it. For me, it's
  971. 41:30, it's toxic, it's pointless.
  972. 41:33And there's nothing good, nothing
  973. 41:34effective, nothing constructive,
  974. 41:36nothing productive that can come from
  975. 41:38that, giving value just to that, to get
  976. 41:41through the gaze of others.
  977. 41:43You know there are people who will hold
  978. 41:44themselves back their whole lives
  979. 41:47because of what others might think, you
  980. 41:48move forward after that, you protect
  981. 41:50yourself, but I still think about it.
  982. 41:53But when
  983. 41:53we can't, it's not a door that's open
  984. 41:55or closed.
  985. 41:57I tell you that, it's one thing to say
  986. 41:58it, another to put it into practice.
  987. 41:59But when you do, let's say when you're
  988. 42:02writing, when you're directing, do you
  989. 42:04think about that? Do you say, "This is
  990. 42:06going to get me slammed because I'm
  991. 42:08putting..."
  992. 42:08No.
  993. 42:09That, you're free in that moment.
  994. 42:10But, but I think about the audience.
  995. 42:12Yes. You think
  996. 42:13Will it, will it interest the audience?
  997. 42:15But that
  998. 42:15And I think about myself. So, I am part
  999. 42:17of the audience. But that's
  1000. 42:19I watch, I, I, I watch mainstream
  1001. 42:22movies too, and series, and...I lead a
  1002. 42:24normal life, you know. I have a life,
  1003. 42:29especially in terms of what I watch, I
  1004. 42:30mean, it's pretty normal. But I have
  1005. 42:35opinions, and there are things I find,
  1006. 42:36well, things I find fascinating, and
  1007. 42:37sometimes it's...but do you watch TV,
  1008. 42:39then? Do you watch series? Do you? Yeah
  1009. 42:43, yeah, I watch series, I watch TV, I
  1010. 42:46watch American, Quebecois, Swedish
  1011. 42:49series. I watch films, I listen to
  1012. 42:53people, I listen, I'm a consumer of
  1013. 42:56content. But I think about the audience
  1014. 43:05when I create, because I think, well,
  1015. 43:08is the story I'm telling clear? Will
  1016. 43:12they be emotionally hooked on this or
  1017. 43:15that? Do I have what I need to—do I
  1018. 43:18have the necessary keys to
  1019. 43:19understanding? Does the music come in
  1020. 43:21at the right moment? Does that work?
  1021. 43:24I'm always thinking about the
  1022. 43:25audience's perspective, and I'm always
  1023. 43:27thinking about my own perspective on
  1024. 43:29myself when I create, and the
  1025. 43:30perspective of the people I create with
  1026. 43:31. I constantly ask the technicians, the
  1027. 43:35craftspeople, the artists with whom we
  1028. 43:37are telling a story. Does this work for
  1029. 43:40you? Do I, do I have what I need? Is
  1030. 43:42this shot necessary? I'm always asking
  1031. 43:45questions. I'm always turning to my
  1032. 43:46script supervisor and saying, do we
  1033. 43:48have what we need, should we redo it,
  1034. 43:50is the acting right? Then she looks at
  1035. 43:51me over her glasses like this and she
  1036. 43:53goes or, you know, André Turpin who is
  1037. 43:57the director of photography who is
  1038. 44:01looking at his light meter, he looks at
  1039. 44:03me and I ask what I need, because we
  1040. 44:07understand. We are always questioning
  1041. 44:11ourselves. We I don't want to doubt
  1042. 44:18myself because it's useless, but I can
  1043. 44:23doubt my choices—and by doubt, I mean
  1044. 44:25question them—because it's just
  1045. 44:27healthy for me, it's just creative
  1046. 44:28hygiene. That's it.
  1047. 44:30Yes. And you're well surrounded, too,
  1048. 44:31by
  1049. 44:31But for me, if I write something, I
  1050. 44:32think, no, it's perfect. Don't touch
  1051. 44:33anything. It's perfect, don't change a
  1052. 44:36comma. That's it. That's the text.
  1053. 44:38That's it, so don't touch my text. And
  1054. 44:40then, well, in the edit, don't touch
  1055. 44:43that shot. And well, after that, it's
  1056. 44:45easy. I'm the one who writes, directs,
  1057. 44:47and edits. So, even in my own head, I
  1058. 44:49could develop an affection or a certain
  1059. 44:51pride around "this shot is so beautiful
  1060. 44:53." But it's useless in the scene, so we
  1061. 44:56don't include it. Yes, but it's a
  1062. 44:58beautiful shot. It's a log. My god,
  1063. 44:59what's happening right now is
  1064. 45:00completely bipolar. But, uh, this
  1065. 45:02dialogue with myself, you know, as an
  1066. 45:05artist, it's important, but it's also
  1067. 45:07easy, because for me, all that matters
  1068. 45:10is the story, the narrative. We don't
  1069. 45:13care about your lines; if you want to
  1070. 45:15write a script where we keep every line
  1071. 45:18and every stage direction and we do
  1072. 45:20everything and change nothing, write a
  1073. 45:22book. A script is in motion. A script
  1074. 45:28can only become a film. Yeah. And
  1075. 45:31and to become a film,
  1076. 45:33you have to be able to make artistic
  1077. 45:35choices together.
  1078. 45:36But we don't know what you're taking
  1079. 45:37out.
  1080. 45:39When I watch your film, I don't know
  1081. 45:40what you removed.
  1082. 45:42But I removed something that I thought,
  1083. 45:45or still think, ideally, hindered your
  1084. 45:47understanding or wasn't necessary for
  1085. 45:49your understanding, or made you say, "
  1086. 45:51Okay, we get it now," and we don't have
  1087. 45:53to dwell on it, and, oh, you see that
  1088. 45:55line? Ah, that was too much. I feel
  1089. 45:57like I would have understood it with
  1090. 45:58just a look. And, in fact, you'll never
  1091. 46:01know. So it can't cause any harm. But,
  1092. 46:05but, but that, that perspective towards
  1093. 46:07myself, that perspective from the
  1094. 46:09audience, of what they might eventually
  1095. 46:11think. It also brings us back to
  1096. 46:13respecting the audience's intelligence.
  1097. 46:15That perspective matters to me. And I
  1098. 46:16need it to move forward. I need it to,
  1099. 46:19uh, evolve myself. And the perspective,
  1100. 46:27or rather let's say of those others we
  1101. 46:33talked about earlier, whether it's on
  1102. 46:36social media or in more venomous or
  1103. 46:43biased critiques, well, that
  1104. 46:45perspective, you know, is it really a
  1105. 46:47perspective, or is it more like, you
  1106. 46:49know, you feel it's skewed and arms are
  1107. 46:51crossed? We're going nowhere with that,
  1108. 46:54exactly.
  1109. 46:55We're going nowhere with that.
  1110. 46:56So you have to stop wasting energy on
  1111. 46:58that.
  1112. 47:00But there's saying it and there's doing
  1113. 47:04it, like I was telling you.
  1114. 47:05And it's in my nature.
  1115. 47:07Yeah. And it depends on what moment of
  1116. 47:08your life you're in. You know, there
  1117. 47:09are all sorts of things. One morning
  1118. 47:11everything's fine, you read that, you
  1119. 47:12let it go. Yes, but then after that, we
  1120. 47:14aren't perfect and we, we
  1121. 47:17it comes out there and then you're like
  1122. 47:18, "Ah, you just attacked me for
  1123. 47:20something I said, you
  1124. 47:22that's not what I meant." But it was
  1125. 47:24clear. Why do you feel like someone
  1126. 47:26came along and pushed your buttons
  1127. 47:31and, you know, I took the trouble to
  1128. 47:32choose a specific word, and they put in
  1129. 47:34a different word instead, you know.
  1130. 47:37It's it's normal to react to that too.
  1131. 47:40After that, to what extent can it get
  1132. 47:41to you in the long run, and to what
  1133. 47:42extent can it spark a reaction, a
  1134. 47:44concrete reaction where you're going to
  1135. 47:45respond or you're going to...That's the
  1136. 47:47little bit of perspective. But it's
  1137. 47:50also normal to react and to just keep
  1138. 47:51it to yourself instead of writing back.
  1139. 47:53Oh no no no no.
  1140. 47:55Are you ready for the yellow level?
  1141. 47:58So you draw them, you give me four.
  1142. 48:01That's part of the past.
  1143. 48:02OK.
  1144. 48:03You're going to give me—you're going
  1145. 48:05to shuffle. I'll take four. You'll
  1146. 48:06answer a question, and then I'll ask
  1147. 48:08you a question. You pick one.
  1148. 48:17Here.
  1149. 48:18Oh no no, it's you, it's your game. OK,
  1150. 48:20thank you.
  1151. 48:21This right here?
  1152. 48:23Yeah,
  1153. 48:23I'll put one on top of the other and
  1154. 48:24one next to the other.
  1155. 48:26Whatever you like. It's your game. You
  1156. 48:28go with that, then it's going to be
  1157. 48:29anal-retentive, and it's going to be
  1158. 48:30set aside like this here.
  1159. 48:33OK. That part's important. Oh, I really
  1160. 48:35don't like what just happened here. Did
  1161. 48:37you see? It keeps sliding. There's an
  1162. 48:39angle in the table. My carpenter.
  1163. 48:42So, does that bother you?
  1164. 48:43We'll do it like this and put the apple
  1165. 48:44on top.
  1166. 48:47There's a lot going on in your head
  1167. 48:48right now.
  1168. 48:48Yeah. Excuse me. Pardon. The curiosity
  1169. 48:50just kicked in and
  1170. 48:51I love that. OK. So things are going
  1171. 48:54well.
  1172. 48:54It's going. Yeah. You?
  1173. 48:58So if it's crooked. Well, that's
  1174. 49:00perfect. So apply the rules, place the
  1175. 49:01cards, do whatever you want. I just
  1176. 49:03want you to be comfortable. What type
  1177. 49:04of lover are you? What is the biggest
  1178. 49:07challenge you have had to overcome?
  1179. 49:09Were you ever a child? I've been
  1180. 49:11wanting to ask you that question for a
  1181. 49:13long time. What did you not receive
  1182. 49:14from your parents that you missed out
  1183. 49:16on? Perfect.
  1184. 49:23You pick one.
  1185. 49:28Is there one that speaks to you? They
  1186. 49:31all speak to you. But
  1187. 49:38where do you want to go? I don't know.
  1188. 50:08I'll take "what type of lover are you."
