a documentary to watch on France.tv looks back at the journey of the multi-talented rebel

This beautiful documentary portrait explores the complexity and different facets of the singer, writer, actress and poet Brigitte Fontaine. The opportunity to discover or rediscover this rebellious artist whose years have in no way diminished her non-conformism and self-deprecation.

With her extra-terrestrial airs and the bite of her bizarre lyrics, Brigitte Fontaine has always been a little scary. She assumes. “I was very afraid, and therefore I was very afraid, because I was going there, I was rushing“, she confirms in this documentary which gives pride of place to the cash words of this obstacle to going in circles. Fragile, anxious, certainly, and even tender under her shell of provocation and self-deprecation. But crazy , as she has often been called? Certainly not. Enraged, yes.”I have always been revolted. Against everything. Against the way the world is going. Above all against the contentment of mediocrity“, she analyzes today, at 84 years old, in a long interview which serves as a common thread for this film to be seen on France.tv until October 2024.

On her first day of school, at the age of 5, she started singing. Immediately forbidden to tweet, Brigitte Fontaine takes it like a slap in the face. She understands very young that “adults follow rules“. And that rules, and conforming to anything, she doesn’t like that.

A lover of words

Singer, actress, writer and poet, this rebellious girl is above all a lover of words, who does not know the blank page – “I believe in inspiration. That’s all I believe in“. The words, “I taste them and then I eat them. (…) Even if they don’t go together, it makes a magical combination“, she sums up. “Writing is my greatest sin.”, she also confides. “When I write, I feel free“. However, don’t come to him.”throw in the face” which is “free“.”It’s not true. I’m hampered, like everyone else“. Scathing honesty, unfailing and in all circumstances.

Coming from his native Brittany (Morlaix, “wonderful“, then Brest, “awful“), she begins by acting upon arriving in Paris. Like her parents, members of an amateur theater troupe. But the setting to music of her lunar and radical texts quickly takes over in the dance halls of the capital. “I wanted my songs to be a small event. A kind of game with people.”

His meeting with Jacques Higelin, his “heart Brother“, her unusual performances, notably with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, are told and shown with vibrant period videos in black and white. The documentary also looks at the unique duo she formed from the early 1970s with Areski Belkacem “my lover and my favorite partner“. Together, with this percussionist and “great melodist“, they travel the world and give improvised concerts with makeshift percussion and other toy instruments. But once again, beware of clichés: “We’re not a couple, we’re both!“, insists this slayer of the patriarchy.”Egeria? My ass! I’m not an inspiration, I’m a creator“, she prefers.

Funny but haunted by death

“Revealer of creation“, “exceptional pen“, “perpetual surprise“: Arthur H, Etienne Daho, Rebeka Warrior, Matthieu Chedid and PR2B demonstrate in the film their admiration for this figure on the margins, often misunderstood and unfairly unknown apart from his hits of the 80s and 90s like Nougat.

If his most joyful side and his unfiltered humor triumph for a time in the hits parades and on television sets, death, incarnation and the difficult human condition haunt all his work, underlines the documentary. In the room Mom I’m scared, co-written with Higelin and Rufus, and of which we see extracts, she discovers her body, taken aback, like a soul that has just become incarnate. In Human raceshe sings : “I found myself there in this unknown body. For God knows what gala, I never knew. Suddenly parachuted into this foreign world, an angel in the supermarket, I had to dance the java of earthlings without knowing anything about it.…

Because she signed the famous “manifesto of the 343 sluts” in favor of the legalization of abortion in 1971, and openly said that she had undergone several clandestine abortions (in deplorable conditions which almost cost her her life), we the so-called feminist. “I am not and never have been a feminist. Because I hate names with “ist”, I am nothing in “ist”, except perhaps, if I may say so, an artist. But I am in solidarity with all the girls, the broads”, she specifies. At least, “I wanted to make sure that we knew that women are creators and always have been.”

“Brigitte Fontaine, awaken the living”, documentary directed by Benoît Mouchart, Yann Orhan and Aurélien Guégan (52 min, 2023) to watch on france.tv until October 6, 2024.