Florence (Laetitia Dosch) meets Aymeric (Karim Lekou) while she is pregnant with Jim. Their life as a threesome is turned upside down when the child’s biological father returns. Jim’s Novelthe book by Pierric Bailly, is now a film by the Larrieu brothers. The filmmakers tell the inside story of their new cinematic adventure, the result of which can be discovered in theaters from August 14, 2024.
Franceinfo Culture : Jim’s Novel brings together everything you love : the mountain, the couple… What made you want to make the film and to embark on this adaptation?
Jean-Marie Larrieu : This is the author Pierric Bailly who sent us his book via the publishing house. He was the one who chose us, rightly so. He is a great film buff. He knows cinema well and he knew our films. But you are right to start like that. There was everything, but what was new was a very specific territory in the novel, the Haut-Jura. Then, there is this realistic tone, in the sense of counter-clichés, which we liked: people in the factory who went back up to the fields in the evening. Realism: not saying that the workers are unhappy and drinking, and up there, there are shepherds partying… All that is more complicated and more lively. It is also a tone about the characters who advance blindly in everyday life and who try to find arrangements. There is this realism and it is thirty years of life told in a very short time. Which we had never done before. In general, our stories are condensed into three or four days. If we take the character of Jim, the story covers twenty-three years of his life.
Was it difficult for you to work over such a long period of time?
Arnaud Larrieu: Attractive and complicated. For the screenplay, you have to invent all the sequences because they are not written. You have to tell the story that the first time Aymeric meets Florence, there will only be one night. The next sequence is the challenge of meeting the mother, then Florence’s birth. In the novel, there are a multitude of stages. In any case, we decided to tell this story like that. We don’t make the days go by with Jim: he is born, celebrates his first birthday and then he is 7 years old. We wanted all of this to be fluid. I think the film works well on people, us first, because we all know what it’s about: this famous time passing.
The main character is a temporary worker. There is the working class environment, the peasantry in your film. Jim’s Novel is an exceptional adventure but the protagonists are Mr. and Mrs. Everybody…
Jean-Marie Larrieu : There is a more realistic setting, with more realistic people indeed. It is a more realistic and more contemporary melodrama. In a sense, it is our most political film but there is no militancy. The characters are neither despised nor snubbed and they carry the romance, the feelings… They carry everything.
Can we say that Jim’s Novel is your most realistic film? What is its place in your filmography?
Jean-Marie Larrieu: “Realistic” with all the quotation marks. Realism consists of breaking the clichés. Like when we say that workers are sad and alcoholics, or that racist people are horrible people, it’s actually much more complicated. Karim wanted us to keep, for example, the racist lines from Florence’s mother because that’s how people are: there are very good people who talk nonsense.
Is this film a turning point in our filmography? The sequel will decide. In any case, it allowed us to tell social stories more directly! We have always been very modest about the question because we told ourselves that it was not our domain. We remained in that of the imaginary, of interiority. We tell stories from a more sentimental point of view. We want to keep that, but also, to embody it socially. And it is true that this film constitutes a stage, a turning point of maturity to follow.
Your film tells the story of how fathers are ultimately mothers like any other. You film a torn father, as we often see in cinema, but they are rather mothers. Why did you want to emphasize this aspect of fatherhood?
Jean-Marie Larrieu : This is the second part of the film, when Aymeric became a father. The novel, and the film after, first tells that all fathers, natural or not, adopt their children. What also touched us in the novel is this portrait of a boy, of a man who does not feel legitimate in anything. He is never in the right and he does not seek it either.
We haven’t dug into the mothers’ side, but maybe it’s not so natural for them either. We’re starting to talk about it. There’s the maternal instinct. The paternal instinct is more complicated. But maybe it’s ultimately complicated for everyone.
The fact of choosing Karim (Leklou), his way of playing, his body, his kindness and that of the character, makes him a father and a little bit of a mother. The way he experiences the tearing away could have given rise to a stereotype. He goes for a drink at the bar, he “takes” a motorcycle ride with his friends and Jim’s story is over. This is not the case.
