Vincent Lindon-Stéphane Brizé: The proof by five
While Arte is rebroadcasting Mademoiselle Chambon, a look back at the fruitful collaborations between the filmmaker and his favorite actor.
Miss Chambon (2009)
The story : A good father, a good son and a good husband, a builder who is happy in his relationship meets his son’s teacher and falls madly in love with her. A shared passion that will ignore all reason.
The little story : Discovered in 1999 at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs with The blue of the citiesStéphane Brizé established himself permanently in the French cinema landscape in 2005 with the great success of I am not here to be loved. After a more experimental film, Between adultshere he adapts a novel written by Eric Holder in 1996 with, in a corner of his head, the On the road to Madison by Clint Eastwood. To play the role of the mason, Brizé first thinks of Jean Reno who will finally prefer to go and shoot Da Vinci Code. It was then that Philippe Lioret slipped him the name of Vincent Lindon, whom he had just directed in Welcome. Immediately convinced, Brizé hires him and associates him with the one who shared his life for a while: Sandrine Kiberlain. The film brought together more than 500,000 spectators and won the César for best adaptation. And, in the credits, Brizé thanks… Ron Howard for allowing him, by hiring Jean Reno, to find the ideal actor for his big-hearted mason!
Another world: the Brizé-Lindon duo at its best (review)
A few hours of spring (2012)
The story : On his release from prison, a man is forced to return to live with his mother who, suffering from incurable cancer, has decided the time of her death.
The little story : It is by falling on television on the documentary John’s Choice that Stéphane Brizé had the idea of A few hours of spring, upset by this description of the last months of the life of a man suffering from an incurable disease who chose euthanasia. And when he writes his screenplay with his usual accomplice Florence Vignon, he only has one name in mind to play the main male character: Vincent Lindon. “How can I think of anyone else? Vincent is full of a melancholy that touches me deeply and into which I project mine. We are cousins. Cousins of melancholy. Cousins of anger. Cousins of doubt. Cousins of enthusiasm . I understand how he feels and he understands how I feel. And he translates it to the screen with earth-shattering accuracy and power.” This second collaboration – accompanied by the soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis – marks a logical slight decline in terms of admissions (335,821) given the subject but once again won over the critics.
The law of the market (2015)
The story : After 20 long months of unemployment, a 50-year-old father of a disabled teenager ends up finding work as a security guard in a supermarket. But very quickly, having to watch over his own colleagues in the same economic misery as him, he will find himself faced with a moral dilemma.
The little story : For his first overtly political work, Stéphane Brizé joins forces with the screenwriter ofOmar killed me, Olivier Gorce to imagine an immersive film. By imposing a limited budget, shooting with the lightest possible crew and surrounding Vincent Lindon only with non-professional actors. And this in order to be as much as possible in line with the world he describes: an individual in great precariousness confronted with the violence of our society.
It is for the same reasons that he enlists the services of the director of photography of Eric Dumont, who specializes in documentaries. And that he did not give the scenario to any of his interpreters, each discovering the same morning what he has to play during the day. The result inspires the Cannes festival where Brizé inaugurates its first selection in competition before attracting more than a million spectators. As for Vincent Lindon, hitherto free of any reward, he will combine the interpretation prize at Cannes and the César for best actor for which he had already been nominated five times without success.
The Law of the Market is strikingly realistic and astoundingly masterful (critical)
In war (2018)
The story : After having accepted a lot of sacrifices and despite the record profits of the company that employs them, the employees of the Perrin Factory find themselves violently unemployed after the decision to close their site. Laurent Amédéo and the 1100 concerned for whom he is the spokesperson will do everything possible to prevent this social butchery.
The little story : We find here the fundamentals of La law of the market. The same desire for a political film, the same co-screenwriter Olivier Gorce and the same desire to confront Vincent Lindon with non-professional actors. But by focusing on the growing violence of social plans, this time he offers his alter ego a role at odds with their previous collaborations. The quiet of Miss Chambon, A few hours of spring And The law of the market this time speaks up and defends the others as a leader.
The Cannes selection ofIn war will have less impact than that of The law of the market and the box office will suffer (285,274). But this will in no way diminish the strength of the Lindon-Brizé collaboration which continues…
Another world (2022)
The story : Philippe Lemesle, 57, senior executive in an American industrial group, a wife, two children, a beautiful house, a beautiful car… Behind the image… reality. For years, the profitability requirements demanded by the company have weighed on him, in turn disrupting the family balance. When Claire files for divorce and the parent company demands a new restructuring plan, the pressure becomes too much.
The little story: The subject has fascinated Stéphane Brizé for years. The inevitable derives from the world of work with employees relegated to the rank of costs to be reduced to satisfy the insatiable greed of shareholders. This reality turns out to be so basely Manichean that any screenwriter who imagined it would certainly have seen his work reviled. We measure by this yardstick all the power of the fiction cinema of Brizé who seizes it for the third time after The law of the market And In warof which Another world constitutes the reverse shot.
A time called For better or for worse, another world is not just another film but an essential piece of a puzzle that is far from complete. This new critique of social violence attracted nearly half a million cinema viewers.
Cannes 2015: The full moving speech of Vincent Lindon for his interpretation award