  1189. 50:14Uh, I, I It's well phrased because I
  1190. 50:21think I'm a lover, but I don't think
  1191. 50:23I've ever been a partner or an active
  1192. 50:26member of a couple dynamic. I've always
  1193. 50:31had very short relationships, really
  1194. 50:32very short. And What I’ve known of
  1195. 50:41love is dynamics in which, well, I
  1196. 50:46would settle into a relationship and
  1197. 50:50then eventually, well, there was
  1198. 50:56distance, a detachment on my part. And
  1199. 51:04then it would end. And what else I've
  1200. 51:09known is love at first sight, well,
  1201. 51:16dazzling, devastating, or where I fall
  1202. 51:21for someone, in a way that’s
  1203. 51:30obsessive and quite destructive for me,
  1204. 51:34without it being mutual. [Sigh] That
  1205. 51:41tendency, I've had it pointed out to me
  1206. 51:44well. In recent years, I’d say in the
  1207. 51:48last 10 years of my life, people have
  1208. 51:49often taken advantage of it, to my
  1209. 51:53detriment. I think of people, you know,
  1210. 51:57who wanted to get things or who
  1211. 51:59understood I had a soft spot for them
  1212. 52:01and who perhaps saw opportunities or
  1213. 52:08who wanted to [Sigh]
  1214. 52:14be in our light, you know, there are
  1215. 52:15people who sometimes want to be in the
  1216. 52:16light. And I’ve reconciled with that
  1217. 52:20idea because I understand what
  1218. 52:22opportunism is, you know. [Sigh] I
  1219. 52:29understand, or in any case, I
  1220. 52:31understand the ambition to want to
  1221. 52:34succeed, to be afraid of nothing. It's
  1222. 52:38just what I don’t understand. And all
  1223. 52:42my life, I’ve fought against that and
  1224. 52:46to never do that. Uh and if I ever did
  1225. 52:57it and it’s just, I blame myself, I
  1226. 53:04blame myself for not remembering it.
  1227. 53:07That’s even worse. And I blame myself
  1228. 53:09for having thought that way, but
  1229. 53:13against the idea of—I said I’ve
  1230. 53:16fought all my life against the idea of
  1231. 53:19using someone you give nothing to just
  1232. 53:22to obtain something. That, I could
  1233. 53:28never do. I couldn’t sell someone the
  1234. 53:31idea that I love them, that I could
  1235. 53:33love them, to get something in return,
  1236. 53:38to taste their success, to be in their
  1237. 53:41light, to get their favors, to be seen
  1238. 53:44with them. I wouldn’t be capable of
  1239. 53:46doing that. My entire body would rebel
  1240. 53:49against that situation. And
  1241. 53:53it’s done to you. Unfortunately, it
  1242. 53:57is still something quite frequent as a
  1243. 54:03behavior. I observe it around me. I
  1244. 54:08have friends who are victims of it.
  1245. 54:13What’s also complicated with these
  1246. 54:14situations is that there’s always
  1247. 54:16real affection at the base. So it’s
  1248. 54:20not entirely fake or artificial. I’m
  1249. 54:22not an imbecile either, you know.
  1250. 54:24There’s always a part of truth you
  1251. 54:27can base things on, which you can
  1252. 54:29mention to others to confirm that, yes,
  1253. 54:32there is romantic potential. Yes, but
  1254. 54:35fundamentally, you realize that from
  1255. 54:39the start, there was never any
  1256. 54:42intention from the person for it to go
  1257. 54:45further, the intention to give you that
  1258. 54:52that in fact, uh it was opportunism
  1259. 54:59through romantic feelings. And how do
  1260. 55:05you recover from that? It's a betrayal.
  1261. 55:08Do you see it that way?
  1262. 55:10We recover each time, but it wears you
  1263. 55:12out.
  1264. 55:16That’s your passionate side coming
  1265. 55:18out at that moment.
  1266. 55:19Yes. Yeah.
  1267. 55:23And we nurture it in any case. We let
  1268. 55:26that passion live. But it's exhausting
  1269. 55:28because there is an enormous amount of
  1270. 55:32loneliness in that passion. And
  1271. 55:35sometimes, you know, usually the other
  1272. 55:37person manages to give us just enough
  1273. 55:39to keep it going, but
  1274. 55:41the fire stays lit
  1275. 55:42and without ever satisfying, or, and by
  1276. 55:45satisfying, I don't just mean sex or or
  1277. 55:48No,
  1278. 55:49satisfying can mean kissing, holding,
  1279. 55:51and hugging. Yes, it can be, uh,
  1280. 55:53through love, but there’s something
  1281. 55:57incomplete, and we live in a state of
  1282. 56:00waiting.
  1283. 56:01Do you have the feeling that you aren't
  1284. 56:03enough at those times to have the other
  1285. 56:05person completely with you?
  1286. 56:09No, I don't think I tell myself that
  1287. 56:11I’m not enough. I think I understand
  1288. 56:13that it doesn't depend on me. I think
  1289. 56:15it depends on the other person. And
  1290. 56:17but in the waiting, when you’re
  1291. 56:19waiting, do you feel like it's because
  1292. 56:21you aren't offering enough? Do you have
  1293. 56:24to give more?
  1294. 56:25But I think that’s what ends up
  1295. 56:26happening, you know. Uh you know, for
  1296. 56:30me, when that kind of situation happens
  1297. 56:32in my life when I meet someone like
  1298. 56:36that, I often tell myself, "Oh, this is
  1299. 56:38going to cost me." It’s going to cost
  1300. 56:41me in restaurants, it’s going to cost
  1301. 56:43me in "Hey, I'm in Paris for a film
  1302. 56:48promo.""Come, come, come spend the
  1303. 56:52weekend.""Oh, are you sure?""Yes, yes,
  1304. 56:54come, because they’re paying for my
  1305. 56:56hotel and I’ll buy you a ticket with
  1306. 56:57my frequent flyer points," and it gets
  1307. 56:59expensive. These passions are expensive
  1308. 57:02, and they are costly in human terms
  1309. 57:05too.
  1310. 57:05And what do you experience in these
  1311. 57:07passions that makes you repeat them?
  1312. 57:12Just an intensity. I’m not living a
  1313. 57:16mutuality; I’m living an intensity.
  1314. 57:17And what does it do for you to live
  1315. 57:19that intensity? I think it nourishes me
  1316. 57:25because you’re comfortable in that
  1317. 57:27zone of intensity.
  1318. 57:28Well, yes, we’re comfortable. We’re
  1319. 57:30comfortable when we aren't confronted.
  1320. 57:31Disconnected a bit from reality.
  1321. 57:32Exactly. We’re comfortable when we
  1322. 57:34aren't confronted with reality. We’re
  1323. 57:35in a great place.
  1324. 57:37We’re good because everything is
  1325. 57:38possible.
  1326. 57:40You’re making a film.
  1327. 57:41Yes. So so that
  1328. 57:46there’s something like cinema in
  1329. 57:47reality. When that reality is
  1330. 57:50confronted by a disconnect or a
  1331. 57:52disappointment, there’s a sense of
  1332. 57:54vertigo. It’s like an eight-story
  1333. 57:57drop in your gut, in your stomach. You
  1334. 57:59fall right there. But it’s just as
  1335. 58:03intense when you get the right text at
  1336. 58:05the right time, and it continues to
  1337. 58:10that vision of reality that you wish to
  1338. 58:12maintain, that you wish to nurture.
  1339. 58:15Then you take flight and everything is
  1340. 58:18light and and you visualize, you dream,
  1341. 58:26you see yourself. You know, there’s a
  1342. 58:29meme I really like on Instagram. Which
  1343. 58:31is so silly, but so accurate. And
  1344. 58:35it’s just written, you know, like me
  1345. 58:42I have to keep my distances. I have to
  1346. 58:45keep my distance when I fall, when I
  1347. 58:47have a crush and all that. It just says
  1348. 58:51, me: after a date with someone I like.
  1349. 58:57And there’s just a screenshot. It’s
  1350. 58:59just an image where it says "suit for
  1351. 59:01wedding" in a Google search. I’m like
  1352. 59:04, Yeah. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yes, yes, the
  1353. 59:07wedding, wedding in Tuscany with a
  1354. 59:09beautiful arch.
  1355. 59:13Uh, vineyards, uh, you know, filled
  1356. 59:15with hibiscus or buttercups or...Yes,
  1357. 59:18yes, the bow tie, the Armani suit, with
  1358. 59:21a double neckline, and yes, we
  1359. 59:23visualize these things in a crazy way.
  1360. 59:26When we have a crush, and we beat
  1361. 59:28ourselves up over it, but I think
  1362. 59:29everyone does it. I’m not saying
  1363. 59:32I’ve ever typed...I’m not saying
  1364. 59:34I’ve ever typed "suit for wedding,"
  1365. 59:36but it’s just a symbol. It’s just
  1366. 59:38an analogy that makes me laugh because
  1367. 59:40it captures our excess well. Uh, our
  1368. 59:43excess when we fall—it says it right
  1369. 59:47there—when we fall
  1370. 59:49in love.
  1371. 59:50In love.
  1372. 59:52And so, you’ve fallen in love often.
  1373. 59:56And how does the descent go? Honestly,
  1374. 1:00:01faster and faster, better and better,
  1375. 1:00:06more and more, it’s getting easier
  1376. 1:00:08and easier. It’s, uh
  1377. 1:00:11But is it a pattern you always repeat?
  1378. 1:00:13It’s a pattern that people repeat
  1379. 1:00:15with me, too.
  1380. 1:00:16But you’re receptive at the same time
  1381. 1:00:19.
  1382. 1:00:19Yes, but that’s what’s needed, you
  1383. 1:00:20know. I mean, for me,
  1384. 1:00:24you like that feeling
  1385. 1:00:26of being patient. It’s just that the
  1386. 1:00:28difference between me
  1387. 1:00:31and someone who falls into a pattern
  1388. 1:00:33like this, it's that this pattern, it's
  1389. 1:00:35presented to me
  1390. 1:00:38because you have to offer because you
  1391. 1:00:40have a lot to offer.
  1392. 1:00:41For someone as you say who is an
  1393. 1:00:43opportunist, who wants the spotlight,
  1394. 1:00:44you
  1395. 1:00:46even if I know it, from the moment I
  1396. 1:00:48close myself off completely like an
  1397. 1:00:50oyster and I don't want to let that in
  1398. 1:00:53anymore. But I become suspicious. If I
  1399. 1:00:58become suspicious, well I become lonely
  1400. 1:01:04because it's everywhere around me. And
  1401. 1:01:10it's one thing to spot it but to spot
  1402. 1:01:12it, you have to try it and see and
  1403. 1:01:14that's something that keeps happening
  1404. 1:01:17before I even choose it myself. It's
  1405. 1:01:20there in my life. And now, well, the
  1406. 1:01:22only thing I can do, because I can't
  1407. 1:01:24cut myself off entirely from the world
  1408. 1:01:26and tell myself "maybe this person
  1409. 1:01:28wants something from me, maybe they
  1410. 1:01:30want...", I can't, I can't be on my
  1411. 1:01:31guard like that all the time, because
  1412. 1:01:33then I'm not living.
