Noemi Merlant. “When I started, I met some dirty guys who could get me out of this job.”

The cleverness of his choice commands respect. Movie after movie Portrait of a girl burning on fire To: resin Passing by SpiritsNoemi Merlant by André Teschiné surprises, reinvents herself, takes risks and establishes herself as one of the most exciting actresses in our cinema. Just had a caesarean for her second role The innocentby Louis Garrel and expected inside A difficult yearA green comedy by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, it’s moving inward again One year, one nightan intimate and post-traumatic chronicle of the reconstruction of a couple present at the Bataclan on November 13, 2015. A fitting role, deep and subtle.

In the video, One year, one nightthe teaser

Madame Figaro . – Addressing the topic of attacks comes with fears ?
Noemi Merlant. – Inevitably, because the trauma is still alive. But the meeting with Ramon Gonzalez convinced me. he was at the Bataclan with his partner and recounted in the book, adapted here by director Issac Lacuesta. Everyone present that evening felt the events in their own way and tried to overcome the trauma. there are people who had to tell everything, like Ramon, those who were in denial, like his spouse, from whom my character is inspired, those who cannot see. themselves as victims because they weren’t hurt, those who weren’t there but whose lives ended because they had relatives there… It’s important that films like this exist, not only to testify, but also to open the discussion and offer space. to those who need it.

It’s important that films like this exist, not only to testify, but also to open the discussion and provide a space for those who need it.

Noemi Merlant

Where were you on the 13th? November 2015 ?
At home, in Paris, not far from the Bataclan. I was studying my text Heaven will waitby Marie-Castille Menton-Chaar, in which I played a young girl who enlisted in the jihad and who precisely defended the arguments of the terrorists. After November 13, preparations and shooting were very busy. It was very strange, to the point that we all hesitated to continue. And then, finally, we also needed to tell the strategies of conscription, de-radicalization, and the intimate dramas of powerless families in the face of conscription.

Did you meet the people who attended the Bataclan in preparation? One year, one night ?
I watched documentaries, I read a lot, and the director shared his research work, particularly wrinkles, which explained to him, for example, that some people suffer from hyperesthesia, a form of increased sensitivity to sound, smells or light. It helped us build our characters. In the rest, Ramon and his wife were our referees. At first I did not dare to question them, I was afraid that it would lead to too many things, but they spoke very freely. They were even present on the set, including for the attack scenes, which are more than a reconstruction, but a transcription of their memories. Which differ according to the testimonies. the brain constantly recovers memories, especially when it is accompanied by trauma.

“I love playing actors who wet their shirts”

A word about your colleague Nahuel Perez Biscayart ?
Being comfortable with my partner is not always obvious, but with Nahuel everything was easy, respectful, fluid. And then I like to play with actors who wet their shirts. Even our intimate scenes were clear. there was incredible respect, no shame. An ideal configuration that we wish we knew more often.

The film is mainly about renovation…
Yes, and what’s more, Ramon and his partner tried the project as a way out. Seeing us perform these scenes was not only a way for them to vent, to leave, but to participate in a creative project around the drama also allowed them to get something positive out of it, to regain control of a form. I also find that the film deals with an interesting topic. Why do we sometimes need a traumatic event to make us ask the right questions? Humans are designed to take a step back and sometimes reevaluate their priorities after an accident, the loss of a loved one…

Why do we sometimes need a traumatic event to ask us the right questions?

Noemi Merlant

Have you ever questioned everything in your life? ?
In my early days when I was a model and trying to be an actress. I was naive, I arrived in Nantes from my suburbs and met cases, dirty boys who hunted 18-year-old girls. I escaped the worst, but they could have let me back from this job.

“There is so little about carers and the people involved”

Where are you with your manufacturing projects?
I finished the editing of a documentary film dedicated to my father, to whom my disabled mother accompanies every day. I don’t know yet where it will be shown (festival, platform, channel, cinema…) but I want to share. There is so little about the carers and the people involved. And this summer, I’m applying Women on the balcony, my second feature film, a violent comedy, a bloody farce. With Suheila Yacoub and Sanda Codreanu, we play three friends who watch their neighbor, the object of their imagination, from their apartment.

At the beginning of the school year, you will shoot the new versionEmmanuel . Challenge ?
I feel like I get a few in every movie when I’m acting in English with Cate Blanchett. perch or that I do violence to myself by leaving my reserve The innocent, by Louis Garrel. For Emmanuelit is something else: the character is charged with a story, with symbolic images.

And of a physical nature…
I have no problem with that. I claim the right to shoot naked if I like. my body belongs to me and I’m fine as long as I set boundaries. I also know that everything with Audrey Divan will be done in a charitable environment. I can also have a relationship with the body, naked, desexualized. I see skin, nature, beauty. And sometimes art.

One year, one night By Issac Lacuesta, with Noemi Merlant, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart…

In the video, Spiritstrailer Benjamin Voisin with Noemi Merlant