Geraldine Danon. “Florence Artaud was free and paid dearly for it”

Meanwhile Flo:A biopic about Captain Florence Artaud will hit theaters on November 1, the director tells the story of the champion and pioneer, the incredible experience of this feature film, which marks his debut in fiction, and his love of the sea, which he captures was. and spent fifteen years exploring with her children and her husband, the seafarer Philippe Poupon.

A dream in the making

Madame Figaro .- Will you tell us about your meeting with Florence Artaud?
Geraldine Danon: It was in the fleet aboard Yvonne Fauconnier and his wife Dani in 1985. Mutual infatuation. we both loved life, partying, sailing, eating, dancing… We never left each other, she became my son’s godmother, introduced me. to my husband Philippe Pupon… I’ve made quite a few gaps in my life between my beginnings as an actress, my restaurant in Montmartre, my documentaries, and Flo has always been there. In the last years of his life, he thought about a biopic. with this film I extend his dream. Sailors are generally silent, but he used every expression he could muster.

What was important to tell about the woman she was?
She paved the way for a whole generation of skippers and women by winning the Route du Rhum. As he said during his victory in 1990. “Tonight women will be able to hold their heads up at home. But today there are whole generations who do not know him and for whom he can serve as a model. He makes you believe in your dreams, he tells us all that nothing is impossible.

Is it also his intimacy that is revealed on screen?
Her intimate life was fundamentally connected with the life of the champion. I wanted to tell the story of a lover as an extreme sportswoman, a passionate woman who was not afraid to burn. Florence struggled to make her life a dream, freeing herself from all labels. She hated them, even when they called her a feminist. He was, but he didn’t claim it. To help Stefan Kejlar portray Florence, I told him the following: At first glance, he was always full of enthusiasm and carried others in his whirlwind, but there was also a great sorrow in him, which he knew how to turn into a living force on the water.

Pioneer

Many pioneers became invisible. Is this his case?
His conquest was not minimized then, but he was very jealous. He was the favorite champion of the French after La Route du Rhum, but quickly disappeared from the rankings. At the first opportunity, his boat was also taken away from him… But he always stayed true to who he was, cared little about how others viewed him, and fought for what was right. He was free and paid dearly for it, like many pioneers. His struggle, unfortunately, remains relevant today. a young captain recently lost his patron when it was discovered that she was pregnant…

Navigators see beyond the horizon, walk and are not afraid of extremes

Geraldine Danon

Has the sailing world changed much?
Today’s sailors are not yesterday’s sailors. They used to party together until 6 o’clock on the day of departure. they were very close, they danced, sang, drank, and the next day they took them out on the water. Today they are more structured. The mindset has changed. It’s the same with actors, there’s less room to let loose.

Flo: is your first fiction. How did you approach the technical question?
I spent fifteen years at sea and filmed it in all its phases. We had to adapt to the weather and the elements, be reactive and creative, especially since we shot everything on the open sea, no studio shots or images in port. I would never have been able to make this film if I hadn’t navigated so much, if I didn’t have the codes. Being at sea is a way of life. Aristotle said: “There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead, and those who go to sea.” Navigators see beyond the horizon, walk and are not afraid of extremes.

Glass ceiling

How did you catch the sea bass?
Through my maternal grandfather, about four or five years old. I remember a sensation, the pleasure of being surrounded by an extreme and pleasant universe. Then I always needed to swim, dip my head in the water and listen to the silence of the sea. The cruise came later, with Flo, Titouan Lamazeu, my son’s father, and Philippe, my husband. When we fell in love, I told myself that we must look towards a common horizon, and that horizon is the sea, we built a boat to go to the poles. I read Shackleton at a very young age and had a passion for polar stories. We set out for the Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Sea. An unexplored way to explore our lives together.

Do you still have acting aspirations?
In the theater – yes, in the cinema – no. I find it very difficult to age a woman on screen. I’m more comfortable on stage, where nothing gets in the way of the moment. There are also very few good roles for women after 40, and by cutting my life short, I’ve missed opportunities. But the filming Flo: It was a revelation, the happiest moment of my life, apart from the birth of my children. I’m already working on the next movie it’s adapted from Women at the end of the world By Melissa Da Costa, the story of three women who heal through contact with nature and each other. I have to film in New Zealand in September.

Flo: disrupts the clichés associated with women’s cinema.Jeanne du Barry ) and Reim Kerichi, you are one of the three directors with a budget of more than 10 million euros in 2022…
I find it a shame that no one else noticed these features before you… Especially since the struggle was uphill to get there. I didn’t want to make any compromises and I did everything with Manuel Muntz, my producer, I was a co-producer, I didn’t go over budget at all… get resources that match their ambitions. I had this opportunity and I am proud to have broken this glass ceiling.