Director Sian Heder’s film Coda received the Best Picture Oscar on Monday March 28 in Los Angeles. This is the American adaptation of The Aries familyreleased in France in 2014. Guest of franceinfo on Monday, the French director Éric Lartigau, to whom we owe The Aries familysays to himself “very happy” than “this film which speaks of transmission, of being together” won this award. He did not want to participate in the adaptation of the film because “anyway, it will be different”.
franceinfo: I believe you have tears easily. Were you overwhelmed with emotion with this Oscar for Codaadapted from The Aries family ?
Eric Lartigau: Downright. It was very moving. It is a film which speaks of transmission, of being together. Especially at the moment, in these suspended times that we are experiencing, there is something that unites us on the theme of difference, with the prism of the family and this deaf community, which is very important.
Do you have a certain pride in seeing the adaptation of your film rewarded today in Hollywood at the Oscars?
Pride, I don’t know. In any case, I’m very happy: for Sian Heder, the director, for Emilia Jones, Marlee Matlin who plays Louane’s mother in the film and the father, Troy Kostur, who won the Oscar for best supporting role. It was a sort of absolutely phenomenal strike.
You did not participate in this American remake of The Aries family. Was it your wish or was it not offered to you?
I had wanted to put that in my contract: if there was an adaptation in a country, I absolutely did not want to put my hand in it because I know what an adaptation is. The director or the director must seize it. Each has its purpose. Either way, it will be different. The actors will be different, the director will film it differently… She has transposed it to the sea, to the ocean, with a boat and fishing. We were the tractor and the goats! [Rires]. But the important thing is that the film continued. This is what is very pretty. Sian Heder must be on cloud nine.
You would have dreamed that The Aries family, as a French film at the time, went to the Oscars? You do not regret that an adaptation is necessary?
No no. I don’t think they could, but I already had a very nice gift: Steven Spielberg said last night that The Aries family – he had seen at the time – was one of his favorite films of recent years. It’s class in Dallas anyway!
You have to remember that the approach is not the same since you called on non-deaf actors, Karine Viard and François Damiens, whereas the Americans chose truly deaf actors. Why did you make this choice at the time?
Because it was a movie. Actors and actresses can step into the role of a judge, a lawyer, an assassin, a serial killer, a fighter pilot or someone with Down’s syndrome. We saw it with Dustin Hoffman with Down syndrome or autism. The main subject of this transmission is this kind of wall that we have in front of hearing people and that the only gift we have is singing, which is still a paradox. Her parents continue to pull her up, and they pull each other up together in the face of initial misunderstanding. That was the theme of my film.
We can imagine that this film will have an effect, as was the case for The Aries familyto highlight sign language and the daily life of people who cannot hear or express themselves through language…
Absoutely. It really is a wall. The deaf community is very upset. I heard a lot of remarks on this during the screenings. My first cousin is deaf and she faces many problems on a daily basis. As soon as you try to put yourself in the shoes of a deaf person, a blind person or someone with a strong handicap, it is very complicated. Moreover, during the screenings, the deaf were very happy that there was a bridge like that. They say it’s great that they’re super famous actors because they put themselves in their shoes, they learned sign language. Louane herself, I spoke to her again this morning on the phone. She said to me: “It’s insane, I continue to discuss with deaf people who come to see me.” That’s wonderful. She told me: “I have this language now.” It’s marvelous to be able to communicate because necessarily they exchange things on life on the deaf. It’s very rich.