  1413. 1:01:36because because I I would be turning my
  1414. 1:01:40back on my life, on life.
  1415. 1:01:43Yes. And hope that one day it works out
  1416. 1:01:45too. But is it
  1417. 1:01:47But I never think that I don't think it
  1418. 1:01:49would work out that way if it did work
  1419. 1:01:51out.
  1420. 1:01:52It wouldn't start with that kind of
  1421. 1:01:53situation. I
  1422. 1:01:55But since you are someone passionate,
  1423. 1:01:57is it necessary to always feel passion
  1424. 1:01:59or do you disconnect?
  1425. 1:02:02No. And when I saw what type of lover
  1426. 1:02:04are you, I wanted to answer you. I told
  1427. 1:02:07you I don't know, I think. But I no
  1428. 1:02:11no type of lover. I'm not looking for
  1429. 1:02:14that in my life. I don't wake up in the
  1430. 1:02:16morning saying "Oh, it would be fun to
  1431. 1:02:18You still think about your wedding?" No
  1432. 1:02:20no, it was a it was an image.
  1433. 1:02:24OK. OK. I understand but but you still
  1434. 1:02:26had a lot of details. But
  1435. 1:02:27yes, it was to make you laugh.
  1436. 1:02:28OK. But I was imagining it. I was
  1437. 1:02:30imagining you, I saw you at the altar,
  1438. 1:02:31I didn't see the other person. I didn't
  1439. 1:02:32know who it was
  1440. 1:02:33probably. Yes. Maybe but maybe not with
  1441. 1:02:37a a twist but
  1442. 1:02:42I'm not actively looking for that. Uh I
  1443. 1:02:47don't put myself in situations where I
  1444. 1:02:50can fall into a trap or I after that it
  1445. 1:02:53happens uh it presents itself. What I
  1446. 1:02:57can do differently now that I am
  1447. 1:02:58equipped to do things differently now
  1448. 1:03:00is to set my boundaries. Then, when I
  1449. 1:03:03feel I’ve fallen into a trap,
  1450. 1:03:05confront the other person and say: "
  1451. 1:03:07listen, you made me feel this, this,
  1452. 1:03:11and this." Because, the moment I’ve
  1453. 1:03:15lost something, or won't have it, or
  1454. 1:03:17see that I have indeed fallen into a
  1455. 1:03:19trap, the only way to regain dignity
  1456. 1:03:22and some form of control over the
  1457. 1:03:24situation—because since I can't
  1458. 1:03:26control the other person's feelings,
  1459. 1:03:28the only thing I can control is my
  1460. 1:03:30dignity, and getting answers to
  1461. 1:03:32questions, and being able to share with
  1462. 1:03:35people: "Why did you do that?" Do you
  1463. 1:03:38realize that this pattern is harmful to
  1464. 1:03:41me and that it’s malicious, and there
  1465. 1:03:44is a great sense of relief in that
  1466. 1:03:48in facing it.
  1467. 1:03:49Yes. In facing it
  1468. 1:03:51in facing Yes. Yes. Because
  1469. 1:03:54and then it has always led to
  1470. 1:03:55interesting conversations because
  1471. 1:03:56generally people don't just, uh, leave
  1472. 1:03:58and get defensive. They often say: "Oh,
  1473. 1:04:01uh, OK, well sorry, uh, uh..." And then
  1474. 1:04:04we talk, and they tell me: "But at the
  1475. 1:04:06same time..." And then, well sometimes
  1476. 1:04:08yes, people are full of and it was
  1477. 1:04:11all fake, but sometimes they also say:
  1478. 1:04:13"No, but actually I'm there, I'm with
  1479. 1:04:18you there." You're like: "Oh, OK." So
  1480. 1:04:19in the end, it can work and there’s a
  1481. 1:04:21stretch of road to travel together.
  1482. 1:04:23Eventually, things readjust and they
  1483. 1:04:25become friendships that are even
  1484. 1:04:27stronger. I don't dismiss either, I
  1485. 1:04:33don't cast aside.
  1486. 1:04:34these dynamics from my life entirely,
  1487. 1:04:36I'm not punitive
  1488. 1:04:38Yeah, but I need to face it to be able
  1489. 1:04:40to move on, and I need to say: "that
  1490. 1:04:41hurt me, and don't do that to someone
  1491. 1:04:43else." It's the only power I can regain
  1492. 1:04:46, you know. And it's not that I'm
  1493. 1:04:49looking for power, it's that if I've
  1494. 1:04:51been hurt, I don't need to get revenge,
  1495. 1:04:53but I have the need...
  1496. 1:04:55I have the need to say and to name,
  1497. 1:04:56yeah
  1498. 1:04:57naming naming, it's the same power as
  1499. 1:05:01choosing, you know, choosing others '
  1500. 1:05:02perspectives, choosing one's peers,
  1501. 1:05:04well naming,
  1502. 1:05:05saying and these are things that we we
  1503. 1:05:11that we can that we have a tendency to
  1504. 1:05:14acquire very late in life uh and that
  1505. 1:05:18have entered mine recently, naming uh
  1506. 1:05:24naming uh distinguishing and uh
  1507. 1:05:31choosing these are incredibly simple
  1508. 1:05:35verbs and of such complexity tentacular
  1509. 1:05:42. No, but sometimes it's time, it's
  1510. 1:05:44experience. Yes,
  1511. 1:05:45it doesn't just happen like that.
  1512. 1:05:46That's what life is for, right?
  1513. 1:05:47You have to stop making films for 7
  1514. 1:05:49years
  1515. 1:05:50to learn how to name things.
  1516. 1:05:52But because you have to live when you
  1517. 1:05:53only work.
  1518. 1:05:54Me, in addition, clearly all those
  1519. 1:05:57films lived in me for so long. You know
  1520. 1:06:00, it's no coincidence that JFO was a
  1521. 1:06:04film about show business, about the
  1522. 1:06:06relationship with the industry, about
  1523. 1:06:08after 2009, after 8 years of making
  1524. 1:06:15films and being part of an industry, of
  1525. 1:06:18being part of the festival circuit.
  1526. 1:06:21That’s what I had to say at that
  1527. 1:06:22point. That was it, so afterwards I
  1528. 1:06:24thought I need to experience things. I
  1529. 1:06:27need to live my life, to travel, to
  1530. 1:06:30meet people. I need to, to, to be led
  1531. 1:06:33by the nose, to be thrown out there. I
  1532. 1:06:38need, myself, to, to, to lose something
  1533. 1:06:43, to, to, to have a film project
  1534. 1:06:45collapse, to take care of, to my mental
  1535. 1:06:52health, to, to take care of myself so
  1536. 1:06:58that afterwards I can come back and
  1537. 1:07:01tell.
  1538. 1:07:02Not tell. Here is what I did in the
  1539. 1:07:04last 7 years. But
  1540. 1:07:06Ah, I had ideas born from those moments
  1541. 1:07:08of solitude, from those moments of, you
  1542. 1:07:10know, someone who is happy, and who
  1543. 1:07:12lives, and who has success, and who
  1544. 1:07:14travels. But I can't make a film,
  1545. 1:07:17myself, about "I went to Cannes to the
  1546. 1:07:19hotel and I had a coffee and I did an
  1547. 1:07:21interview there," you know.
  1548. 1:07:24Yeah, but you're an emotion sensor too.
  1549. 1:07:26You're a human observer. That's it.
  1550. 1:07:28Yeah. But there isn't much humanity in
  1551. 1:07:31the industry.
  1552. 1:07:33But that's why you got out of it, then.
  1553. 1:07:34That's it.
  1554. 1:07:35It feels good to go see what's
  1555. 1:07:36elsewhere.
  1556. 1:07:36Yeah. And you know, during my phases of
  1557. 1:07:42doubt and during the media appearances
  1558. 1:07:44there might have been, whether they
  1559. 1:07:46were from me or something I didn't ask
  1560. 1:07:48for, or you know, there's always a
  1561. 1:07:50pendulum. There is I don't know why I
  1562. 1:07:55winked like that, but in any case it's
  1563. 1:07:56interesting. I am, I am observing you.
  1564. 1:07:58Cut that out. There has been one
  1565. 1:08:03constant, and it's the public. People,
  1566. 1:08:08uh, men, women, uh, the young, the
  1567. 1:08:11older ones, the, the, the people. I and
  1568. 1:08:18I didn't venture into the depths of
  1569. 1:08:20Reddit because you know what I think of
  1570. 1:08:22it, but on social networks, on, uh,
  1571. 1:08:24they defended me, uh, saying "Come on,
  1572. 1:08:27he never said that, honestly.""It's the
  1573. 1:08:32isolation, the loneliness, I felt it
  1574. 1:08:34more from certain people in the
  1575. 1:08:36industry and in certain circles,
  1576. 1:08:38certain artistic bodies, certain
  1577. 1:08:42an organ an organ. An organism, in any
  1578. 1:08:46case.
  1579. 1:08:46Yeah, that's for sure.
  1580. 1:08:48An organ,
  1581. 1:08:49a beautiful organism.
  1582. 1:08:52In any case,
  1583. 1:08:53I always felt the the the it soothed me
  1584. 1:08:57a lot, you know. But especially since
  1585. 1:09:00what you've done, you do it for the
  1586. 1:09:01public and the public gives it back to
  1587. 1:09:02you. So from there, that's the end of
  1588. 1:09:04the story. Exactly. Exactly. That's it.
  1589. 1:09:06The rest is, it's part of the story,
  1590. 1:09:08but it's not what you'll remember. For
  1591. 1:09:10me, it's this question that I want to
  1592. 1:09:12ask you, and it's funny, one time I was
  1593. 1:09:14giving a lecture and at the end of the
  1594. 1:09:15lecture they asked me questions, but
  1595. 1:09:17not about my lecture. They asked me,
  1596. 1:09:19several times they asked me, which
  1597. 1:09:20guest would you like to host, who would
  1598. 1:09:22you like to interview? And then at that
  1599. 1:09:25time, they always think I'm going to
  1600. 1:09:27name, I don't know. I've already done
  1601. 1:09:29it.
  1602. 1:09:29I know.
  1603. 1:09:30after you arrive after that
  1604. 1:09:31you could you could
  1605. 1:09:33Well yes I could, but you know, they're
  1606. 1:09:35going to think, big shoes to fill.
