He’s back in a romantic comedy largely based on his own existence. In We are made for each other, which will be released in theaters on November 17, Pascal Elbé tells the story of a man who realizes, around his 40 years, that he suffers from precocious deafness. This film, the third of his career as a director, is an opportunity to give the answer to three of his favorite actresses, Sandrine Kiberlain, Emmanuelle Devos and Valérie Donzelli, but also to publicly discuss his “handicap“… after hiding it for so long.
“I put a lot of myself in this character, but unlike him, I didn’t start listening to others the day I became deaf, explains Leo’s dad, frankly, in the columns of the magazine Madame Figaro. On the other hand, it is true that we listen more when we hear less … It is the paradox of this handicap. And I also hope to share with him a form of simplicity. This means that you have already done some work on yourself and settled a few chapters.“
To be diminished remains quite ungrateful and requires arming yourself with patience
For a long time, Pascal Elbé effectively refused to face the facts, compensating as he could for this reduced hearing. He knew, like his character, that he was deaf at 42 and initially chose to ignore it. “I was in denial, admits the actor. I had the impression that the others articulated badly or did not speak loud enough, I read lips, until the day when my deafness appeared to me to be the truth. I do not suffer from a severe handicap, but being diminished is quite ungrateful and requires arming yourself with patience and humility. You have to dare to say if you can’t hear, and it is sometimes a little embarrassing. “ Today, Pascal Elbé is fitted and has learned to get used to this new life which is his. To discover even more, go to the cinema in a few days …
Find the full interview of Pascale Elbé in the magazine “Madame Figaro” of November 12, 2021.