Benjamin Voyce. “I fall in love a lot.”

A year after winning the Cesar for Best Hope for his excellent performance lost illusions By Javier Gianoli, 26-year-old Benjamin Voisin discovers himself in the lead role of André Teschiné. In Spirits (1), he plays a lieutenant who has amnesia after an explosion in Mali. Returning to France, he must start from scratch with the help of his sister (Noemi Merlant), who is both mother, nurse and confidant. His feelings for her are a little uneasy… an arthouse film he made before rehearsing for the play War (2), An adaptation of Céline’s unpublished text found in 2021 (published by Gallimard), which he will play in Avignon this summer. A new exercise for a young talent who seems to be unstoppable.

In the video, Spiritsthe teaser

Miss Figaro. – What did André Techine represent to you before this film? ?
Benjamin Voyce. – To seriously enrich my synphilist culture, I only saw himHotel America And Thieves. That’s by revealing the script Spirits that I measured this director’s stage power and love for actors. Announcing around me that I was going to film for him, I also realized the magnitude of the event.

With this film, you filled in the missing meeting with the author of the film…
Yes, I already had to take tests for his film Our Roaring Twenties but on the way to the casting I fell off my bike badly and ended up in the hospital. Andre Techine told me that he liked the idea of ​​this failed meeting and that one day he would offer me another role. I couldn’t believe he kept his word Souls.

How did you approach this amnesiac character?
Not having a specific method of working, I tried to start from scratch every day of the shoot. I also tried to disconnect from normal life (which wasn’t always easy), and physically slimmed down and got less sleep to put myself in a state of alertness that helped me focus.

Art can ease our anxieties and help us live more calmly, lifting ourselves up

Benjamin Voyce

The film deals with the taboo subject of incest. What did Andre Techine mean? soul mate do you think
You’d have to ask him, but what I’m sure of is that he wanted to portray an inexplicable situation with poetry. I think he’s also trying to show that he’s questioning the subject by reminding us that if morality is against it, incest between adults is still not a crime in some European countries. More interestingly, Téchiné remains elusive. It doesn’t give away the keys, and at a time when so many movies tend to explain to us that two and two make four, that’s quite appreciated.

Is it the role of cinema to deal with disturbing subjects?
Of course, and art in general. It has always been more powerful to watch the work of an artist who has put his soul into the work for years than to watch people debate on television. Because our world is so concrete and society forces us to be grounded, art brings us a little imagination. It can ease our anxieties and help us live more calmly, lifting ourselves up.

You repeat war By Celine for the theatre. When did you meet this author? ?
Since I did not do well in school, I quickly realized that the only way to succeed in life is to have a good cultural background. From the age of 14-15, I started throwing myself into different literary styles: Houellebecq, Proust, Heisman… Céline landed like love at first sight. His sentences seemed to me more beautiful than others, and I was tempted by his way of transcribing the spoken word. So I was very happy that director Benoit Lavigne asked me to play this monologue on stage.

What does theater bring you compared to cinema? ?
I’m learning fear again. I don’t worry anymore at the cinema because I know the picture can be remade if it’s not good. You have to look for consistency there and I think you never master the exercise. Marina Fois, with whom I shared her posterfree wheel told me that it is necessary to go back to the boards every three or four years because it allows you to get back to the essence of the game and that it makes the rest of the work easier. He was right. I can already see the benefits of experimenting War on the film I am currently making (L’Esprit Coubertin, By Jeremy Sein, Ed.)

2017 was a time of both hardships and pure joy. We kind of didn’t care what happened right or wrong as long as we got it right

Benjamin Voyce

War will also allow you to return to the Avignon Festival…
It’s funny because I’m not nostalgic at all, but when I went back there I was overcome with emotion. I found myself back in 2017, parading around the streets with my friends to encourage people to come and see the adaptation Don Juan that I staged. It was a time of both hardship and pure joy. We didn’t really care what happened, good or bad, as long as we got the job done.

What do you do when you’re not working? ?
I fall in love a lot, go out a lot and try to feed myself through reading and music. I play the little piano, compose with friends, sing, rap… I multiply hobbies that allow me to grow an emotional seed.

What are your wishes for the future? ?
I try to choose different projects in order to try to surprise the public a little, but also to continue to develop, to surprise myself, to know myself better. We think that the actors choose their roles, but it is not so, we depend on the wishes of the directors and we are only a tool. So the goal is to become a Stradivarius.

(1) soul mate By André Teschiné, with Benjamin Voisin, Noemi Merlant, André Marconi, Audrey Dana… (2) war directed by Benoit Lavigne with Benjamin Voisin. Creation on July 7 during the festival at the Theater du Chêne Noir in Avignon. A resumption is planned in Paris in the fall.

In the video, Lost illusionsthe teaser