Choreographer at the New York City Ballet where he was a soloist dancer, Frenchman Benjamin Millepied retired from the company in 2011, at the age of 34. This, in order to diversify its practice. Thus he collaborated with the filmmakers Darren Aronofsky, for the choreographies of black swan (THE black Swan), and Denis Villeneuve, for the design of the “desert walk” in Dunes.
However, it turns out that Benjamin Millepied dreamed of cinema long before that. So here he is offering a first film as a director: Carmen (VO, s.-tf), freely inspired by the famous opera, with a vibrant Melissa Barrera as the figurehead.
“This film was born from my love for cinema and for photography, but it was born above all from a need: to go further, as an artist”, confides Benjamin Millepied during a videoconference interview. .
“This woman, Carmen, she carries all this pain with her, but she embodies total freedom. I wanted her to be able to love and be loved, but to have an experience with a man who is not like the other men she has met before: Aidan, who, at first, exists a bit like a ghost. and revives upon contact with Carmen. »
The plot of the film bears very little resemblance to that imagined long ago by Georges Bizet, whose opera was basically only a starting point: Benjamin Millepied kept only a few words from it. . Even the heroine is transformed.
“In the opera, Carmen is this object of desire, sexy, which men want to possess. We are not in a human relationship. And in addition, in the end, we kill her. For what ? There are women who possess this freedom and this strength, and we shouldn’t be afraid of them: that’s what I wanted to express. »
The cinema allowed me an approach to dance that was perhaps even more intellectual than what is possible on stage. I wanted to integrate the dance in a way that it didn’t appear superficial, because then it could tear us away from the story; tear us away from our emotional journey with Carmen and Aidan.
Minimalist, the film’s story revolves around a young Mexican woman — Carmen (Melissa Barrera) — who tries to reach the United States after her mother is murdered by bandits. At the border, she is attacked, along with other illegal immigrants, by self-proclaimed trigger-happy patrollers.
“The dialogues of these “border patrols” are real: they are taken from documentaries”, notes the director.
One of them, Aidan (Paul Mescal), a young veteran who does not wish to be there, rescues her in extremis before fleeing with her. In the background: a loving passion that ignites everything, and above all, flamenco in many variations.
“The cinema allowed me an approach to dance that was perhaps even more intellectual than what is possible on stage. I wanted to integrate the dance in a way that it didn’t appear superficial, because then it could tear us away from the story; tear us away from our emotional journey with Carmen and Aidan. »
Benjamin Millepied gives the sequence of the general fight, towards the end, as an example: “There are all these bodies in motion, and you don’t wonder why there are people dancing among them: it’s an organic whole that that we believe in it and that we are “inside”, immersed. That was one of my main concerns, along with demonstrating that dance and music can, in a cinematic context, elicit a visceral emotional response. »
Talk with the body
In addition to its absolutely superb craftsmanship, one of the film’s striking characteristics is its economy of dialogue. For Benjamin Millepied, it’s partly inherited from his first job, but not only.
“In dance, we have all these dancers responsible for conveying a story without the help of dialogue. There’s that, and the fact that, in the cinema, I have a predilection for films that don’t say everything, that retain a part of mystery; films that force the audience to work while inviting them to feel what the performers feel. The emotion. I always come back to emotion. »
This bias greatly pleased Melissa Barrera, whose Hollywood star has been shining brightly since the success of the two most recent films in the saga. Scream (Chills), of which she is the star.
“I immediately understood that Benjamin’s language is first of all bodily, because he is a choreographer”, explains the actress during the same interview.
“I knew that the story would be told more by the body than by the dialogue: it was understood. I had faith in his vision. In fact, it was one of my primary motivations: the certainty that this film would look like nothing else. Basically, I’m drawn to projects that push the boundaries of a genre. [comme les Scream avec l’horreur]. Except that with Carmen, Benjamin creates his own genre. »
Indeed, like the proverbially uninhibited heroine, the film refuses any narrative or formal classicism, multiplying surrealist or poetic, even abstract asides. One thinks in particular of the first appearances of Rossy de Palma, Pedro Almodóvar’s favorite actress. For a good while, we don’t know where she is, and what her exact role is in the story: questions that could have annoyed, but which on the contrary, fascinate.
“Rossy arrived on the set with a head full of ideas and I took everything: there was nothing to throw away, remembers Benjamin Millepied. I wanted to let her express herself unhindered: from her first scene, she was magnificent. »
Collegiality and inner fire
In this regard, the director favored the same collegiality with his star couple. “Benjamin is the embodiment of the ‘best idea wins the day’ approach,” says Melissa Barrera. His process involves a lot of consultation and experimentation. It could be chaotic, but it never becomes so, because it’s a process that he masters perfectly. »
To specify the scenario writer: “With Melissa and Paul, we played with the scenes, day in day: what their instinct dictated to them mattered to me, their opinions also, among others for all that related to the amorous tension between their characters. Afterwards, it was up to me to sculpt their performances. »
Performances, notes Melissa Barrera, dependent on a lot of work: “I am not a dancer, but my responsibility as an actress is to make Carmen real. I wanted to embody this freedom, this sensuality, this will… and this fire, this fire that burns inside her… And then, Carmen is a born dancer. She has dance in her blood: she didn’t study it. In the film, it passes from mother to daughter, but each has their own way of dancing. Benjamin and I have therefore defined this language of dance which is specific to Carmen. It was one of the biggest challenges of my life, because I assure you that flamenco is not easy. »
In the image, however, it seems to come so naturally to him… Moreover, the same goes for Benjamin Millepied and cinema, an art for which he shows a spontaneous talent that is as disconcerting as it is bewitching.
The film Carmen hits theaters May 12.