For example, everything
The first time I saw Jeanne Balibar in the scene was in the film Fin août, début septembre (1999) playing Jenny directed by Olivier Assayas, for which he was awarded at the Festival de Cine de San Sebastián. Her dramatic subtlety along with a huge comic talent and expressive force has got her the chance of working with many of the great names of our contemporary cinema. Precisely, it was in Va savoir (2001) directed by Jacques Rivette, the second time I enjoyed her talent. And with her works with Rivette and Assayas we find others with Raoul Ruiz, Mathieu Almaric, Michael Winterbottom, and Pedro Costa, of who she presents the latest Ne change rien in which he documents the musical collaboration of Balibar with French guitarist Rodolphe Burger. Jeanne Balibar has a great talent that goes into the world of dance, music, theatre and of course cinema in which now she debuts as director with an unconventional work. Titled Par exemple, Electre written and directed with Pierre Léon, besides being both part of the cast acting, it is a work of absolute creative freedom, an exercise of celebration of the artistic, but it’s also a recognition of culture from its essence, and the fight against social injustice and conventionality. On the occasion of her presence at L'Alternativa 2012 in Barcelona, I had the pleasure of talking to her about her latest movies, her music career and her vision of current times.
Par exemple, Electre is your first film as a director. You share the work of directing, writing and performing with Pierre Léon, in addition to other actors as Emmanuelle Béart. What has been the most complex of the entire process?
Actually nothing has been complicated. We were doing everything a bit random, little by little. At first I worked alone the part of the text of Electra near the sea. Then I started meeting people to finance the project and it was great fun, I found the discussions we had really funny. So I started to record the people I met. Then I created the scenario set in Paris, which was not all that complicated, and I asked Pierre Léon to work it with me. In Paris everything ran smoothly, in fact we had fun. Then the assembly was very simple, and nothing has been complex, actually.
Why did you choose the character of Electra?
Firstly because I love this character and I find it very interesting and paradoxical. A character who fights against injustice, corruption, abuses of power, but at the same time we could say that criminal, she arranges for deaths, and this contradiction interests me. Also I liked the idea of returning to the Greek Theatre, the origin of representation.
It is easy to relate this myth of classical Greece and the social situation of modern Greece. How do you see the loss of social rights that we are living?
Currently I see it with a deep pessimism, in Europe. We are kidnapped by supranational authorities explaining economic fables and requiring national political authorities to weaken to the detriment of the rights of citizens and of all that European civilization has built. At the end Europe is the only place in the world where there is a civilization of solidarity built after World War II which was the tragic consequence of the 1929 crisis. I think this is very serious and very, very dangerous, and I’m really worried about how will it end. Moreover, that situation of social and political catastrophe has occurred several times in history and I think the citizens are obliged not to fall into an absolute depression because then will be terrible. We can not live the next few years in despair. Life is too short.
The format of the film is very interesting because there is a game between reality and fiction that is powered by a very free creativity. Where is the line that separates reality from fiction in the film?
I do not know. I guess you could consider it a completely fictional movie, actually. The moments of drama are fictional and the working process has also been performed from the fiction, someway. Perhaps it’s rather an allegory of the current social situation.
You also present the latest film of Pedro Costa titled Ne change rien about your musical collaboration with Rodolphe Burger. By using the documentary technique, can we say that does he show reality?
No, it's true that Pedro Costa uses the documentary technique to make the film but at the same time I think it's a fiction that has restricted much of reality to make this story as a little film noir, as if we were fugitives at night, which makes me think of “They live by night” by Nicholas Ray. In addition he has taken many difficult moments from the creative process and moments of repetition, which manufactures a fiction because in reality there are many moments that are totally different from those shown.
So there is never reality in cinema?
Yes, I think there is a lot of reality in film. There is the reality of heart and face, and the feeling that goes through this heart and this face. And then there is the material reality of the world, when someone puts a camera somewhere it does it in a material world, unless it is in a studio with a set, but still there’s the reality of the heart. So I think in cinema there’s always the material reality, finally, the concrete space in which we live, and a material reality of the materiality of human beings. But in the films I love, this reality always comes through a fable, a fiction. Although ostensibly a documentary is the most realistic technique there is always a certain look, and that's cinema, it’s the look of someone on the world, a look that someone approached through a narrative.
For what reason do you think Pedro Costa chose the title Ne change rien?
It’s the title of one of my songs in which I use a sampler from the "Histoires du cinéma" of Godard that says "We need to change nothing to make everything become different" which is a variation of a sentence from Goethe that is mentioned in a Visconti film "If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change." I think it appears in another film, perhaps one of Bresson, but I do not remember. The variation of Godard "We need to change nothing to make everything become different" is an ethical statement, the stubbornness for wanting to bring a revolutionary speech. For Pedro Costa it’s a declaration of love, at least I've always understood it this way, but he is too shy to admit it.
The film shows your musical side during the creation of what became your second album Slalom Dame. What‘s the reason of the title of the album?
Dame is because I wanted to make a female album and slalom is because I move from one place to another, from right to left.
In the album you sing you own songs and some written by many other composers.
Yes, it's another reason why I called it slalom, because I resort to different authors.
In the album you count with the collaboration of Rodolphe Burger and other authors like Dominique A. You also collaborated on the last album of Katerine. How do you see the French music scene today?
The truth is that the French music scene does not interest me too much.
That means you think is not good enough?
I don't know. From the song in French, except for Katerine, which is the only one I find really interesting, nothing interests me, and from the French rock scene in English I like Phoenix, Air ... but I hear more the music made by English and Americans.
That means you think is not good enough?
I don't know. From the song in French, except for Katerine, which is the only one I find really interesting, nothing interests me, and from the French rock scene in English I like Phoenix, Air ... but I hear more the music made by English and Americans.
You are a dancer, an actress, a singer ... all are live experiences. What brings you to act in front the public?
Is being with the public, is an incredibly special feeling, is a drug. It is an experience of communion with a number of people, more or less. But whatever the number, whether small or large rooms, is always an extraordinary experience of relationship with others.
I have read some references to Baudelaire in your career. Is an artistic reference?
There are not many occasions in which I've referred to his poetry but, yes, Baudelaire is very important in my life as a great classic poet and of high insubordination at the same time. It is this blend of classicism and insurrection what please me.
And what is the Swing café?
It's an album for children in which I recite a text that tells the story of jazz in a way closer to child audiences.
The album includes jazz classics ranging from Duke Ellington to Carmen Miranda. I love the moment when you say le swing c’est moi.
Yes? Really?
Yes, and I wonder, what is the swing to Jeanne Balibar?
Vitality. The swing is a celebration of life.
An interview by Juan Carlos Romero
Jeanne Balibar website www.myspace.com/jeannebalibar
Photo courtesy of L'Alternativa Festival de Cinema Independent de Barcelona
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