In the annals of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, the staging ofWaiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett, by André Brassard, in 1992, is marked with a white stone. It was a “triumph”, thanks to the complicity of Normand Chouinard and Rémy Girard, in Vladimir and Estragon. But the story of this production has seen an astonishing turnaround: after a few weeks of rehearsals, Brassard put aside an imposing futuristic scenography to offer the piece on a stripped-down stage, with, in the center, a coat hook rather than a tree. His instincts had once again proved him right.
It is also instinct, at least in part, that guided the Swedish actor Jan Jönson in tackling this theatrical Everest that is Godot, but with a group of young inmates, not quite altar boys. In the 1980s in Sweden, this experience caused a stir, had some twists and turns, from which Jönson drew a book, a show, in addition to returning to this incredible adventure in the company of the filmmaker Michka Saäl (Prisoners of Beckett).
Emmanuel Courcol (Cease-fire) saw real cinema material in this true story; before A triumph, we can only agree. And let’s say it straight away: he has been able to avoid the trap of so many films which give the illusion that art can save us from everything. The thing is obvious, the examples numerous, but not always in the tearful manner of Choristers or from Cinema Paradiso.
Himself an actor (The teammate, I’m fine, don’t worry) and screenwriter (Welcome, All our desires), Emmanuel Courcol knows the greatness, the miseries and the pitfalls of the profession of actor, and he underlines them in broad strokes thanks to a good player Kad Merad in formidable sad clown. Because the character he plays, Étienne, is at the same time conceited, resentful, temperamental, egocentric and visibly on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Working in a penitentiary with austere architecture but worthy of Le Corbusier with inmates reciting (more or less) correctly fables by Jean de La Fontaine, it is not quite the glory – and the apprentice actors do not take in white gloves to remind him.
However, the one who has not trod a single scene for three years dreams of great roles while refusing to see that his label of pain in the ass is the biggest obstacle to his career. Against all odds, he takes a sincere affection for this troop like no other, and perhaps ready for greater challenges, seeing it also a personal lifeline. Because between the one who stutters, the little guy who makes a silent terror reign, the refugee waiting for freedom and a Russian colossus acting as a blower, it is a whole gallery of sympathetic cripples who stick to the absurd universe and unspeakable of Samuel Beckett. Besides, not so far from what they endure every day – part of the film was shot in the walls of a prison that never breathes the cleanliness of the studios.
Étienne himself appears caught in a vice, forced to do more odd jobs, constantly begging the director of the penitentiary (Marina Hands) and the director of a theater (Laurent Stocker) to follow him in this unpredictable adventure constantly threatened by bureaucracy. judicial. Because if we wonder if these improbable actors will manage to put this text in their mouths, which resists all analyzes, A triumph skilfully multiplies the dodges, setbacks and unexpected successes, thus marrying the splendors and miseries of any demanding and innovative artistic work.
This double dive into the prison and theatrical world is also a great lesson in courage, including that of getting out of a stifling and coded world to find another, the stage, which also makes you dizzy … And in the same way as this director on stage inexperienced refuses to know the past of its performers, we will know very little about what got them behind bars, but much about their doubts and their hopes to play the comedy, however confusing and mysterious it is.
Samuel Beckett said of the Swedish adventure that “this is the best thing that has happened to my piece since I wrote it”. Before A triumph, you will understand why the late Irish playwright, long imbued with the “sadness to be understood”, was so until the end by people who did him the honor of making fun of him.