“I am moved and upset, I confess to you”, reacted on Friday June 17 on franceinfo the journalist and director Philippe Labro, after the death of Jean-Louis Trintignant at the age of 91. The actor starred in Philippe Labro’s second film, Without apparent mobilein 1971. “I was in admiration and permanent respect for his talent and his intelligence”, remembers the director. Whether “the dialogues are there”Jean-Louis Trintignant, him, “take them and sublimate them”. “His filmography is one of the most complete of his generation”believes Philippe Labro.
franceinfo: What memories do you keep of your collaboration with Jean-Louis Trintignant in “Without apparent motive” ?
Philippe Labro: An unforgettable memory. It is thanks to him that this completely classic detective film, written by Jacques Lanzmann and myself, took on another dimension. His interpretation is prodigious. It must be said, moreover, that his filmography is prodigious. He shot all the roles or almost, with all the directors. He did it all. He was able to adapt to all the characters with several very strong elements. Obviously there is this extraordinary voice, this charm that is a little subtle, a little mysterious, sometimes a little ironic, at the same time capable of tenderness. And his movement on the screen, his ability to make us believe in the character. I am moved and overwhelmed, I confess. He was my great luck as a director. It was my second feature film. He was coming out of Conformist, this Bertolucci masterpiece. And thanks to a skilful producer, Jacques-Eric Strauss, he had agreed to shoot in this thriller, my second feature film. I was in permanent admiration and respect for his talent and his intelligence.
Did crossing paths with Jean-Louis Trintignant transform you and change your life?
In any case, it changed my path as a filmmaker since with this success, I was then able to The Heir with Jean-Paul Belmondo. Having had Trintignant and after having seen him interpret Inspector Carella, in this thriller which takes place on the Côte d’Azur, undoubtedly made me gain a little more credit with other actors or other producers. . But this is not the question. What matters is having had the chance to have someone in front of me who understood the character so well that he interpreted so well. When we say ‘to direct an actor’, we are not directing people like Trintignant. They are given three or four indications, and they know perfectly and very intelligently how to interpret the role that has been written. And Jean-Louis, the only real instruction I gave him was “Think of Humphrey Bogart!”.
There is an expression that says: to transform, to change things into gold. Was that what Trintignant did with a role? From a role that could have been average, did he manage to give it a depth and a flesh that the others might not have perceived?
It’s exactly that. The text is there. The dialogues are there, very brilliant, very strong. But he takes them and sublimates them. There is a sequence in particular when he questions Stéphane Audran in a car. It’s not just her voice, it’s the face, it’s the eyes, it’s the expressions. He is the actor par excellence. He absolutely knows how to convey what we were trying to convey by having written this text. I am very moved to tell you about it. I realized this especially during the editing.
When I found myself in front of my editing table to see the treasure he offered us, I remained in admiration all my life. I asked him again for a role which he also did very talentedly, in The crime, with Claude Brasseur, where he played the role of a minister who realizes that his life is ruined and who commits suicide with a stab wound after peeling an orange. It was unheard of. There was something unique, extraordinary. Look at his filmography. We are talking about Piccoli, Bouquet. But if you look closely, it seems to me that his filmography is one of the most complete of his generation.