In A great racea film with assumed biographical echoes (in theaters September 21), Line Renaud finds at 94 “his beloved son” the actor, director and humorist Dany Boon, for a melancholy crossing of Paris with sometimes twilight accents.
In this film by Christian Carion, she is Madeleine Keller, a 92-year-old woman about to enter nursing home. Charles (Dany Boon) is responsible for taking her to her new home. In the meantime, Madeleine is determined to take advantage of this last trip to revisit the places in the capital that have counted in her life.
A twilight film? “I’m getting close to the moment… I have to think about it, I had a beautiful life, an extraordinary life and it will never be forgotten. Even when I’m not here anymore”, declared Line Renaud, recently elevated to the dignity of Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor for her career and her commitments, after a screening during the Angoulême festival at the end of August. A long standing ovation.
“This film is a bit of a part of my life”, she still confided. Because fans of Line Renaud will not be mistaken. Several scenes in the film echo his life. Like the fact that Madeleine Keller is a dresser at the theater, a place that the actress frequented a lot. Or his supposed love affair in his youth with a GI “I lived through the four years of war and the arrival of the Americans. The GIs, we were all crazy about them and I was the first. Besides, we received them well (laughs). I was young and I m ‘remember it’, she said.
“Fiction, life, everything got mixed up”, underlined director Christian Carion. “At one point, I no longer knew if it was Madeleine Keller or Line Renaud who was sitting inside the taxi.”
But it’s the presence of Dany Boon – whose mother she played twice in comedies Welcome to the Ch’tis (2008) which marked the spirits, and The Ch’tite Family (2018) – which makes the film unforgettable for the actress. “It’s the most beautiful role of my life”, she assured. “It’s hard to explain to you. I’ve loved all the moments of my career, but here it’s true that it’s special. It’s a family story.”