"If I wasn't close to the characters, I wouldn't be able to portray them" | Israel today

At the age of 63, Vincent Landon, one of France's greatest film actors, is at the peak of his career: last year he gave a no less than amazing performance in the shocking film "Titan" (which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival), this year he returned to Cannes as the chairman of the jury, and between In between, he participated in a number of high-profile French films that were shown at festivals around the world (Berlin, San Sebastian, Venice) - which gave him a not bad excuse at all to jump around the globe and enjoy the exciting and unexpected renaissance he experienced.

"It's just unbelievable," Landon sums up the exciting year he's had.

"I've been working for 40 years and try to be as honest as I can in my work. I've said no to many good films over the years - even films that were very successful at the box office, but it never bothered me. The only thing that guided me was that I could sleep well at night. Everyone told me to participate In 'Titan' there will be a very big risk, but I told myself that I couldn't say no to this role. I couldn't stand the idea that another actor would do it. Of course I didn't know what exactly I was getting into, and of course I didn't imagine what the film would do to my career."

We are holding the Zoom conversation between us in honor of Landon's new film, "Another World", which was released last weekend and concludes the fascinating and unique trilogy he made in collaboration with screenwriter-director Steven Breeze.

In the first part, "The Value of Adam" (2015), Landon played an unemployed man who is unable to reintegrate into the job market, and his humane and touching performance won him the best actor award at Cannes.

In the second part, "War" (2018), he played a factory worker full of passion and imbued with a sense of mission, who leads a strike designed to save his workplace and that of his friends.

Now, in "Another World" - which also deals with the predatory nature of capitalism through a realistic, social and poignant expression reminiscent in spirit and style of the films of the Darden brothers and Ken Loach - Landon completes the move, crosses the lines and moves to play someone from the management side.

"I'm not who I was before I did those three movies," Landon says when I ask him how working with Breeze has changed him.

"I understood a lot of things about the world of work. I did a big tour through different roles and through different perspectives, and what I learned is that the world is fucking complicated.

"I used to think there was black and white, good and bad - but it's much, much more complicated than that, and it's very, very sad. The greatness of Stephen Breeze is the way he makes you understand the characters and what motivates them. He doesn't take the viewer by the hand and say 'It's good, it's bad'. The viewer has to think and decide. It made a lot of mess in my head. No one is completely bad, no one is completely good. Everyone is right from where they see things. When I was young I thought things were simpler."

Although the three characters are very different from each other - both in status and character - you managed to make all three of them very sympathetic.

"Even though the characters are very different, I am very close to all three of them. If I wasn't close to them, I wouldn't be able to portray them. These people have a lot in common. Their concept of justice is similar, they believe in loyalty and honesty. It's true that they don't have the same job and they don't enjoy the same status, But they can be brothers. I imagine them meeting at their parents' house for a holiday dinner. They will be able to talk to each other, they respect each other. I think the dinner will pass peacefully."

were we wrong

We will fix it!

If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us