  1607. 1:09:37yeah they're going to think Baron, I
  1608. 1:09:39don't know, and me
  1609. 1:09:40not the same legs, we don't have the
  1610. 1:09:41the
  1611. 1:09:42but I always say Xavier computation
  1612. 1:09:44Me, I, always Xavier Dolan, and that,
  1613. 1:09:46that...Ah yes, you've never done Xavier
  1614. 1:09:48? I say no, and then the other time,
  1615. 1:09:49someone said to me:" OK, but what would
  1616. 1:09:51be the question you would want to ask?
  1617. 1:09:53"And I said:" The question I should ask
  1618. 1:09:55is: has he ever been a child? "And then
  1619. 1:09:57, everyone got emotional with the uh
  1620. 1:09:59with the question, but it's what came
  1621. 1:10:01to me. And I'm going to I'm just going
  1622. 1:10:02to put it in context, for example. Why?
  1623. 1:10:04Because I I had put it in context at
  1624. 1:10:06that moment too. Me, when I watched for
  1625. 1:10:09the first time uh" I Killed My Mother "
  1626. 1:10:11and I understood the age you were when
  1627. 1:10:14you you thought of that idea, when you
  1628. 1:10:17wrote that film, I said:" But who is it
  1629. 1:10:20? "that's when you became interesting
  1630. 1:10:22to me. from that moment on, after the
  1631. 1:10:24first viewing, I want to know this guy.
  1632. 1:10:27Who is is he? No, but who is this old
  1633. 1:10:29soul? Where does he arrive from? Where
  1634. 1:10:30does he come from, from what planet? I
  1635. 1:10:32get the feeling that you know, I'm not
  1636. 1:10:33really one for past lives, but I
  1637. 1:10:35thought to myself, it’s like this
  1638. 1:10:36isn't his first life. You see, I
  1639. 1:10:37thought that about you because I told
  1640. 1:10:39myself, there is a strength in the
  1641. 1:10:41content, in the understanding, in the
  1642. 1:10:43angle, and in the perspective that I
  1643. 1:10:45felt all through this film. I knew that
  1644. 1:10:48came from you, but I wondered, how can
  1645. 1:10:50someone be a child and write that so
  1646. 1:10:53young? The question.
  1647. 1:10:58Well, ask me again. So,
  1648. 1:11:00have you ever been a child? Not for
  1649. 1:11:03long. Uhh not for long, that's between
  1650. 1:11:11the age of 1 and 4 or 5 then after uhh
  1651. 1:11:22it was a mix of all sorts of eras, of
  1652. 1:11:23all sorts of backgrounds, of
  1653. 1:11:25environments. But I think we left the
  1654. 1:11:31territory of childhood. By that, I mean
  1655. 1:11:38childhood, what it is, or rather what
  1656. 1:11:40it should be: a protected environment,
  1657. 1:11:44a healthy environment, an environment
  1658. 1:12:00with boundaries. of understanding. HH
  1659. 1:12:09let's say that very young I started,
  1660. 1:12:16you know, doing commercials for
  1661. 1:12:17high-end brands and being part of the
  1662. 1:12:19industry and all that. And that created
  1663. 1:12:23a a break from reality, you know. For
  1664. 1:12:28me, as a child, first of all, I was...I
  1665. 1:12:32, I have ADHD, uh, but it wasn't
  1666. 1:12:39diagnosed at the time, though it was
  1667. 1:12:43noted in many ways on report cards and
  1668. 1:12:47in behavioral reports as a problem, as
  1669. 1:12:52a...but yeah, it wasn't explored or
  1670. 1:12:58cared for or treated. Obviously,
  1671. 1:13:03compared to today, what we knew back
  1672. 1:13:04then was extremely lacking and the
  1673. 1:13:09solutions were very few. Well, there
  1674. 1:13:13was one, Ritalin, and kids were drugged
  1675. 1:13:15up on it and then they'd come back to
  1676. 1:13:17class and were like that, I understand.
  1677. 1:13:21But, from the moment that, that, that
  1678. 1:13:31the commercials started, and where I, I
  1679. 1:13:34discovered that adult world, turbulent,
  1680. 1:13:37fast, always in motion within that
  1681. 1:13:40creative dynamic, uh, the cameras, the
  1682. 1:13:43technicians, uh, all that obviously
  1683. 1:13:46intertwined with the discovery, you
  1684. 1:13:52know, of, of my sexuality, of my
  1685. 1:13:54identity, uh, being tossed around like
  1686. 1:14:03that between, between show business,
  1687. 1:14:05you know, and then having to confront
  1688. 1:14:08that with the reality of primary school
  1689. 1:14:11, you know, I know I was a really
  1690. 1:14:14difficult child, you know, for the
  1691. 1:14:16others. others uh I fought a lot uh I
  1692. 1:14:25took up way too much space. Uh, my
  1693. 1:14:30mother had told me, you know, to never,
  1694. 1:14:32ever, ever, ever, ever talk about my
  1695. 1:14:34commercials, you know. It was sacred. I
  1696. 1:14:38absolutely had to never talk about them
  1697. 1:14:40, to be as humble as possible. But you
  1698. 1:14:43know, telling a child that, it's like
  1699. 1:14:46me saying don't drink, don't smoke, and
  1700. 1:14:50don't do drugs.
  1701. 1:14:54What do you want to do?
  1702. 1:14:56The opposite.
  1703. 1:14:57Exactly. So that's fine. It was
  1704. 1:15:01obviously the idea of not bragging, so
  1705. 1:15:04as not to be hated, so that...Because
  1706. 1:15:06we hate that, people who brag, all that
  1707. 1:15:08. But then I, for a long time, you know
  1708. 1:15:11, I was convinced never to talk about
  1709. 1:15:13it. People talked to me about it all
  1710. 1:15:15the time: parents, you know, students
  1711. 1:15:17would come talk to me about it,
  1712. 1:15:19students would...But you know, all the
  1713. 1:15:20weird dynamics it created, and...
  1714. 1:15:23Did it separate you from others?
  1715. 1:15:27In a way, I think, I think, I think I
  1716. 1:15:28was also just straight-up strange. You
  1717. 1:15:31know, I had a very strange relationship
  1718. 1:15:33with authority. I, I would boss the
  1719. 1:15:36younger ones around. I was verbally and
  1720. 1:15:39physically violent, you know. And
  1721. 1:15:45Were you violent at home as well? Uh,
  1722. 1:15:51well yes, uh, yes. Well yes, I was a
  1723. 1:15:53child, I was an angry child. I was a
  1724. 1:15:55child, uh, I still am. Uh. Yes, yes, I
  1725. 1:16:03was, I was totally—afterward, the
  1726. 1:16:06instincts that manifested in society
  1727. 1:16:08too were strange. A weird type of
  1728. 1:16:13dynamic that I had observed either on
  1729. 1:16:15film sets or I don't know where in my
  1730. 1:16:21life, but that I would replicate like
  1731. 1:16:23that, you know, as a child, and which,
  1732. 1:16:25well, must have been really peculiar
  1733. 1:16:28and was not
  1734. 1:16:29typical, I would say, of a child.
  1735. 1:16:31But where were you happy?
  1736. 1:16:34Where was I happy?
  1737. 1:16:35Yeah. Where did you feel good at that
  1738. 1:16:37time, did you have a place where you
  1739. 1:16:39were at peace? Where you weren't
  1740. 1:16:42confronted by the outside world?
  1741. 1:16:44On set? With people your own age?
  1742. 1:16:50But even on sets, you know, I was, I
  1743. 1:16:54was, I was very restless. And, you know
  1744. 1:16:59, we live in an era today where we are
  1745. 1:17:02in, in a listening mode, at least, we
  1746. 1:17:04try to be. We advocate for it, we name,
  1747. 1:17:08you know, as we said earlier, things;
  1748. 1:17:11we address, uh, needs; we want to have
  1749. 1:17:14non-violent communication. Hell, that
  1750. 1:17:18word didn't even exist when I was a kid
  1751. 1:17:20, you know. Uh, a child who was who was
  1752. 1:17:23jumping around, you know," shut your
  1753. 1:17:25mouth, sit down, and stop talking. "I'm
  1754. 1:17:27going to give you a demerit in your
  1755. 1:17:29agenda. Hey, I'm going to I'm going to
  1756. 1:17:31fail you in this subject. I'm going to,
  1757. 1:17:33you know, all that.
  1758. 1:17:34Are there any consequences? You weren't
  1759. 1:17:36in solution mode. All those behaviors,
  1760. 1:17:40uh, were met with very punitive methods
  1761. 1:17:42, you know, and that just exacerbated
  1762. 1:17:44them, I think. But I remember one
  1763. 1:17:49really striking episode that uh which
  1764. 1:17:56was a turning point, actually, in I
  1765. 1:18:04think it had been a long time since I
  1766. 1:18:05was a child, but that's when I became a
  1767. 1:18:10teenager or an adult, it was, but I was
  1768. 1:18:11extremely young. It was, uh, at 10 or
  1769. 1:18:1411 years old, I had filmed" The
  1770. 1:18:16Suspended Fortress "for Les Productions
  1771. 1:18:19La Fête. Uh, and I had missed some I
  1772. 1:18:23had missed school, and, uh, so I was in
  1773. 1:18:276th grade and there was a teacher,
  1774. 1:18:32secular, it was a religious school but
  1775. 1:18:35she was a secular teacher named Karen
  1776. 1:18:42or Karine, Karen, I think, Ms. Karen.
  1777. 1:18:47And she had set up a class council
  1778. 1:18:51where we would compliment or criticize
  1779. 1:18:58each other, you know, by writing on a
  1780. 1:19:01piece of paper things we liked or
  1781. 1:19:04things we liked less and wanted to
  1782. 1:19:07discuss to eventually resolve. Well,
  1783. 1:19:10and so on. The idea in itself is fine.
  1784. 1:19:15So she would read all of that in front
  1785. 1:19:22of the class on Friday before we left,
  1786. 1:19:23I think it was the Friday before we
  1787. 1:19:25left the boarding school. I was at
  1788. 1:19:28boarding school, on a reflection, there
  1789. 1:19:30. You would leave, like, with a
  1790. 1:19:31reflection for the weekend. So you were
  1791. 1:19:33a boarder starting at age 7, like
  1792. 1:19:35from 7 to 13 or Yeah.
