Showing dramas like comedies or genre films, Élodie Bouchez can be considered as “an unclassifiable actress”.
But this plurality of registers indicates above all that she is a talented actress, capable of taking on all the roles.
She finds this year Jeanne Herry (
Pupille)
for
I will always see your faces,
a social film on restorative justice, which offers victims the opportunity to dialogue with perpetrators of aggression.
Élodie Bouchez plays a volunteer responsible for arranging a meeting between a rape victim (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and her attacker (Raphaël Quenard).
At the same time, the actress is starring in Lætitia Masson's new film,
A Winter in Summer,
where a climate crisis turns the life of a woman upside down.
On video,
I will always see your faces
by Jeanne Herry, with Leïla Bekhti, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Elodie Bouchez, the trailer
Miss Figaro. –
Which cinema family do you feel closest to?
Elodie Bouchez.
–
I don't really know anymore… I believe I belong to the cinema family that I like as a spectator.
It is therefore quite wide, because I can film for Éric and Ramzy, then for Quentin Dupieux, Jeanne Herry or Olivier Dahan.
How do you view Jeanne Herry?
She impresses me a lot.
She is daring and, like subtle people like her, one might think that intellect prevails over affect, but Jeanne is very sensitive.
She wanted her film, which shows the importance of restoring the link and reinjecting humanity into our lives, to be released quickly in theaters to echo the world in which we live.
On a set, Jeanne really accompanies the actors, because every breath, every comma and every word has a meaning for her.
Elodie Bouchez
What director of actors is she?
She never gives up!
On a set, Jeanne really accompanies the actors, because every breath, every comma and every word has a meaning for her.
Until she has what she has in mind, she doesn't give up.
Which playing partner is Adèle Exarchopoulos?
Adèle and I have in common having filmed for Abdellatif Kechiche.
Without talking about "school", I would say that we know that there is a more or less accessible part of the game that we have reached with him.
On a set, we function the same, like good students, that is to say that we do not question the requests of the director and put all our energy into following the directives given.
Adèle Exarchopoulos and Élodie Bouchez in
I will always see your faces,
by Jeanne Herry.
Photo Christophe Brachet
Like your character, could you be a volunteer in restorative justice?
No, I don't think so because, as an actress, I've already had trouble not bringing roundness to these characters in great pain.
Jeanne Herry often corrected me so that my empathy did not translate into emotion.
These volunteers must be strong enough to accompany the victims as well as the aggressors.
You also play in
A Winter in Summer,
by Lætitia Masson.
What bond unites you to this director?
Lætitia and I started in the business at the same time.
We have been working together on different projects for about ten years: we try things, we move forward, like in a laboratory.
What attracted you to
A Winter in Summer?
I liked this ballet of lost souls, with the climate concern in the background (a polar cold occurs on a summer day, editor's note).
By entrusting me with the role of a singer, Lætitia pushed me to surpass myself, because I don't like to sing at all.
Finally, I agreed to play in this film to give the reply to Cédric Kahn, because he is a director whom I have known for a long time and an actor whom I find formidable.
What kind of eco are you in life?
Even if I try to fight against waste, to consume locally and in season, or to travel less often by plane, I cannot claim to be a certified ecologist.
On the other hand, I can count on my 21-year-old son to turn off the water, as soon as the tap is open.
Interpreting Vanessa Springora was a bit dizzying because I wanted to live up to this woman, her word, her path...
Elodie Bouchez
What are your next projects ?
In the cinema, I had the chance to play Vanessa Springora in the adaptation of her book
Le Consentement,
directed by Vanessa Filho.
I play her role when she had the click to write her own version of her affair with the writer Gabriel Matzneff, when she was 14 years old.
It was the first time I had played a contemporary character, and the exercise was a little dizzying because I wanted to live up to this woman, her word, her path.
I admire the strength she exudes and I enjoyed meeting her for the purposes of the film.
At the end of the screening, she left me a message to tell me that she was very happy with the result...
The public will also find you in two other films...
Yes, in
Hawaii,
a sunny comedy by Mélissa Drigeard, with Manu Payet, Bérénice Bejo, Nicolas Duvauchelle... And in
Waiting for the night,
a film by Céline Rouzet about vampires.
Read alsoGuillaume Gouix: "I find that the place we occupy in a family never evolves"
With all these roles in the cinema, do you miss the theater?
Yes, often.
After shooting one or two films, I can't wait to get back to the stage, my partners, the directors.
Not having gone to theater school, I had a career as a very solitary young actress.
I made films fairly quickly, whereas it was more public theater that I dreamed of.
I finally had the chance to taste it thirteen years ago and I hope to do more since then.
Do you feel freer than when you started?
I don't feel like I'm taking more pleasure or taking more risks than when I started, because cinema is a story of encounters and an uncertain profession.
Regarding my roles, I have the impression of having dared things very young, so at the risk level, I have been giving since my debut!
I will always see your faces,
by Jeanne Herry, with Élodie Bouchez, Gilles Lellouche, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Leïla Bekhti… Released on March 29.
A winter in summer,
by Lætitia Masson, with Élodie Bouchez, Cédric Kahn, Benjamin Biolay… Released this summer.
