For his sumptuous film adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s novel, filmmaker Xavier Giannoli has entrusted the role of Lucien de Rubempré to Benjamin Voisin. Revealed on the international scene thanks to Summer 85, by François Ozon, the young actor is at the heart of an ambitious feature film, in which his playing partners are Gérard Depardieu, Cécile de France, Vincent Lacoste and Xavier Dolan. Maintenance.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
First there was the call from his agent. Who asks him if he would like to audition for a film based on a novel by Honoré de Balzac. The agent doesn’t really know more. For only details, he indicates to Benjamin Voisin that it would be a first role and that it would be necessary to go there quickly.
“I thought it was a TV movie! “, confides the actor during a videoconference interview granted to The Press as part of the Unifrance French Cinema Meetings. “I only had three hours to prepare. I learned the text as I could and I went there in a rather risky way. The next day, Xavier Giannoli [Marguerite, L’apparition] called me and invited me to a café to explain his project to me. I had introduced myself the day before with a rather careless naivety, without any form of pressure. Maybe that’s why it worked! »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY OPALE FILMS
Cécile de France and Benjamin Voisin in lost illusionsa film by Xavier Giannoli
The ambitious nature of the feature film and the quality of the people involved could undoubtedly have intimidated a 22-year-old actor (at the time of filming) who has barely a few years of experience. However, Benjamin Voisin has knowingly found a way not to let himself be overwhelmed by this kind of feeling.
“I made sure that this new pressure faded. It’s a bit as if I had wanted to stay in the perspective of a modest TV movie and that all these monster actors with whom I had to play were not there. I had to desacralize them in a way. And to act as if I didn’t see the castles and the 500 extras who arrived every day either.
That said, that energy quickly turns to excitement in me. I’m not hugely anxious by nature.
Benjamin Voisin
Thanks to Alfred de Musset…
lost illusions obtained 15 selections for the next French cinema Césars ceremony. Just like last year, whenSummer 85 had earned him a quote, the actor is in the running this year in the category of best male hope.
Born into a family where the theater was very present, Benjamin Voisin found his vocation as a teenager. He first tasted the pleasure of the boards before the cinema took hold of him.
“When, for the first time, I found myself on a stage saying words of love taken from a play by Musset, when I saw the gaze of the public on me as I was playing them, I I said: “Well say so! And we can live from this job?” Now, the cinema has taken a considerable place in my life. I appreciate it all the more because I humbly note that I’m offered good roles and that it’s not given to everyone. I still remain very close to my theatrical roots. Molière and Racine are never far away, and I also often read plays by contemporary authors. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY OPALE FILMS
Benjamin Voisin and Vincent Lacoste in lost illusionsa film by Xavier Giannoli
As a teenager, the actor particularly enjoyed reading the works of Marcel Proust and Louis-Ferdinand Céline. Honoré de Balzac ? A little less…
At the time, I didn’t like his vision of the world, too cynical, too austere in my eyes as a young man of 16 or 17 years old. As I get older, Balzac interests me more because I understand him better.
Benjamin Voisin, on Honoré de Balzac
In lost illusions, Benjamin Voisin slips into the skin of Lucien de Rubempré, a young provincial in love with literary glory, who goes to Paris thanks to the benevolence of a protector. Camped at the time of the Restoration, at the beginning of the 19thand century, the story recounts the unfortunate journey of the young unknown poet, confronted with a world now doomed to the law of profit and pretense. Everything is bought and everything is sold in all areas, starting with literary, journalistic and political circles.
Feed the gaze
By way of preparation, Benjamin Voisin went far beyond the simple mastery of reading the screenplay written by Xavier Giannoli.
“Not being very talkative, Lucien listens a lot and tries to understand everything around him. These things to play not being so written, I told myself that it would be better to try to feed my gaze, my imagination. I read a lot to then better put all that aside, once integrated. I also visited a lot of an exhibition on romanticism at the Musée du Petit Palais. I tried to steal the gaze of these young ephebes that we saw in the paintings of the 1830s. Their posture is very tense, but their eyes are very youthful at the same time. I liked this apparent contradiction. »
The actor had already tasted the experience of the historical film by taking a small role in The Happy Prince, directed by Rupert Everett. This particular dynamic pleases him well.
In lost illusions, my job was to make Lucien de Rubempré a contemporary character, who can speak to today’s audience. The concern for the reconstruction belonged entirely to the filmmaker. When a period film transcends its history to make it resonate in ours, I find it sublime.
Benjamin Voisin
“A Great Movie”
And Xavier Dolan in all this?
“Xavier has become a friend. I really appreciated the fact that this meeting was that of two actors and not that of a director and an actor. I wasn’t there for him to give me a role in his next feature film and he wasn’t there to tell me that he would like to offer me a role either. On the set, Xavier was so intense as an actor that I told him that he absolutely had to continue acting. His films will be even better as he meets other filmmakers. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY OPALE FILMS
In addition to providing the narration, Xavier Dolan plays a role in lost illusionsa film by Xavier Giannoli.
Very proud to have had the chance to be part of this adventure, Benjamin Voisin could not be more delighted when he saw lost illusions for the first time.
“I couldn’t call it a masterpiece because I’m glued to it too closely, but I felt there was a very great film there. I also had a thought for my grandparents. They had the opportunity to see their grandson play a character they studied more than us at school! »
lost illusions hits theaters February 25.