  1793. 1:19:36OK. 14, uh, so, no, from 8 to 14, in
  1794. 1:19:49any case, uh, so, she was taking, she
  1795. 1:19:55was literally picking from a hat things
  1796. 1:19:57that had been submitted by other
  1797. 1:19:59students, written by other students,
  1798. 1:20:01and she says:" So, well, it's
  1799. 1:20:03Stéphanie. "So she named the person
  1800. 1:20:07who had written the note, it wasn't
  1801. 1:20:09anonymous, uh, and says:" Well, so
  1802. 1:20:11Stéphanie today wants to tell us that
  1803. 1:20:13... "That's it, her name is Stéphanie,
  1804. 1:20:16the young student had her note, it was:
  1805. 1:20:18" Well, today I would like to complain
  1806. 1:20:21about Xavier's behavior, uh. "He never
  1807. 1:20:24raises his hand to speak, he never asks
  1808. 1:20:26for permission to go to the computer,
  1809. 1:20:28he’s always showing off, he’s
  1810. 1:20:29always talking about his ads, uh, uh,
  1811. 1:20:31the special treatment, blah, blah, blah
  1812. 1:20:33, everything. That...that was quite a
  1813. 1:20:36dense critique. And I remember my heart
  1814. 1:20:39was beating very, very fast. And uh, so
  1815. 1:20:43the the the idea, the teacher's choice
  1816. 1:20:47uh, following the reading of that note,
  1817. 1:20:51was to hold a vote. Uh.
  1818. 1:20:55By a show of hands.
  1819. 1:20:56Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so, who agreed and who
  1820. 1:21:00didn't. And uh, well I was sitting in
  1821. 1:21:04the middle of the class, and so all the
  1822. 1:21:07hands were raised in front of me, and
  1823. 1:21:09then I turned around, and all the hands
  1824. 1:21:11were raised behind me, including those
  1825. 1:21:13of my best friends, you know, and at
  1826. 1:21:20that moment, I remember thinking:" I'm
  1827. 1:21:30all alone. "If I didn't realize all of
  1828. 1:21:34that, I'm I'm all alone. I'm on my own.
  1829. 1:21:43I I I can't depend on anyone to educate
  1830. 1:21:47me, to show me how to live, how to act,
  1831. 1:21:52how to be with others. I'm all alone.
  1832. 1:21:59And I have to pull myself together and
  1833. 1:22:01take charge because if I don't look out
  1834. 1:22:03for myself, no one will do it for me.
  1835. 1:22:12And it didn't happen right then and
  1836. 1:22:15there because I was 11 years old. But
  1837. 1:22:23that was the reflection. Is that when
  1838. 1:22:28you started writing?
  1839. 1:22:33No, I was already writing.
  1840. 1:22:35Oh, yeah?
  1841. 1:22:35Yeah. I was writing movie synopses, I
  1842. 1:22:38was writing poems, I was writing shows
  1843. 1:22:41about people with superpowers and a bit
  1844. 1:22:44inspired by, no, I was already writing.
  1845. 1:22:47So you had that living inside you in
  1846. 1:22:50your in your solitude? You had a world,
  1847. 1:22:54you had your own world. I never spent
  1848. 1:22:55time telling myself," Oh my god, I’m
  1849. 1:22:57so different from the others, I’m so
  1850. 1:22:59different. "" You know, me
  1851. 1:23:00it’s like they tell you that, for
  1852. 1:23:02example,
  1853. 1:23:02they tell me, but I didn't hear that. I
  1854. 1:23:05wanted to play with the other kids.
  1855. 1:23:07I wanted to play role-playing games. I
  1856. 1:23:08wanted to pretend to be Neo in The
  1857. 1:23:10Matrix. I wanted to pretend to be Harry
  1858. 1:23:12Potter. I, I wanted to be good at
  1859. 1:23:15sports and I wasn't. Uh, I wanted
  1860. 1:23:19Félix to teach me how to play football
  1861. 1:23:21in 5th grade and he did. I wanted uh uh
  1862. 1:23:25to, you know, I wanted to play
  1863. 1:23:27hide-and-seek in the lockers with
  1864. 1:23:30Guérine. Uh, I wanted to be normal,
  1865. 1:23:33you know.
  1866. 1:23:35But from
  1867. 1:23:36I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy being,
  1868. 1:23:38being, being, you know, I
  1869. 1:23:41If you hadn't done commercials, if you
  1870. 1:23:42hadn't done that, would it have changed
  1871. 1:23:43anything? Sure, but because it sort of
  1872. 1:23:47created a bias, too. It set you apart
  1873. 1:23:52from your
  1874. 1:23:53a bias for others
  1875. 1:23:54for others, not for you, but in the
  1876. 1:23:55sense that
  1877. 1:23:56something I can't control. They put you
  1878. 1:23:59, they put you in a separate category.
  1879. 1:24:01Hm
  1880. 1:24:01hm.
  1881. 1:24:01Because being on TV is also impressive.
  1882. 1:24:04Sure, but you know, who is a child and
  1883. 1:24:07not someone mature who is going to
  1884. 1:24:09behave, uh, in the face of that, in a
  1885. 1:24:11way that is necessarily, uh, in good
  1886. 1:24:13taste? Or you know, uh, when we give
  1887. 1:24:15someone power or or or make them feel
  1888. 1:24:17like they intimidate us, well, they can
  1889. 1:24:20very well use it the wrong way. You
  1890. 1:24:22know, a a child
  1891. 1:24:25and at
  1892. 1:24:26it's mean
  1893. 1:24:2711 years after that episode of the
  1894. 1:24:28raised hand in your class, what has
  1895. 1:24:30changed? I never forgot that moment,
  1896. 1:24:35but after that, if you want, I went
  1897. 1:24:40back to high school and uh private
  1898. 1:24:45school in Longueuil, and after a month,
  1899. 1:24:46well there was a gap, you know, in my
  1900. 1:24:48grades. And once again, well I I was
  1901. 1:24:51disturbing my classmates in class, and
  1902. 1:24:52I could I was talking and it's and it's
  1903. 1:24:54okay, anyway, you know. And so I was
  1904. 1:24:57expelled, I went back to the boarding
  1905. 1:24:59school uh in the Eastern Townships. Uh
  1906. 1:25:03and then uh and then there, well I was
  1907. 1:25:10confronted and I hadn't experienced
  1908. 1:25:13that at all in elementary school. I was
  1909. 1:25:18confronted with very, very great verbal
  1910. 1:25:21and physical violence from the local
  1911. 1:25:25youths toward one another. And it
  1912. 1:25:30became the law of the jungle, it became
  1913. 1:25:35you had to survive. So to survive, you
  1914. 1:25:38had to say someone else was a loser.
  1915. 1:25:43And every week, not day, but maybe
  1916. 1:25:52every other day, every third day, I
  1917. 1:25:54think of the the young people who were
  1918. 1:25:59victims of these of these uh bullying
  1919. 1:26:07there. And uh we were all there, we
  1920. 1:26:10were all getting uh bullied. But I I I
  1921. 1:26:18wouldn't say that I was bullied there,
  1922. 1:26:22you know. I liked it, I sided, you know
  1923. 1:26:30, with the side actually, I think that
  1924. 1:26:35this sort of overachieving aspect in my
  1925. 1:26:38head uh that came from from that
  1926. 1:26:44hyperactivity made me do even more than
  1927. 1:26:46the client asked for. And After that, I
  1928. 1:26:53wanted to leave that school because I I
  1929. 1:26:55absolutely wanted to come home because
  1930. 1:26:57I didn't recognize myself anymore in
  1931. 1:26:59that in that nastiness. Uh, and also,
  1932. 1:27:05well, I knew I was gay, and I was
  1933. 1:27:07suffering, and I I wanted to, I was
  1934. 1:27:11externalizing that on on others, and
  1935. 1:27:16afterward I came back home, and then,
  1936. 1:27:21in ninth grade, well I went to live
  1937. 1:27:24with my uncle and aunt, with my cousins
  1938. 1:27:27, and from there on, I had a family
  1939. 1:27:38residential dynamic that was normal.
  1940. 1:27:48There were rules, there was homework to
  1941. 1:27:51do, set times to do things. There were
  1942. 1:27:54moments of laughter, of closeness,
  1943. 1:27:56meals together, morning routines with
  1944. 1:27:58the TV playing and the news, "Salut
  1945. 1:28:00Bonjour," and breakfast, and toast, and
  1946. 1:28:03the toaster, and there from there on
  1947. 1:28:10there from there on, it was okay. I
  1948. 1:28:14came out in ninth grade. I confronted
  1949. 1:28:20guys who were homophobic and weren't
  1950. 1:28:22nice to me. And by doing it using
  1951. 1:28:24non-violent communication,
  1952. 1:28:26uh, in the end I had many, most of them
  1953. 1:28:29were like, "It's true, sorry." It was
  1954. 1:28:32like a kind of bad ad against bullying,
  1955. 1:28:34but one that ends well, just like that.
  1956. 1:28:37But it was like that, just by talking,
  1957. 1:28:38and saying, "I don't understand, we
  1958. 1:28:40were friends, and then all of a sudden,
  1959. 1:28:41you know..." And it was like, "Okay,
  1960. 1:28:43yeah, okay." But in the end, the week
  1961. 1:28:45after, you know, we were friends. And
  1962. 1:28:47in tenth grade, well, I I I had friends
  1963. 1:28:51. And it always remained an environment
  1964. 1:28:57where there's dark humor, and where we
  1965. 1:28:58make fun of each other a bit, but it
  1966. 1:29:00wasn't in that violent way anymore. And
  1967. 1:29:02in that, there was a sense, uh, let's
  1968. 1:29:08say, of humanity that had been
  1969. 1:29:09rediscovered. Uh I also think that, you
  1970. 1:29:15know, we spend a lot of time hating
  1971. 1:29:17ourselves, feeling bad and hiding. Uh,
  1972. 1:29:23and when we hold things in, when we
  1973. 1:29:26have a secret, well, we we project a
  1974. 1:29:29lot of ugliness and animosity onto
  1975. 1:29:31others. And when we get free of it,
  1976. 1:29:36well, when we free ourselves from that,
  1977. 1:29:42we suddenly have more room for our
  1978. 1:29:45humanity, you know, and for others. And
  1979. 1:29:52I would say that's what happened to me
  1980. 1:29:55in ninth grade. And you see, between
  1981. 1:29:59Madame Karen's class council and all
  1982. 1:30:02the raised hands telling me that it
  1983. 1:30:07wasn't working, you know, my thing that
  1984. 1:30:09I wasn't that I wasn't okay, that I
  1985. 1:30:12wasn't a good person, that I wasn't
  1986. 1:30:14loved. Up until then, it was still a a
  1987. 1:30:21downward spiral. And were you ever a
  1988. 1:30:23child? Yes. Did those spirals and those
  1989. 1:30:27boarding schools and those
  1990. 1:30:28back-and-forths in the industry and
  1991. 1:30:31having been abandoned like that by the
  1992. 1:30:33community, you know? That’s how I
  1993. 1:30:36experienced it, like a heartbreak, you
  1994. 1:30:37know. No one wanted a kid who was in a
  1995. 1:30:40boarding school, in Saint-Don, and who
  1996. 1:30:42costs us a driver, and a bus, and who
  1997. 1:30:44isn't available, and who's...it hurts
  1998. 1:30:46to lose, to lose the work like that,
  1999. 1:30:47you know, which was the only place
  2000. 1:30:49where I felt I could shine, even if
  2001. 1:30:53they blamed me for it, even if André
  2002. 1:30:55Melançon told me every day of filming,
  2003. 1:30:58every day of filming, after the
  2004. 1:30:59commercials, I’d ask
  2005. 1:31:01I would go see him to ask if my
  2006. 1:31:02behavior was better, and he would
  2007. 1:31:03always answer me the same thing.
