The actress gives surprises and fun while facing a giant shark under you The film of Xavier Gens. He plays a scientist who fights an aggressive shark lost in Paris.
Over a nearly thirty-year career, Bérénice Bejo has built an eclectic and highly enviable filmography, spanning all genres: parody. (OSS 117, Cut!). musical comedy (Artist), period film (Eternity), marital drama (The past, which won him an acting award at Cannes in 2013, Family home) Nothing exciting, but the actress feels the need for new territories. The offer from director Xavier Gens and Netflix was timely under you she is Sophia, a scientist who joins forces with the river brigade to capture an aggressive shark that threatens the smooth running of a planned triathlon championship in the Seine.
Madame Figaro. – A shark movie is one of your guilty pleasures as an audience member.
Berenice Bejo. – Not particularly. Water is not my element and I don’t want to fuel my anxieties. I prefer less realistic monster movies, for example Alien. i watched Jaws first time on set Under you. I spoiled the movie for my kids, who had never seen it, and my boyfriend (Michelle Hazanavicius, editor’s noteI kept commenting on the improbabilities.
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You’ve been a shark expert ever since.
I have heard many shows for the film including the living world About French culture. The environmental message was there from the first version of the script, Xavier Gens was very much in it, but we pushed it during the preparation, particularly thanks to this podcast. Listening to him, I understood the importance of sharks in the ecosystem, how they regulate the marine fauna. And I also became aware of the problems with overfishing, I almost stopped eating fish.
Are you eco-conscious?
How can we not be there for our children? Politicians are inactive, the economic crisis is spreading… I have a feeling that if we don’t react, tomorrow’s world will be very difficult, more than worrying. That being said, even if the film captures this concept very well, it remains above all “pop-corn entertainment”.
The story takes place before a major sporting event in Paris. Isn’t any resemblance to the existing situation clearly coincidental?
Pure random. (Is laughing): This is a funny parallel, completely voluntary, and one that reinforces realism; The Olympics are the main thing for Paris, there will be events in the Seine, and we still doubt the state of its cleanliness… Xavier just pushed the sliders, imagining. the shark as a surprise guest.
Sophie Geysens/Netflix
You obviously didn’t star in Cena?
No, I dove into the pool, but several actors quickly entered. They tied it because the current is strong, the visibility is zero, and there are surprises at the bottom: objects, big fish, unidentified things… I haven’t even swam with real sharks. Xavier suggested this to me to prepare myself, and while I understand that endangered species are extremely rare, I prefer to be careful not to disturb them in their natural habitat. But the illusion on the screen is perfect. Xavier always puts himself in the viewer’s shoes and gives the viewer everything they expect from a shark movie: suspense, a sea monster, jump scares…
What kind of training did you do for this film?
Huge. I’ve never been scuba diving, and not being able to see and know what’s under my feet scares me. The beginning was difficult, but I am very academic, and I got there with patience. I experienced it with tap dancing The artist : It took a long time for it to click. But either way, I didn’t want to be passed over. Doing your stunts in an action movie is part of the fun. That’s why I accepted the film. He is what I was looking for at this point in my career, what I needed.
In other words.
I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, even the everyday. Playing wife, girlfriend, mother, daughter no longer entertains me. I really need more and it’s not easy to find. I had a chance to play Mexico 86 By Cesar Díaz, a beautiful film about a Guatemalan revolutionary who had to choose between her fight and motherhood. Coming from a dictatorship (Argentina, editor’s note), the film allows me to talk about myself and myself. But after this shooting, I gave up everything.
If we do not respond, tomorrow’s world will be very difficult, more than worrying.
Berenice Bejo
No other projects?
Yes, I will be going to the theater at the beginning of the school year with only one person on stage that is adapted from People in Bilbao are born wherever they want. By Maria Larrea. This is his story. At the age of 27, he found out he was adopted and started searching for his roots. Here he speaks indirectly about me, because it is about uprooting, double culture, family secrets… The fact that you can’t know everything about your parents, and you have to accept that. I will play all the characters on stage. I was looking for this challenge. Some roles that are offered to me in the cinema will be more comfortable and profitable, but as long as I allow myself, I go to the unknown, to the new. When? Under you came to my agent, I had just told him that I wasn’t having much fun on set anymore, and he introduced my name.
Won’t they automatically think of you?
Maybe not. Actresses are sometimes associated with certain types of roles, and I had never done an action film. However, I have no snobbery, I like popular films like auteur cinema, as long as there is a script and a character to protect. I want to have fun, surprise myself. I’ve been playing for almost thirty years, I’ve been very lucky, some awards… But I’m not looking for recognition anymore. I won’t be able to say no forever, I have a loan to pay, but I want to vibrate, keep the flame intact.
under you By Javier Gens, with Bérénice Bejo, Nassim Lyes… June 5 on Netflix.
Source: Le Figaro
