“a profession in which we are in direct contact with humanity”

Every day, a personality invites themselves into the world of Élodie Suigo. Wednesday, September 11, 2024: the actor and director, Daniel Auteuil. He is on the bill for his new film, “Le Fil”.

With 14 César nominations, two Césars for his role as Ugolin Soubeyran in John of Florette And Manon of the Sources then one for Gabor’s in The Girl on the BridgeDaniel Auteuil is one of the most loved and recognized actors in French cinema. With a heritage passed down by his parents, opera and operetta singers, he threw himself into the stage, the boards, music, everything attracts him and interests him. Today, he is in front of and behind the camera, in his new film The Threadwhich comes out Wednesday, September 11.

He plays Maître Jean Monier, a criminal lawyer tasked with defending a father accused of murdering his wife. This new production is based on a true story.

franceinfo: Six years after the comedy In love with my wifeso you go from love to hate.

Daniel Auteuil: Yes, I go from love to hate, but still mixed with love, because these lawyer professions are professions filled with humanity. During the preparation of my film, I had the chance to be invited to a closed-door trial. I felt all the depth, the difficulty and the humanity of this often-criticized lawyer profession.

“Being a lawyer is an absolutely difficult profession. It made me think of being a police officer, of being a nurse. Professions in which you are in direct contact with humanity. The slightest mistake you can make is fatal.”

Daniel Auteuil

to franceinfo

I am often told, but lawyer and actor, it’s the same thing. No, it’s not the same. And what diverges is the conclusion. If I mess up my role, I border on ridiculous, but I don’t die from it. Whereas if I am a lawyer and I mess up, the guy or woman can get 20 years in prison and people’s destinies change. And what surprised me is that reality has so much more imagination than fiction. It upset me.

In the film, you defend with an intimate conviction of innocence. What is intimate conviction?

Intimate conviction is deep in one’s conscience, it is the degree of perception that one has on the truth of the other’s words and on being sure of his innocence. When it is word against word, there is no proof. No proof, no motive, no witness. And that is where I understand to what extent the public is fascinated by these stories of trials, of police films. By attending this trial myself for three days, I wavered every day. But yes, he is innocent! But no, he is guilty! There is also one thing that touched me, it is that often those who do not have access to speech are easily guilty because they cannot defend themselves. Hence the work of lawyers.

You wear three hats on this film. Actor, you also wrote the script and directed. At one point, you doubted whether you would return to directing.

Yes. I had gone back into extraordinary acting adventures, with fascinating people. I thought it was over until Nelly, my daughter and producer, brought me this story. But between the time I read it for the first time and the time we filmed, it took three years. I had to take hold of this story, make it mine. I had to find a parallel between my life, my job as an actor and this lawyer who is starting to plead in court again, just as I am starting to direct again.

“It takes more than energy, it’s a magnificent life force to make a film. I had to find this force again. I found it and I’m very happy to have made ‘The Wire’.”

Daniel Auteuil

to franceinfo

What do you get out of playing?

This is my life. I was born to play and I will die one day, I will pretend to die. Playing brings me, despite the hardest, most complicated and most obscure roles, it brings me a lightness and a pleasure. And the more painful it is, the more dramatic it is and the more enjoyable it is, because it is not for real, it is for fake. We do not have to suffer, it is up to you to suffer, to be moved and to cry. We just have to be convincing.