The newest hit film straight from France, "Paris 36" (2008), made its U.S. debut in limited cities on April 3. Surrounding the Boston release of this film, which recreates pre-World War II Paris, the Daily spoke to acclaimed writer-director Christophe Barratier and newcomer actress Nora Arnezeder about the film at a Boston press event:
Robert Gottlieb: Can you tell us a little bit about the inspiration for the story of "Paris 36"?
Christophe Barratier: It was really inspired by some songs that some friends brought to me, it was maybe five or ten songs that were like sketches about a little place in Paris in '36 with some very funny characters ... I began to think about these songs and that maybe we could fix ... the story during the Battle of France because it was a very stormy-weather period where the extreme right, socialism and communism were strong. We felt that the workers were very hopeful about the future and what did they find? ... The Second World War ... But that's just the background, because the most important element is characters and I didn't want to make a period movie or historical movie about the Popular Front or about France, but more about nice characters with their small hopes. It's not big hopes that change our lives, you know, it's a very universal matter.
RG: When you first listened to the songs that inspired you to write the film, did you know there was going to be singing in the movie? Many early reviews have compared "Paris 36" to a musical in the vein of "Moulin Rouge!" (2001) and others, yet your film is not a musical.
CB: No, [it's not]. It was based on the songs, so I knew it had to be a very musical movie, but not a real musical like "Moulin Rouge!" I wanted to focus on a little musical. If you go on stage to sing some songs, you have a reason to go. ["Paris 36"] doesn't have singing in the street or singing dialogue. It's a movie where music has dramatic importance, but it's not a show.
RG: I thought the art direction and the overall look of the film had a very precise style. How did you prepare to recreate 1936 Paris?
CB: Well, I tried to recreate my own Paris. Taking inspiration from photographs of the '30s and above all, in films, because between '35 and '40 you've got a real Golden Age of the French cinema, like the directors Marcel Carne and Jean Renoir ... I don't know if it was achieved, but an ambition for the movie was for Paris to not be a realistic Paris but not a totally fantasy Paris, either, like in "Moulin Rouge!," for example. [The Paris in "Moulin Rouge!"] doesn't really correspond to anything; [its look] borders a cartoon. I wanted [my Paris] to be more realistic than that. I wanted it to bring some poetry like the poetical realism movement of the '30s, which is rooted in reality but is expressed in a poetical way. That's why, for example ... we don't know the names of the streets or know the name of the place. It could be anywhere in Paris, a little bit like a tale.
RG: I was wondering if your experience as a child growing up with two parents who were both active in theater had an influence on the film's story.
CB: My family is 100 percent in the cinema. My grandparents were actors, my mother is an actress; I mean, [I was] really a kid born into theater and the cinematographic life, so it was a little bit difficult to escape from that and I didn't, actually. I'm very attached to the actors, to the theatre, to the dialogue. That's why [we worked a lot on] the image frame. It was not [spontaneous]. I worked with [cinematographer] Tom Stern, who works a lot [in the United States]. I knew that with him, [the cinematography] wouldn't be too realistic or French. [French directors], for example, they are very careful, sometimes too careful about realism ... I didn't want that. I wanted to get a very contrasted [image] with some big lights and shadows, something that doesn't look really French. This is very technical, I know, but, in the opening [of the film], it's just one big shot. We're in the sky of Paris and in one shot, without any cuts, we're going through the theater, through the audience, through the backstage, and the shot ends with a close-up on one of the actors. [That technique] is not used often in France.
RG: [Ms. Arnezeder,] how did you get involved with the film?
Nora Arnezeder: Well, I did an audition. It was two years ago that I met Christophe Barratier for the part of Douce, and I did a singing audition at first, an acting audition and a screen test. I waited for six months to have the answer. [The wait] was terrible.
RG: Was there a huge search to find an actress for this part?
CB: Yes. If your goal is to work with an unknown, well, you first have to [start with an extensive search] and then do some tests. I mean, [Nora] passed some singing tests, comedy tests, and at the end, a really, really "old-school" 35mm screen test with Nora made up like in the '30s.
RG: What research did you do and how did you prepare for the role of Douce?
NA: Well, I worked with a coach -- an acting coach, a singing coach -- and I did dancing classes with everybody, with all the actors, and we did a reading. So I went to the bookstore and read books about 1936 and [got] some DVDs to watch before [production started].
RG: How was it working with these incredible actors on set?
NA: Well, at the beginning I was really scared because I really admire their work. They're amazing actors. I was really scared to be the new one because everyone [already] knew each other ... I was like [a] stranger. Then they were really nice to me and I became friends with them. Pierre Richard, he's an amazing actor and he helped me a lot. We both love jazz music. He used to play the piano and I sang with him, and then we went to the jazz club together. After we were shooting, in our free time, we came to know each other, and that was really important.
