François Cluzet is more than 70 films in 45 years of career. Regardless of the roles or costumes endorsed in theatre, television or cinema: his involvement as a character actor has convinced the public, critics and the profession itself, with awards and nominations that are come to punctuate his choices and his work. He received the César for best actor in 2007 for the film Do not tell anyone by Guillaume Canet, and he was hailed for his role in Untouchables by Olivier Nakache and Eric Tolédano, alongside Omar Sy.
Since Wednesday March 23, 2022, at the cinema, he has been the boss of a home for young migrants in social comedy Squad, by Louis-Julien Petit. He plays alongside Audrey Lamy, who plays a chef whom he recruits to take over the canteen of this establishment to develop not only menus, but above all to transmit a passion. Moreover, in this film, the partners of François Cluzet are young people recruited in homes by the director. These are their first film roles.
franceinfo: There is a real work of transmission in Squad.
François Cluzet : I am proud to be in this film because I find it intelligent, more than digestible, with a very deep, very serious, very important subject and at the same time, there is the strength and the talent of a director and his entire team to make it entertaining. It was Ingmar Bergman who said: “Let’s not forget that we are in the business of entertainment.”
For us, the actors, being in a collective that defends the human being is a bit like our vocation. There, we are in a somewhat interactive thing with these young migrants who have all experienced this adventure of coming to France, their humility, the fact that in the end, what they have experienced is heavier than what I have could live me, even though I am 40 years older.
This generosity, this humility is striking because they knew nothing about cinema. People know very little about the reception of young migrants who are between 12 and 17 years old and what they have come to do here.
“In the end, we live only to love, to share. The foreigner teaches us so many things. We must privilege the exchange rather than the individual.”
François Cluzetat franceinfo
We have the young GusGus who is learning the French language, the expressions, who is trying to find his own way. There is a real child’s look, finally, through this boy. What childhood dreams did you have?
I had two dreams. I wanted to experience mad love as an idealist. And then to be famous because when I was little, I needed love like all of us, but I didn’t have it, not enough, so I wanted to be loved by as many people as possible. So afterwards, I was perhaps predisposed. We talk about talent, but I’m talking more about desire. I had such a desire that in the end, things went a bit with a lot of luck all the same, with sorts of happy coincidences. I could very well have missed out on this dream I had.
There was a click, a trigger, it was Jacques Brel with The Man of La Mancha. You were extremely marked and touched by the fact that by crying, one could move and one could justly please.
Yes, that was the real surprise. How can you applaud a guy for 20 minutes, while he’s crying, sweating, singing to the limit? My first reaction as a child, I said to myself: he’s going to be yelled at by his parents for putting himself in such a state because at home, that state wouldn’t have passed. And then, the whole Champs-Elysées theater standing up and applauding him, for 20 minutes, I said to myself: he is loved because he cries, but then I want to do that too!
You said earlier that you lacked love when you were a child. Did the cinema, this job bring you the love you needed?
Yes, I owe a lot to the theatre, to the cinema. I met wonderful people. I’ve also met foul people, but in the majority, I’ve met really beautiful, healthy people, who finally have this essential human sense, namely “I’m not worth more than the other”.
You started at the theater, at 21, and then, the films followed one another. There was Diane Kurys who believed in you very quickly in Molotov cocktail (1979), then The horse of pride by Claude Chabrol (1980). You have always played, there has been no downtime in your career. I wondered if you had ever doubted yourself?
No. I don’t know how to tell you. I never doubted. I have always had confidence. This is my education, my experience.
“When you mature very young because it’s hard, then you have an advantage over others. You’ve been through it. I was lucky. I was no longer candid at 14 so when I came in this job, I had the weapons to protect myself and saw what was not going to go my way.”
François Cluzetat franceinfo
I had the chance to meet partners who gave me everything. They are the ones who made me want to play like that. I don’t care about being filmed. What I want is for you, the partner, to be the best you can be. You might think it’s altruism and not at all. It’s that from the moment you give the best to the partner, he responds by giving you the best and it’s the film that wins there. And that’s our job!