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Patrice Chéreau • Director

Gabrielle : "A couple in a state of collapse"

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Already awarded in Berlin and Cannes, the French filmmaker Patrice Chéreau attempts to make it a trio this year at la Mostra in Venice where his film Gabrielle [+see also:
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, interpreted by Isabelle Huppert and Pascal Greggory, impressed the critics with its rich visuals and the strength of its story centred around a couple going through an acute crisis. Some chosen excerpts from the press conference...

Where does the audacious choice to direct Gabrielle come from, in particular the black and white colour, and certain retorts which appear in written form on the screen??
When I began working on the film, I wanted to make it entirely in black and white and in cinemascope, and it would start with a man who talked non-stop. But the moment where the glass breaks gave me the idea for this passage to colour with the contrasting silent sequence. I also like to write dialogues on the screen since the cries and the screams are more interesting in written form that if they were heard. I use all the possibilities that cinema offers, including the dissolve.

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To what degree did you try and establish a contrast between the sense of reserve and glacial beauty of the film against a great sense of modernity in the approach?
The contrast is intended. I made a bet that there would be an enormous pleasure to be had by immersing oneself in the world as it was in 1912, but that, after a quarter of an hour, the spectator would see this couple as modern. The historical reconstruction offers the effect of a magnifying glass. Things have clearly changed visually, but nothing has changed for two people together, no matter the epoch.

Is infidelity the central theme of Gabrielle or the simple symptoms of marital trouble for this couple?
It is not the portrait of a woman who betrays. Her leaving and her return remain incomprehensible for the husband. It’s more the tale of a couple breaking up suddenly in a society which then appears to have no rules, no finality. Everyone’s unfaithful, that’s not important. The real point, is that this couple have forgotten the physical, the desire, communication, a woman who leaves and comes back to a man but in order to speak her truths.

What’s your opinion on the debate about the theatricality of your films?
I’ve spent 20 years of my life hearing that I make theatre not cinema. Today, I have no shyness about that. Those who think that my films are simply theatre believe what they see, but the rules of the theatre are simply applicable to the direction of the actors. I think I am more of a "coach" who knows how to organise, (the costumes, the sound...) and find the best to make the film bigger and better.

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