  2008. 1:31:08There's room for improvement. so
  2009. 1:31:15but in that environment, when you had
  2010. 1:31:17your scenes, you were fully yourself.
  2011. 1:31:19You also had all the light, you had
  2012. 1:31:22your place.
  2013. 1:31:24Yeah, I had my place.
  2014. 1:31:26Did you have
  2015. 1:31:26I don't know if I wanted all the
  2016. 1:31:28attention and all the light, clearly.
  2017. 1:31:29But, but you had, but I think it was
  2018. 1:31:31mostly that I had my place. Yeah,
  2019. 1:31:32that’s well, that’s well put.
  2020. 1:31:34Elsewhere, it was hard to define that
  2021. 1:31:36place.
  2022. 1:31:36It was, that's it,
  2023. 1:31:37in motion. The impression you had—
  2024. 1:31:40I’ve been listening to you for a
  2025. 1:31:41while now, I feel there was a lot of
  2026. 1:31:42movement in that period, and you’ve
  2027. 1:31:44never spoken to me about your father
  2028. 1:31:45and mother. Where are they? Uh, they
  2029. 1:31:53are there, uh, they are at, at—you
  2030. 1:32:00mean during, uh,
  2031. 1:32:02in your life, what place do they take?
  2032. 1:32:04Today or back then? Back then.
  2033. 1:32:20Difficult, uh, it's often then that
  2034. 1:32:28this card comes up.
  2035. 1:32:30But you know,
  2036. 1:32:31but you don't have to answer that. you
  2037. 1:32:32gave me.
  2038. 1:32:33No, I won't answer, but I will tell you
  2039. 1:32:35: "hh, in the work I've been trying to
  2040. 1:32:43do over the last few years, in the idea
  2041. 1:32:45of naming and choosing one's battles,
  2042. 1:32:48of choosing what we can, of identifying
  2043. 1:32:50what we can control and what we can't
  2044. 1:32:52control, uh, there is one thing that
  2045. 1:32:54has been constant in my life and that I
  2046. 1:32:56have always tried to cultivate and that
  2047. 1:32:58has been really useful for learning to
  2048. 1:33:00forgive myself.» me towards myself
  2049. 1:33:04also my wrongs or asking others for
  2050. 1:33:06forgiveness or to and or and which has
  2051. 1:33:09always been at the heart of my writing.
  2052. 1:33:16Then it's uh uh uh empathy uh without
  2053. 1:33:27empathy, we we we are lost, you know.
  2054. 1:33:31We are we are no one uh to write
  2055. 1:33:35characters, to write stories. You can't
  2056. 1:33:38just have empathy for one character and
  2057. 1:33:41then not for another. You have to
  2058. 1:33:43defend everyone. You have to be ready
  2059. 1:33:45to go to the front lines for each of
  2060. 1:33:48the characters. Uh then you have to
  2061. 1:33:54learn to do it for people in life too
  2062. 1:33:57because we don't live in a movie, we
  2063. 1:34:00live life where each of our words has
  2064. 1:34:03an impact, each of our actions has a
  2065. 1:34:08posterity. And and I have many flaws, I
  2066. 1:34:18have many shortcomings, but I have
  2067. 1:34:25empathy, and that empathy there makes
  2068. 1:34:33me decide not to be accountable or not,
  2069. 1:34:45not to elaborate on what parenthood is,
  2070. 1:34:48or on what my relationship is to, to my
  2071. 1:34:53parents back then, because I think that
  2072. 1:34:56in any case the Joker is eloquent, but
  2073. 1:34:59because.
  2074. 1:35:02I will do that when the time is chosen
  2075. 1:35:06one day uh if I haven't already done it
  2076. 1:35:12in public in a film and in certain
  2077. 1:35:17others after if you will in a certain
  2078. 1:35:19way. So I think that's sufficient.
  2079. 1:35:24Very well answered. Is it your story?
  2080. 1:35:27Uh
  2081. 1:35:27is it your story? Does it belong to you
  2082. 1:35:29? Well it's my story but it's my
  2083. 1:35:31parents' story too you know.
  2084. 1:35:33Yes yes yes.
  2085. 1:35:34Lately there's someone who you know we
  2086. 1:35:36were talking about trauma. For a long
  2087. 1:35:40time, I thought, you know, that a
  2088. 1:35:42trauma was something in emergency
  2089. 1:35:44medicine, like in er, in any case in an
  2090. 1:35:46emergency, in in, but you know, because
  2091. 1:35:48once again, you know, it's very recent
  2092. 1:35:51in our vocabulary to talk about it, to
  2093. 1:35:53trivialize it, to democratize it. You
  2094. 1:35:55know, a trauma, it's not just you fall
  2095. 1:35:57from the 8th floor, a physical trauma
  2096. 1:35:59there, you know. No, I was traumatized
  2097. 1:36:01by such and such a thing. And, it's
  2098. 1:36:03very serious when we say" trauma ". And
  2099. 1:36:05but, there is" traumatism ", and there
  2100. 1:36:08is" trauma ", and...and there are many
  2101. 1:36:14things, you know, that...that because I
  2102. 1:36:18could name them, and because I could
  2103. 1:36:19understand them, because I thought I
  2104. 1:36:21had empathy, and I would say:" No, but
  2105. 1:36:22at the same time there’s this, and
  2106. 1:36:24there’s that, and it was hard, and
  2107. 1:36:25such and such a person went through
  2108. 1:36:26such and such a difficulty... "And but,
  2109. 1:36:31just because we understand a trauma we
  2110. 1:36:35experienced by, by justifying it with
  2111. 1:36:37another person's traumas or another
  2112. 1:36:39person's own difficulties, doesn't mean
  2113. 1:36:41we solve it for ourselves. You know,
  2114. 1:36:44there's naming and there's healing.
  2115. 1:36:49They are two different things. To heal,
  2116. 1:36:51you have to name it step by step. Yes.
  2117. 1:36:54And healing from trauma, sometimes uh
  2118. 1:36:56we heal, but it remains and when we
  2119. 1:36:58scratch it comes back too. And there
  2120. 1:37:02are traumas that
  2121. 1:37:05that come in in adult life to tickle
  2122. 1:37:11those from childhood. So
  2123. 1:37:13Yeah, but childhood is our it's still
  2124. 1:37:16the pillar of who we are. It's an
  2125. 1:37:19important pillar of who we will always
  2126. 1:37:22be.
  2127. 1:37:24So I don't know if I was ever a child,
  2128. 1:37:32but I know that if I hadn't had the
  2129. 1:37:34childhood and adolescence I had, I
  2130. 1:37:40would probably not have made films or
  2131. 1:37:46not made those films.
  2132. 1:37:47Hm hm hm. in that way. Hm
  2133. 1:37:49hm.
  2134. 1:37:51I might not have, even if some of these
  2135. 1:37:53traits are inherent or I had them at
  2136. 1:37:55birth, I might not have had that
  2137. 1:37:57audacity. I might not have. That's why
  2138. 1:38:01I've never held any regret or
  2139. 1:38:04bitterness toward the childhood I had.
  2140. 1:38:09But I think I spent a lot of time
  2141. 1:38:17exploiting that childhood, and the
  2142. 1:38:23traumas that marked it, just like the
  2143. 1:38:26events or the the...but the divorces,
  2144. 1:38:31the moving, the the the boarding
  2145. 1:38:36schools, the this, the that, the
  2146. 1:38:37filming, the heartbreaks, the
  2147. 1:38:39rejections, the coming out. I spent a
  2148. 1:38:42lot of time drawing from those things
  2149. 1:38:47their juice and their essence and their
  2150. 1:38:49sap to be able to make films out of
  2151. 1:38:51them and not to be able to understand,
  2152. 1:38:54you know, how these traumas damaged me.
  2153. 1:38:57damaged so that's what I've been doing
  2154. 1:39:03in recent years. Red level
  2155. 1:39:07damn
  2156. 1:39:10you we’re answering just one red
  2157. 1:39:11level question and you’re giving me
  2158. 1:39:13three.
  2159. 1:39:17Thanks. Do you have any regrets? What
  2160. 1:39:22is your biggest source of insecurity?
  2161. 1:39:26Which loss was the hardest to go
  2162. 1:39:27through? Would you like to go see the
  2163. 1:39:57other one? They're fine.
  2164. 1:40:00But would you like to see the other one
  2165. 1:40:01if you have doubts? Well, that's it.
  2166. 1:40:02You can Oh yes, we’ll we can change
  2167. 1:40:04the rules. What is your relationship
  2168. 1:40:08with death? Let's leave it there.
  2169. 1:40:11Bye. Great. Uh, you know what? Actually
  2170. 1:40:19, I'll take that one.
  2171. 1:40:20Perfect. And I don't know which one to
  2172. 1:40:22remove, but I'll let you you can choose
  2173. 1:40:25between those three.
  2174. 1:40:26No, we're not picking any more. We only
  2175. 1:40:27answer one question in the red level.
  2176. 1:40:29That's good. That's cool. I'm prepared.
  2177. 1:40:31I'm well prepared. I've done my
  2178. 1:40:32homework. I'll take" what is your
  2179. 1:40:34relationship with death. "Yeah, go
  2180. 1:40:35ahead.
