"We haven't seen each other for two months and we can't even kiss," laughs producer Jean-Luc Azoulay, in great shape. Kisses sent in the air, braces mimed at a distance, greetings with the feet ... Even for their reunion, a meter separates them. The little band of "Mysteries of Love" has not seen each other since the start of confinement, on March 17. An eternity for this troop which turns together approximately 90 episodes per year for almost three decades.
This Wednesday morning, joining the large building of the town of Cergy (Val-d'Oise) which houses the decor of the house of Hélène, Nicolas and Christian, the main characters of the TMC weekend soap opera, the smiles are hidden behind masks. At the entrance, a sign explains in four steps how to put them on correctly. But on this day of recovery, Doctor Laurent Zarnitsky watches over the grain. Whoever has passed tests to all the actors takes the temperature of the entrants and recalls the measures put in place. Only actors are allowed to remove their masks, and only during the takes.
Filming of the series resumed under high health protection. This is a sine qua non condition for being the first fiction to restart after the confinement which halted all or almost all audiovisual production. A will of Jean-Luc Azoulay, creator of the original series "Hélène et les frères", from which "The Mysteries of Love" is derived. “The French have returned to work, so have we. We are less than forty in all. There is no more risk than going to a supermarket, ”explains the producer, who took advantage of the confinement to write about 20 episodes in advance, which take place once the pandemic is over.
Safety measures, by heart
No kiss but multiple references to the coronavirus crisis. "We did not stay on good terms but we called each other from time to time during confinement", launches the character of Olga (Macha Polikarpova) to Jeanne (Isabelle Bouysse) during a scene around a mountain of pancakes, last modified. "Originally, it had to take place in the kitchen, but it's too small for everyone to hold, so the table was set in the garden," explains Marie-Pascale Laurencelle, the director. The sun having also returned to service, all the filming for the day will finally be moved to the terrace.
"I memorized the production emails that list the security measures," jokes actress Isabelle Bouysse, in the dressing room located in the basement. There too, the armchairs were moved apart so that the two makeup artists and the hairdresser could work serenely. And they have a job because several actors have not cut their hair for two months.
Foolproof flexibility
Here, we adapt "Anyway, at the slightest unexpected, we rewrite the lines," explains Jean-Luc Azoulay. An actress can not finally resume filming because she has to take care of her parents? Hop, his replicas are attributed to another character.
It is thanks to this flexibility that "the Mysteries of love" were able to resume so quickly. And thanks to its very light team, much less numerous than those mobilized for telefilms or series usually broadcast in prime time on TF1, France 2 or M 6. “We put in a box not far from twenty-five minutes per day of shooting , whereas on "Camping Paradis" it's five minutes, a usual rhythm for fictions, "explains Azoulay. In the garden, two cameras capture each outlet, without a projector.
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The only concern is that the insurance companies do not take on the risk of the Covid-19. "We will manage," says Azoulay, no more worried that authorization to film on the leisure island of Cergy-Pontoise has not arrived. "If necessary, I will call the prefect," he adds. Nothing seems to be able to prevent it from providing the TF1 group's channel with previously unseen episodes for June.