A few months ago, Karim Lekou told us that he had worked with you and that he never thought he would one day be part of your world. How did you meet him and what did you like about him right away?
Arnaud Larrieu: We had met a lot of people before who were very good. But each time, there was something missing from Aymeric: this mixture of first degree and being focused and very attentive. And obviously, the way he spoke to us about the character: “Aymeric, I understand him completely.”The meeting was late because we had proceeded by elimination.
Jean-Marie Larrieu: From afar, we saw his photo and we thought he would be a little melancholic compared to the character. But that was without counting on his presence or his power. Karim, we immediately felt that he was going to wear that. He wanted to wear it and he was the one who had to wear it.
Florence says it, nice men are rare. It seems like there are fewer and fewer of them when you think about all these cases of sexual violence. Did you deliberately want to talk about a nice man?
Jean-Marie Larrieu : There are fewer and fewer of them represented. We thought that, as boys, we could do the job of portraying this type of man. The book by Pierric spoke to us. We have children but we did not experience these stories at all. But there was something in the way Aymeric acted, reacted and felt things that we recognized ourselves in.
It’s important to convey that. There can be films of denunciation but we also have to show that there are different realities. It can do everyone good. And then, Aymeric meets some really beautiful female characters who are happy to meet him. The worst thing would have been to portray a nice boy that no one wants (laughs). But of course, that was part of our motivations.
Arnaud Larrieu: But it wasn’t a claim. Again, it was a realism. We like to put things back in place a little. It’s not all that simple.
Aymeric is kind and Florence appears in comparison a little mean when we analyze her actions. There is in her a kind of selfishness that is a bit of a reflection of our times where individualism prevails over everything. Have you thought about this aspect of her character?
Arnaud Larrieu: We thought about it but it’s like Aymeric. These are people who have destinies. When we hear criticism of her, we always draw attention to the fact that all these people lead their lives with what they are. On that, I think she is right and that is why she always expresses her projects very well. On the other hand, she never measures the consequences that it will have. But what she tries is reasonable, possible, and she says it with conviction. She is not a bad person, she is not a pervert because she does not seek to do evil.
Jean-Marie Larrieu: We wanted her to be neither perverse nor calculating. After that, she has her limits. The film is a little complex on the subject. There are good encounters at one time that can turn into bad encounters. This is the case for Aymeric where it was a little dangerous to meet this girl. But everyone has their reasons. In any case, I’m starting to hear it, but Florence, who is a bit of a rock and roll woman, didn’t voluntarily cause all this damage, which we see after the fact.
Your relationship with landscapes is also unique. You have said that you make films for them…
Arnaud Larrieu: We started like that. Yes, for places. We like stories to take place in strong places, which even go beyond the characters and the stories.
There is also a superb soundtrack, very electro but with some classics…
Jean-Marie Larrieu: We owe it to Shane Copin, a young man we knew a little. We first asked him to replace music we didn’t have the rights to. Then, he launched into electro in a very inspired way. And then, there’s also Lavilliers. Souchon, it’s Karim: “There must be The Ballad of Jim for this movie about a Jim”he told us. The person who negotiates the rights has managed to get them.
A word about this artistic duo that you form with your brother?
Arnaud Larrieu: It’s quite common in cinema because it’s very collective. We are ultimately the first core, we hold the origin of the project. When we meet up with Pierric, there is almost a small trio and a complicity that is born between the three of us. We carried the project together. It’s a beautiful meeting.
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The sheet
Gender : Comedy drama
Realization : Jean-Marie and Arnaud Larrieu
With : Karim Leklou, Laetitia Dosch, Bertrand Belin, Sara Giraudeau and Eol Personne
Country : France
Duration : 1h41
Exit : August 14, 2024
Synopsis: Aymeric, Jim’s stepfather, met Florence, his mother, when she was six months pregnant. The three of them lead a happy life in the Jura until the biological father, Christophe, returns following a personal tragedy. Aymeric no longer finds his place and, estranged from the child, he decides to leave to make his life elsewhere. But years later, Jim, 23, knocks on Aymeric’s door.