When you’re in the habit of asking questions, do you know how to answer them?
Absolutely not. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why we ask them – we’re not very good at answering them ourselves. There’s an art to answering, just as there’s an art to asking.
An interview that changed your life?
Charlotte Gainsbourg, talking about grief. At the end, she told me, « I left everything in my father’s house. Tin cans, when you leave them too long, they explode, I had no idea ».
What excesses do you allow yourself during Cannes?
I’m a man of excess. I allow myself every excess all the time, as long as I’m the only one involved.
Like Laetitia Dosch’s character in Le Procès du Chien, would you do anything to save a dog’s life?
I had a dog for 16 years. He was my best friend, and his name was Jean-François. I’d never take another dog because I’d feel like I was betraying him. I still think about him every day, even though he died 5 years ago.
What film are you most looking forward to this year?
Oh Canada by Paul Schrader, because it’s the adaptation of a testamentary novel by Russel Banks that I absolutely adore.
What do you miss most when in Cannes?
My partner. In fact, one of our first dates was when we walked up the steps together for Pain and Glory five years ago. That’s my fondest memory of the festival.
Bernard Pivot died on May 5th. You are one of his heirs. How did you feel when you heard about his passing?
I was very moved. He was always very kind to me. Apostrophes and Bouillon de culture were the only programs I was allowed to watch as a kid. At our last lunch together, he yelled at me because I was doing my back-to-school literary program in mid-September. He’d told me: ‘But that’s completely idiotic, if you were hosting the Olympics, you wouldn’t start in the middle!” As a tribute to him, I hope to do an earlier show next fall.
