"Le Consent": after Vanessa Springora's punch book, the play

Finding the right distance with his character to detach himself from compassion, to slip empathy under the rug, not to succumb to anger.

Ludivine Sagnier has set herself a great challenge, playing Vanessa Springora in "le Consent".

The play, which runs until November 30 at the Espace Cardin of the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, is adapted from the eponymous story of part of the author's life.

The director of Julliard editions, launched a bombshell in 2020, in the midst of the MeToo movement, by recounting, in a very successful literary story, an affair under the influence of Gabriel Matzneff, 36 years her senior, when she was 14 years old.

She deciphers her predatory behavior, the inertia of a society that mediates it and of a brigade of minors without reaction.

Until 2019, the writer will make his youthful love conquests his business.

An adaptation of the book will hit theaters next year.

Kim Higelin will play the role of Vanessa Springora, Laetitia Casta her mother, Jean-Paul Rouve, Gabriel Matzneff, under the direction of director Vanessa Filho ("Gueule d'ange", in 2018).

An actress who goes through all ages and all roles

For the theatrical version, the director Sébastien Davis opens the play on Ludivine Sagnier in pain behind a translucent membrane.

Vanessa Springora was then 18 years old, she was interned in psychiatry at Sainte-Anne, in the midst of a depersonalization crisis: “What is the tangible proof of my existence?

she asks herself.

Her deep depression, her relationship to the body, her physical pain are played out behind this blurred curtain where the actress's voice is distorted.

The actress, with her childish face and her mischievous gaze, passes cheerfully from the age of 5 when she hears her "draught" of a father calling her mother a "bitch", to 13 years old, when she blushes under the Matzneff's carnivorous gaze at a social dinner.

Sexual precocity, immense need to be watched.

The perfect vulnerable prey for a predator.

The play also incorporates the religious dimension, so important in the life of the writer, who reads passages from the Bible to her every evening, in the maid's room where she has taken up residence.

Ludivine Sagnier goes from bed to the writing table, puts herself in the shoes of the pedophile, sunglasses on her nose, imitates the agents of the juvenile brigade, for whom this story is really minor.

The emotion of Vanessa Springora during the premiere

In the room, Vanessa Springora attends this premiere, with her 17-year-old son and her companion.

She is very touched by the opening painting which zooms in on her psychotic episode.

And cries a lot in the final scene, when his character on the boards evokes his son, his companion who gave him the strength and the desire to publish this punchy story.

Ludivine Sagnier accepted this role offered by Sébastien Davis, with whom she created the actors section of Kourtrajmé (collectives of audiovisual artists).

“He is demanding and sharp and I knew he would bring out the best in me.

I was also struck by the literary force of this story, which is not a simple list of facts.

He recounts with beauty and accuracy his combat journey, his state of resilience.

He questions the complexity of society, he embraces all the nuances.

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On stage, the musician Pierre Belleville accompanies on the drums the malaise, the convulsions, the anxieties.

The resonances of her "booms" intensify the adolescent's discomfort.

The actress marries the character, prolongs the life of this “Consent”.

A delicate adaptation, very successful.

"Le Consentement"