  2181. 1:40:37Uh, I've always had the impression,
  2182. 1:40:44since the beginning of, of, let's say,
  2183. 1:40:45of, that I've been making films, since
  2184. 1:40:47the start of my career, that, that I'm
  2185. 1:40:51going to run out of time, you know,
  2186. 1:40:53that, that I won't have enough time to
  2187. 1:40:55say everything I have to say, to do
  2188. 1:40:57everything I want to do, to, to talk
  2189. 1:40:58about, about who and what I want to
  2190. 1:41:00talk about. I always feel like it's a
  2191. 1:41:04race against time, a race against death
  2192. 1:41:07. And, uh, besides, it's also fueled,
  2193. 1:41:12you know, uh, by, uh, the world we live
  2194. 1:41:16in, which is also in a race, uh,
  2195. 1:41:19against the planet, against wars,
  2196. 1:41:22against, uh, against the rise of the
  2197. 1:41:29far right, against the, the social rift
  2198. 1:41:32, the social breach, this division that
  2199. 1:41:35just keeps, that, that, that keeps
  2200. 1:41:37growing, and is fueled by the haters,
  2201. 1:41:40the, the, the platform vultures who,
  2202. 1:41:43who want to feed that beast of, of
  2203. 1:41:46hatred and who profit, obviously, uh,
  2204. 1:41:52financially and, and in all sorts of
  2205. 1:41:54ways from that hatred and that gulf,
  2206. 1:41:56you know. So we, we are in a two-speed
  2207. 1:42:01race, you know, mine against my death
  2208. 1:42:05and, and mine against the death of, of
  2209. 1:42:08society. And, uh, and I know that this
  2210. 1:42:12sentence will be met with skepticism
  2211. 1:42:15from, from people who," Ah, it's fine.
  2212. 1:42:19"" If it's hotter in summer, yeah, well
  2213. 1:42:22when it's hot, "you know, I, I
  2214. 1:42:23certainly have a much more fatalistic
  2215. 1:42:25approach regarding, regarding ecology
  2216. 1:42:27and our consumption.
  2217. 1:42:29But are you afraid of your own death?
  2218. 1:42:37I don't know anymore. I used to think
  2219. 1:42:38about it a lot at one point, and, uh,
  2220. 1:42:43I'm more in a I'm in a, I'm in a
  2221. 1:42:49mindset that is, is positive right now.
  2222. 1:42:53I'm in an angle, if you will, of
  2223. 1:42:54appreciation, of gratitude, not in a,
  2224. 1:42:56that might be an anglicism. Here, I'm
  2225. 1:42:58talking about negative bias. I I don't
  2226. 1:43:01want to focus on what I don't have. I
  2227. 1:43:03want to focus on what I have, and what
  2228. 1:43:05I can create as well. I've always been
  2229. 1:43:07a creator, well, I want to create
  2230. 1:43:09things, opportunities for myself, for
  2231. 1:43:11my friends. Uh so I don't think about
  2232. 1:43:16death. I think I'm more afraid of the
  2233. 1:43:20illness that leads to death.
  2234. 1:43:23As for romance and company,
  2235. 1:43:25these are like sex questions, right?
  2236. 1:43:26They are
  2237. 1:43:27Well, you'll see, you choose four, you
  2238. 1:43:29can label them yourself. There are four
  2239. 1:43:31, just give me three. Three.
  2240. 1:43:33Sometimes I add more, it depends. So,
  2241. 1:43:35there you go. Do you prefer to seduce
  2242. 1:43:38or be seduced? It's still sweet
  2243. 1:43:40to seduce.
  2244. 1:43:41What memory do you have of your first
  2245. 1:43:43time? What would you have liked to know
  2246. 1:43:45about sexuality at 20?
  2247. 1:43:49At 20, well, I would have liked, I
  2248. 1:43:51would have liked for people to talk to
  2249. 1:43:54me about consent, about intimacy, about
  2250. 1:44:00psychology. It's both sexual and
  2251. 1:44:02psychological. I think I would have, I
  2252. 1:44:04would have wanted...I think even if the
  2253. 1:44:11era we're living in now, you know,
  2254. 1:44:13which makes us very aware and makes
  2255. 1:44:15young people aware so much, you know,
  2256. 1:44:20of notions of, of hypersensitivity or
  2257. 1:44:22simply sensitivity, of essence,
  2258. 1:44:24humanity, respect, listening, mutuality
  2259. 1:44:26. Uh, I think we are a bit of a victim
  2260. 1:44:33of an era that did it in a really
  2261. 1:44:34shattering way, uh, through the media
  2262. 1:44:37and through scandals, and that it
  2263. 1:44:39antagonized part of the message, you
  2264. 1:44:41know, to the detriment of the action.
  2265. 1:44:44Yeah.
  2266. 1:44:45So I think a lot of young people, uh, a
  2267. 1:44:47lot of people are rebelling and are
  2268. 1:44:50indignant, if you will, about this
  2269. 1:44:52awareness of consent. And then, we
  2270. 1:44:56quickly fall into" we can't say
  2271. 1:44:57anything anymore, "" we can't do
  2272. 1:44:59anything anymore, "" we can't anymore "
  2273. 1:45:01...Uh, I try to understand both sides
  2274. 1:45:03there, even if, you know, I will never,
  2275. 1:45:05never condone, you know, toxic, hateful
  2276. 1:45:07, or violent behavior, or uh...uh, but
  2277. 1:45:15I, I...would tell you that I question
  2278. 1:45:17the way of making people aware, once
  2279. 1:45:19again, you know, through prohibition,
  2280. 1:45:21condemnation, the, the, the the kind of
  2281. 1:45:26sensationalist display of it in the
  2282. 1:45:28press. You know, I wonder what we take
  2283. 1:45:30away from it, and to what extent there
  2284. 1:45:31is a healthy retention of it and not an
  2285. 1:45:33antagonization, as I said, you know, of
  2286. 1:45:34the messages to be retained. And anyway
  2287. 1:45:36, I would have, I would have wanted, at
  2288. 1:45:3820, for people to
  2289. 1:45:39What would it have changed for you to
  2290. 1:45:41know that at 20? Well, it would have
  2291. 1:45:44changed the way I acted with with
  2292. 1:45:46people, my way of, you know, there's a
  2293. 1:45:48spontaneity that's that's that's nice
  2294. 1:45:51in in love, you know. It's it's after
  2295. 1:45:54that, you know, what's difficult is
  2296. 1:45:55that it always depends on the judgment,
  2297. 1:45:56you know, that you have. There are some
  2298. 1:45:59who there are some who don't have it,
  2299. 1:46:01there are some who do. How do we
  2300. 1:46:02determine who has judgment and who
  2301. 1:46:04doesn't? He's got a good head on his
  2302. 1:46:05shoulders, he's capable of No, you know
  2303. 1:46:06. But it's true that the notion of
  2304. 1:46:11taking a risk when kissing someone, you
  2305. 1:46:12know, there's always a context
  2306. 1:46:14obviously, you know, which can be grim
  2307. 1:46:16or toxic or where you could, one could
  2308. 1:46:18say:" Well, it's obvious, they're not
  2309. 1:46:19interested, can't you tell, "you know.
  2310. 1:46:23But when both are interested and then
  2311. 1:46:24well who makes the first move? There's
  2312. 1:46:26there's an excitement in that which is
  2313. 1:46:28still part for me of the history I've
  2314. 1:46:29had with love, you know, and with
  2315. 1:46:31seduction. But there are other aspects,
  2316. 1:46:35other notions, uh, blurry, never
  2317. 1:46:38addressed, uh, where I would have
  2318. 1:46:40wanted that someone share that an adult
  2319. 1:46:47share with me certain notions. But I
  2320. 1:46:51think at that age, I think when I was
  2321. 1:46:5320, the adults themselves probably
  2322. 1:46:54didn't have them either. You know,
  2323. 1:46:57instead of a biology class, well I
  2324. 1:46:59think we had sex ed classes, but it
  2325. 1:47:01seems so blurry to me. I think we were
  2326. 1:47:03just messing around and putting condoms
  2327. 1:47:04on bananas, you know.
  2328. 1:47:05Yeah, that's it. It was more about the
  2329. 1:47:06reproductive systems. I I there was
  2330. 1:47:08there was it wasn't we weren't into the
  2331. 1:47:10intimacy of bodies.
  2332. 1:47:11That's it. You know, it's awkward. And
  2333. 1:47:12the Judeo-Christian side means that
  2334. 1:47:14well an adult shouldn't tell their
  2335. 1:47:16child we should. And we don't want our
  2336. 1:47:18parents to tell us" We need to have a
  2337. 1:47:19conversation, honey. "" Oh no, you know
  2338. 1:47:21, but we should have a conversation,
  2339. 1:47:24you know, because, uh, I think I would
  2340. 1:47:27have saved a lot of time not not being
  2341. 1:47:30hurt, and I would have saved some
  2342. 1:47:32others from being hurt, uh, by
  2343. 1:47:35understanding, you know, certain
  2344. 1:47:37obvious things which, when you've never
  2345. 1:47:40experienced them, You can't just say, "
  2346. 1:47:45Oh yeah, okay." That wasn't, you know,
  2347. 1:47:47obviously that's what's complicated
  2348. 1:47:50about this conversation, is that I
  2349. 1:47:52don't want people to hijack it and
  2350. 1:47:54claim it as a way to normalize
  2351. 1:47:56problematic behavior. I'm just talking
  2352. 1:48:00about that gray area where there's a
  2353. 1:48:03spontaneity or a permissiveness that
  2354. 1:48:05isn't obvious, and that "read the room"
  2355. 1:48:08moment where you think, "Ah, you know,
  2356. 1:48:10that's right, I often did that when I
  2357. 1:48:13was younger, or I never thought it was
  2358. 1:48:15a problem." But that's it, because I
  2359. 1:48:19was...I was going to say something
  2360. 1:48:21super vulgar, an example of...let's
  2361. 1:48:23just drop it, but...
  2362. 1:48:25And you prefer to seduce? That was the
  2363. 1:48:27first thing you answered. Yes.
  2364. 1:48:29You like that? It's hard.
  2365. 1:48:30Yeah.
  2366. 1:48:30Do you do that often, it's hard?
  2367. 1:48:33Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
  2368. 1:48:36What does...what does seduction bring
  2369. 1:48:38you? Why do you like being in that zone
  2370. 1:48:40?
  2371. 1:48:41Well, it's fun to have that, that
  2372. 1:48:43validation. I don't seduce just for the
  2373. 1:48:46sake of seducing. No, I get that, when
  2374. 1:48:51someone responds to your charm or your
  2375. 1:48:53...It's pleasant validation.
  2376. 1:48:57But you know, that's it, I don't seduce
  2377. 1:48:59if I don't want there to be a follow-up
  2378. 1:49:02. You know.
  2379. 1:49:03That could mean you're a flirt, but I
  2380. 1:49:05don't know.
  2381. 1:49:08Yeah, but there are some who don't like
  2382. 1:49:10that, who aren't comfortable in that
  2383. 1:49:11zone.
  2384. 1:49:12Who don't like being seduced. No, to
  2385. 1:49:13seduce. Some people say, I don't have
  2386. 1:49:16the audacity to go and seduce.
