years Abbot stone. A life of combats, film by Frédéric Tellier which retraces the life of Henri Grouès, this priest who devoted his life to the fight against poverty, the resemblance between Benjamin Lavernhe and the famous man of God is striking. Same gestures, same thoughtful look, same emblematic beard, same benevolent smile. However, the French actor was the first to be surprised when he received, in his email inbox in 2021, the script for the film accompanied by an audition offer.
“Let’s say I didn’t see it coming,” laughs Benjamin Lavernhe, met in Montreal. But right away, I had hope that I would like the script. The biographical film is a perilous cinematic genre, but it is also a brilliant challenge for an actor to interpret the same character at several periods of his life. I really wanted to live the experience with the costumes, the three hundred extras, the big speech scenes, to defend and shout out loud the message of Abbé Pierre, and thus to be a little part of his fight through cinema. »
During the tests, the actor only had a beret, a cape and a folded lectern as a microphone to convince Frédéric Tellier that he was the man for the job. Even today, months after the end of filming, the actor transforms when he closes his eyes to rehearse the speech he then had to deliver, the one given by Abbé Pierre at the Palais des Congrès in 1984. “Those who have taken all the food on their plates, leaving the plates of others empty and who, having everything, say with a good face, a good conscience, “we, we who have everything, we are for peace!” I know what I should shout to them: the first violent ones, the provocateurs of all violence, it’s you! » he declaims.
“As soon as I said those words, I felt myself vibrate from the inside. I was emotional and got carried away because I really wanted the role. It took the director a few days to decide. He wanted me to come to him, to express my desire, to say yes in both directions. That being said, the real work has begun. »
From capuchin to icon
Abbot stone. A life of combats opens with the arrival of Henri Grouès among the Capuchin brothers, after his flight from the bourgeois environment in which he grew up. A few years later, aged less than 30, he was dismissed from the order on the grounds that his fragile health was not suitable for this ascetic existence. We then follow him as a weakened non-commissioned officer during the Second World War, until his entry into the Resistance in 1942. We witness his meeting with the nun Lucie Coutaz, who provides him with false papers and a new identity, that of Abbé Pierre, as well as his beginnings in politics.
Now inseparable, the two young activists founded Emmaüs, a movement to fight against exclusion, and built a first house dedicated to welcoming the homeless. In the winter of 1954, particularly cold and deadly for the homeless, Abbé Pierre’s notoriety soared when he launched a heartbreaking appeal for donations on Radio-Luxembourg, which raised 500 million francs. Having become a true media icon, the man of faith will be on every platform until his death to fight against poverty and injustice.
To slip into the skin of this man known and admired by all, Benjamin Lavernhe sat every day — sometimes for up to six hours — in the makeup chair. He also had access to a ton of documentation. “I was able to consult interviews, recordings, a digital file containing more than 5,000 photos classified by era. It was an exciting and moving preparation, where I really tried to grasp the character from every angle. »
The actor was also able to delve into the abbot’s diaries and youthful writings, in which he talks about his inner turmoil, his difficulty in adapting to the world and his fragility. “It gave me a lot of clues about his personality and his struggle, about all the times he collapsed to better rise from his ashes. He also speaks of his eight years of meditation with the Capuchins, without which he would never have had the strength which helped him to remain rebellious until the end of his days. »
The actor, who is also a resident of the Comédie-Française, used his background in the theater to not only succeed in embodying the inner journey of the priest and his great presence, but also to appropriate his gestures, his tone of voice , its expressions and all its iconography through immense work on the body. On screen, the illusion is complete, to the point where certain scenes seem straight out of the archives. “Sometimes, I wanted to be so much like him, I was so nourished by everything that constituted him – his crossed hands, his listening position, his fist on the table – that it bordered on obsession. I had to remember that what matters most is the weight of the words, the conviction, the urgency, the heart and the sincerity screwed to the body. »
A message still alive
To hear again the words and the despair of Abbé Pierre is also to see how little the world has changed. Nearly 75 years after the founding of Emmaus, people still sleep in the streets, and those who work for minimum wage struggle to feed themselves adequately. The film therefore reminds us that the fight is not over and that apathy and indifference should never be options.
“I receive several testimonials from spectators who want to get involved, to volunteer after the viewing. Abbé Pierre was that: an electroshock, who could not bear the idea of the inevitability of poverty. We have the reflex to protect ourselves from evils and poverty. Now, every time he opened his mouth, he spoke to that place within us that made us let our guard down. Even today, I get tears in my eyes when I listen to it. He reminds us that no, you never have to get used to it. »
Sometimes, I wanted to be so much like him, I was so nourished by everything that constituted him – his crossed hands, his listening position, his fist on the table – that it bordered on obsession Benjamin Lavernhe »