"La Traque": how Philippe Torreton slipped into the shoes of Michel Fourniret

This is not the main role of "The Hunt" but it is essential.

Philippe Torreton plays Michel Fourniret in the telefilm broadcast this Monday evening at 9:05 pm on TF 1. This fiction focuses on the first year of investigation by the police in Belgium from 2003 following the arrest of the man for an attempted kidnapping.

They then multiply the interrogations of Michel Fourniret and his wife Monique (formidably embodied by Isabelle Gélinas) in order to obtain confessions.

"The Hunt" is thus based on psychological tension, even if it means suffering a little from the effect of repetition.

To play the serial killer, Philippe Torreton imposed a distance from the start with "The ogre of the Ardennes", convicted of the murders of eight women and who is serving a life sentence.

Yves Rénier contacted you directly for the role of Michel Fourniret?

PHILIPPE TORRETON.

Exactly.

We had already made a movie a few years ago,

Cop quite simply

.

He offered me this terrifying role, telling me that he trusted me to approach it as rigorously as possible.

Did you say yes right away?

I waited to read the script.

I didn't want to be in a complacent, voyeuristic story in any way.

I could never have shot scenes in caves with little victims.

I was reassured because it's a TV movie about the investigation, very modest.

How did you prepare?

Very quickly I asked myself the question of the physical.

The script does not tell the story of this man.

Usually, for all the other characters, we can make a path of appropriation, of empathy, even in roles that are not very positive.

But now I find this guy horrible and I didn't want to scratch a bit to find out who he is.

You just had to provoke something repulsive in the little that you see on the screen.

I wanted makeup that acted like a mask, established distance and protected me.

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What did this physical transformation consist of?

With make-up artist Pierre-Olivier Persin, who had made my nose from Cyrano de Bergerac, we worked on the eyebrows, the hair, a few shadows on the face.

I have prostheses around his eyes, a kind of pimple on his temple, and a four-part nose.

After an unsatisfactory first test, we realized that we were holding something the day two people from production came into the workshop.

It was I who opened the door and saw unease in their eyes.

What about Michel Fourniret's attitude?

I based myself on the testimonies of Belgian and French police officers who had it in front of them.

They tell of this mixture of haughtiness, disdain and at the same time friendliness, extremely courteous exchanges.

He only spoke when he wanted, as if he was master of time, as if he took pleasure in seeing investigators floundering.

What is this fiction for?

It shows how the interrogations go, which no documentary can do.

There is no will to shock here.

The Hunt

has an undeniable educational value.

I watched it with my two children aged 12 and 9.

The discussions that followed were very beneficial, on the fact that an adult does not have to ask a question to a child in the street.

It's not that you should be wary of everything, but you shouldn't be fooled by anything.

This fiction, like films, plays, books, painting, is a means of knowing the possible field of the human being, from the most sublime to the most horrible.

How do you feel about the current closure of cultural venues?

I have just finished rehearsing a play by Laurent Mauvignier

Tout mon amour

, directed by Arnaud Meunier.

We put the show in a cool place while we waited for better days.

I understand the impatience to perform in front of the public.

For the moment I do not think that the reopening of theaters and cinemas is audible with regard to the health situation.

On the other hand, calling on the government to protect the entire profession is an absolute urgency.

I am surprised that the Ministry of Culture does not relay our initiatives: everywhere, thousands of artists are moving to bring culture where it is absent.

Culture is not just about selling a cinema or theater ticket.

Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota (

director of the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Editor's note)

does a tremendous job in this direction with his poetic consultations.

I have been leading a workshop in fourth grade class since September and hearing these children take hold of the great texts is absolutely moving and gives a lot of hope.

EDITOR'S RATING: 3.5 / 5

“La Traque”

, TV movie directed by Yves Rénier (2021) with François-Xavier Demaison, Mélanie Bernier, Philippe Torreton, Isabelle Gélinas… Two parts of 50 and 40 minutes.