  2387. 1:49:19Well, that...that depends, you know. I
  2388. 1:49:23...I can also be super intimidated, and
  2389. 1:49:28, you know, find my place in public in
  2390. 1:49:30a...you know, if we're friends and you
  2391. 1:49:32say, "Come on, there's a dinner with
  2392. 1:49:33eight people," I'll go, "Oh my god, you
  2393. 1:49:35don't know me well!" You know, I'll be
  2394. 1:49:39scared, I'll be afraid of people, I'll
  2395. 1:49:41be shy at the beginning, I...
  2396. 1:49:43And here we are, 250 of us.
  2397. 1:49:45Better than 250 people talking to you.
  2398. 1:49:48No, but at 8, are you afraid of having
  2399. 1:49:50too much attention on you?
  2400. 1:49:51Too much? Yeah, or just being shy, or,
  2401. 1:49:55you know, social intimacy is
  2402. 1:49:58complicated. It's like bubbles,
  2403. 1:50:01socialization. I, I, I think...
  2404. 1:50:05But when do you seduce? Let's say
  2405. 1:50:07someone likes you.
  2406. 1:50:08But when I find someone who is
  2407. 1:50:09beautiful, charming or intelligent, and
  2408. 1:50:11sexy, and I want to sleep with them.
  2409. 1:50:16I like your face.
  2410. 1:50:16When others,
  2411. 1:50:18that's what I'm telling you. Not when I
  2412. 1:50:21don't, it's that, the flirting and the
  2413. 1:50:23messing around that leads to nothing.
  2414. 1:50:26That is very tiresome. You guys need to
  2415. 1:50:28stop that right now.
  2416. 1:50:31Uh, you know, if it's useless, well,
  2417. 1:50:34it's useless. We don't do that, you
  2418. 1:50:36know, that screwing around.
  2419. 1:50:38Be honest with you.
  2420. 1:50:40I would like, yeah, that's it. You
  2421. 1:50:42don't have to tell me.
  2422. 1:50:44So, a final question. The last question
  2423. 1:50:46. What's on your bucket list? A very
  2424. 1:50:51simple question, the last one. Uh work
  2425. 1:51:04with Kate Winslet, work with Meryl
  2426. 1:51:09Streep, go to Japan.
  2427. 1:51:15Have you already been approached? By
  2428. 1:51:17those two actresses.
  2429. 1:51:19Mm-hmm.
  2430. 1:51:20Have you already met them? Hm
  2431. 1:51:21hm.
  2432. 1:51:23And what's next?
  2433. 1:51:26I don't know.
  2434. 1:51:27So there are discussions already open,
  2435. 1:51:28as you say. Not currently, you know, I
  2436. 1:51:31already have a history, a past with one
  2437. 1:51:34of the two but
  2438. 1:51:37I would like that, I have nothing right
  2439. 1:51:39now but
  2440. 1:51:40it's something I would like to do, to
  2441. 1:51:42be able to work. I find that Kate
  2442. 1:51:44Winslet is really an actress who has a
  2443. 1:51:46before and an after in her career. She
  2444. 1:51:49is truly an actress that I have seen
  2445. 1:51:51become an artist. I was like, okay,
  2446. 1:51:54there is a mastery in her work that
  2447. 1:51:57really struck me at one point. I
  2448. 1:51:59thought, okay, she's reached a
  2449. 1:52:01completely different level now. She is,
  2450. 1:52:04we learn there, you know, Mare of
  2451. 1:52:06Easttown, her series there, it's on
  2452. 1:52:07Crave. It's, it's a masterclass in
  2453. 1:52:14acting, you know. For an actor, it's
  2454. 1:52:16like, okay. Ah, okay. Yeah, that's it.
  2455. 1:52:19You see, for a director
  2456. 1:52:21for a director too
  2457. 1:52:22to direct her.
  2458. 1:52:23Yes. Yes. Well, yes. But, but what I
  2459. 1:52:26mean is mainly that, it's that the
  2460. 1:52:31style, the elegance, the restraint, the
  2461. 1:52:34embodiment, uh, it makes you realize
  2462. 1:52:41the honesty of the performance. The
  2463. 1:52:43honesty of her performance. say it
  2464. 1:52:45It doesn't pull, the, you know. She has
  2465. 1:52:47a moment, at a given moment, she, she,
  2466. 1:52:49she talks to a psychologist or a social
  2467. 1:52:51worker, I don't remember, about, well,
  2468. 1:52:53the suicide of her son, you know. But
  2469. 1:52:58you know, that scene, it’s the moment
  2470. 1:52:59; you read that, and as an actor, you
  2471. 1:53:01go: "I, I, I’m going to dive in,
  2472. 1:53:02I’m going to, I’m going to..."
  2473. 1:53:04It’s, it’s your scene, you know.
  2474. 1:53:08But her detachment and her restraint,
  2475. 1:53:11it was as if her goal was not to play
  2476. 1:53:14that scene, not to have the
  2477. 1:53:16gratification of that moment, not to
  2478. 1:53:19have endless sobbing, crying, crying,
  2479. 1:53:22pushing the button, crying, having
  2480. 1:53:25watery eyes, and...We hold back in life
  2481. 1:53:30, we hold back our, our, and it's even
  2482. 1:53:32hard to act out restraint because it
  2483. 1:53:34becomes something we're performing, you
  2484. 1:53:36know. So it’s about holding back, not
  2485. 1:53:38acting out restraint.
  2486. 1:53:39Her accuracy
  2487. 1:53:40and her precision—that’s just why I
  2488. 1:53:42have so much admiration for Meryl
  2489. 1:53:43Streep. Well, it’s been
  2490. 1:53:45well Meryl Streep is, is Meryl Streep,
  2491. 1:53:47right? It’s, it’s, yeah, it’s
  2492. 1:53:49great, and then Japan, I haven't been
  2493. 1:53:51to Japan yet.
  2494. 1:53:52No.
  2495. 1:53:52So that, that’s achievable.
  2496. 1:53:54I’d like to go to Asia, there are so
  2497. 1:53:56many—I mean, it doesn't, it’s not
  2498. 1:53:58limited to just a nice bucket list. And
  2499. 1:54:00it's fun. What I like
  2500. 1:54:01Would you have wanted me to name
  2501. 1:54:03something a little more accessible like
  2502. 1:54:04going to brunch at the Manor? What I
  2503. 1:54:07like doesn't exist anymore, so that
  2504. 1:54:08won't work. You should be on The
  2505. 1:54:10Traitors, it's filming. But, uh, the
  2506. 1:54:13thing is, uh
  2507. 1:54:15You know what I like about what you
  2508. 1:54:17said is that you’ve already taken
  2509. 1:54:19steps toward it. It’s not just thrown
  2510. 1:54:22out into the universe. And one day—I
  2511. 1:54:24love that side of you where, uh, you
  2512. 1:54:27don’t just throw things into the
  2513. 1:54:29universe.
  2514. 1:54:31Well
  2515. 1:54:31you face things.
  2516. 1:54:33Yes, but I throw them out there too. I,
  2517. 1:54:36I, I really appreciate how the universe
  2518. 1:54:39right now, now that now that I’ve
  2519. 1:54:44started taking care of myself and
  2520. 1:54:47digging deep to understand, to get to
  2521. 1:54:49the bottom of certain problems, to face
  2522. 1:54:55them—I love how the universe sends
  2523. 1:54:57things back to me. OK. certain things
  2524. 1:55:04and places them, positions them in a
  2525. 1:55:08magical and mystical way. I appreciate
  2526. 1:55:15the synchronicity between the gratitude
  2527. 1:55:18I feel and the efforts I make to work
  2528. 1:55:21on myself, and the passion I feel in my
  2529. 1:55:24work, and the passion I put into
  2530. 1:55:26applying my—into applying my routine,
  2531. 1:55:29actually. You know, I appreciate the
  2532. 1:55:33synchronicity between those things and
  2533. 1:55:35between the way the universe answers me
  2534. 1:55:40. And I really believe in the universe,
  2535. 1:55:44but I don't believe in sitting around
  2536. 1:55:46waiting for the train to pass. I
  2537. 1:55:49believe we put it out there, we do, we
  2538. 1:55:53work and if it's meant to happen,
  2539. 1:55:58that's when we can sometimes twist
  2540. 1:56:01fate's arm if we work even harder. But
  2541. 1:56:04it happens. Uh, but I believe in the
  2542. 1:56:09alignment, you know, of the stars and
  2543. 1:56:11in the universe, and especially in a
  2544. 1:56:14universe that gives back, that answers
  2545. 1:56:17us. It's a response. It's not an event,
  2546. 1:56:23it doesn't just happen. It answers back
  2547. 1:56:27. There is a communication, you know,
  2548. 1:56:32with life. And it's embodied in a quote
  2549. 1:56:42that I really love by Mark Twain uh who
  2550. 1:56:48had a few pretty good ones, but I
  2551. 1:56:49really love this one. And I apply it as
  2552. 1:56:52much to a way of life and a general
  2553. 1:56:54mantra as I do to little things I want
  2554. 1:56:57to put off. Things I don't want to do
  2555. 1:57:00right away, things I don't want to—
  2556. 1:57:02and it is "the secret of getting ahead.
  2557. 1:57:04" And I don't have the words to
  2558. 1:57:10translate it with the same punch. But
  2559. 1:57:13basically, if you want to succeed, if
  2560. 1:57:19you want to get ahead, do it now, get
  2561. 1:57:25to work right away.
  2562. 1:57:28See, that's not very elegant as
  2563. 1:57:30Yeah, but what it also means is if you
  2564. 1:57:32want it to happen, just start. That's
  2565. 1:57:34it. You have to start somewhere. And
  2566. 1:57:38usually, you have to start somewhere,
  2567. 1:57:41and eventually, that somewhere is here
  2568. 1:57:45and now.
  2569. 1:57:46Yeah. I see it as an imperative: start,
  2570. 1:57:50and the present moment.
  2571. 1:57:51Yeah.
  2572. 1:57:52Well done. Did you get the game, if you
  2573. 1:57:56want to play at home?
  2574. 1:57:59Thank you so much, Xavier Dolan, for
  2575. 1:58:01stopping by today. It's
  2576. 1:58:04greatly appreciated, really. It's been
  2577. 1:58:06a wonderful moment. Thank you so much.
  2578. 1:58:08Thanks to everyone for being here. See
  2579. 1:58:10you in the next podcast.
  2580. 1:58:17This episode was presented by Karine
  2581. 1:58:19Jonka, the reference for skincare in
  2582. 1:58:21Quebec, and by the Mary Club, a space
  2583. 1:58:23dedicated to wellness. The board games
  2584. 1:58:28Ouvre ton jeu, original edition and
  2585. 1:58:29couples edition, are available
  2586. 1:58:30everywhere in stores and at randolph.ca
  2587. 1:58:32.

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