Sandrine Bonnaire. “It is important for me to distinguish between rape, abuse of power and a tough guy”

Inseparable in cinema, video games, advertising, series, animation…, music and character are also in the personal and artistic life of Sandrine Bonaire, who was ideally suited to participate in the Twin Sisters Festival, dedicated to the unshakable bond between them. two universal languages. The guest of the fourth edition, which will take place from June 25 to 30 in Rochefort (Charente-Maritime), the actress and the director will be the general thread of the artistic meeting, where Emmanuel Laborit and Eric Truffaz will perform (June 29); he will also present to the public his music documentaries about Jacques Higuelin (2015) and Marianne Faithfull (2018). A few days before the event, created and chaired by Julie Gaye, she tells us about her musical passions, her projects as a director, and returns to the issues of filmmaking.

Madame Figaro. – What place does music play in your life?
Sandrine Bonnaire. – Huge! When I was little, I loved to dance. I did classical and modern, my sister and I imagined ourselves as Claudette, we invented the choreography of the song funkytown, From Lipps Inc, whose moves we still reproduce. As an adult, I also danced a lot of oriental dances with my Algerian friends, and when I traveled, I signed up for lessons: traditional dance in Indonesia, tango in Argentina, African dance… I never dreamed of it as a child. to be an actress but a dancer or singer. My voice is unfortunately not very loud.

Still, you host music shows with your partner Eric Truffaz.
I don’t really sing there. Eric and I met on stage, he played, I said Duras. Since then there have been The noise of fireflies and currently together where I read Rambo and Patti Smith. We are also preparing an album: he composes, I write. I already have three texts. one about my autistic sister, which I will sing with my autistic friend and neighbor Charles Alazar, the other about the attack I suffered; and I’m also hoping to convince my friend Jacques Dutron to do a duet on a title I’ve called Do nothing. Made to order.

Music is a tool for the actress.
He accompanies me to the dressing room to galvanize me, but above all he is my writing companion. However, I only listen to non-French or instrumental music so as not to disturb my thoughts. For example, when I was working Her name is Sabinadocumentary I made about my autistic sister, I listened to piano, especially Chopin and Prelude by Bach, which Sabin plays in the film.

How important is the soundtrack to your films?
Huge. When Sabine moves in slow motion, I imagined, for example, a sound atmosphere in accordance with her rhythm. We used the theme during editing personal diary, by Nanni Moretti as a sample of the music, and I was so taken with it that I couldn’t imagine anything else. I was lucky that composer Nicola Piovani gave me the rights for free and allowed me to slow down his score. What about? I resent his absencemy first feature film, I used additional music by composers Arvo Pärt and Henrik Gorecki.

As a child, I didn’t dream of being an actress, but a dancer or singer

Sandrine Bonnaire

What emotions does music give you that movies don’t?
He gives me all the freedoms, restrains me. I don’t have stage fright in musical projects, because they don’t expect me there. When I sang on stage with Jacques Higuelin, I just threw myself into the scene without thinking. I didn’t have time anyway, because I was filming a documentary about him at the same time.

Are you more shy on a movie set?
More and more. As you know, I have the impression that people will judge me more harshly, that people will say to themselves. “I thought Bonnaire was better than that…” No doubt I’m paranoid, but fame is a no-go for me in this place. However, I put up with it because it also offers me a platform; because of it, I have heard about autism, violence against women, or elder abuse, since I recently filed a complaint against the nursing home where my mother died. . Fame also allows me to implement projects.

Did you become a director out of necessity?
Somehow. Realizing first explained the dysfunction in autism care that no one was talking about. I also had personal motives. my mother was very protective of my sister Sabina, sometimes ashamed of some of her behavior. With my images I wanted to show him what he was capable of when you trusted him.

I don’t have stage fright in musical projects, because they don’t expect me there

Sandrine Bonnaire

Do you have other directing projects?
I’m going to make a feature film about Slow Joe, an Indian singer-songwriter who, like the bluesman John Lee Hooker, instinctively wrote about the difficulty of life, the street… Guitarist Cédric de La Chapelle discovered it in India, brought it back to France and recorded three albums with him. I also wrote four episodes of a series about Valérie Hervaux, the founder of the Les Chandelles free club. She was a victim of incest, she was under the influence of a man for years, she suffered after failed cosmetic surgeries… But by creating this club where women were considered and respected, she eventually recovered herself and recovered your body. My daughter would play the young character, and I would play the second half of life. I’m still looking for partners, but I’m interested in this project, which in a time of freedom of speech is an encouraging testament to what women sometimes put themselves through to respond to imperatives.

Sanctions to which actresses are subjected. Does the passage of time bother you?
Women claim that they want to free themselves and, paradoxically, refuse to grow old. By not accepting our age, by freezing our image, we confirm in a certain way the status of the object to which we are ascribed. Doing little things to look good, I get that, but I find the transition to transformation to be pathetic and counterproductive.

What about the scarcity of roles?
For me, it’s the same theme: you have to agree to play characters your own age in order for people’s perspectives to change profoundly. Especially since today there are relevant views that show that life does not end after 50 years. When I’m asked to play grandma, I don’t flinch, unless it’s just grandma making donuts and walking with a cane. In line the fighters I even played the mother of Grégoire Colin, an actor who is seven years younger than me. I played it with attitude without any aging craft, and I’m proud to have made it believable.

Understanding was the way to explain the dysfunction in autism care that no one was talking about

Sandrine Bonnaire

The Twin Sisters Festival is dedicated to the fight against sexual and gender-based violence. Are you optimistic about how this fight is going?
Yes, because from now on everyone has to be on set and it’s so much better. However, we should not sow fear. The fight that needs to be fought is against the aggressors, not the men. I also think it’s important to distinguish between rape, abuse of power, and being a tough guy. Sanctions should be proportionate and tailored to each case. The spectrum of aggression and abuse is large and should not be mixed.

Twin Sisters Festival, June 25-30, Rochefort.
sistersjumelles.com