Diane and Alain have just said goodbye to their only son who, not content with leaving the family fold, is going to work in Japan. However, parents experience this stage in divergent ways. While Alain is delighted at the prospect of renewed intimacy with his partner, Diane displays all-round gloom. This also applies to her work as a journalist, where she feels invisible to her novice colleagues. Tired of being treated like a relic by them, Diane invents a young lover. But now, hurt by this revealing lie, Alain leaves her. And it’s only just beginning in the aptly named New startwhere Karin Viard shines.
“When it was offered to me, I found the scenario quite effective, quite funny, with good punchlines and everything, but where it really interested me, where I recognized an approach, it was in the sensitive and sincere approach”, explains the French actress, met last autumn during her visit to Cinemania festival.
Co-written by Maria Pourchet and Philippe Lefebvre, who directs, New start also stars Franck Dubosc, as a discomfited husband. In this film which goes in all kinds of unexpected directions, we laugh as much as we think.
“What happens to the characters makes us laugh, but it is nonetheless a real issue for them,” emphasizes Karin Viard. And I really like that: it’s as if the comedy arrived by force. It’s comedy free from complacency. It brings depth. This is what allows you to recognize yourself in the characters and in the situations proposed,” summarizes the star of the films The new Eve, Top hearts ! (César for best actress) and Polish.
Said situations concern both the personal and professional aspects of Diane’s existence. In this regard, the film has some very interesting things to say about ageism in business.
“The film shows the exclusion that Diane experiences at work, and which rightly frustrates her. That confines her to her age: she is in her fifties, and she was put on a siding. It was felt that at this age, it is now less relevant. But she still feels very alive and wants something new and different. She doesn’t see herself the way her colleagues or her husband see her. »
A bittersweet journey
To continue Karine Viard, it is not surprising that the issues of work and personal life come together for Diane. In that after having temporarily resigned herself to it, Diane now refuses to be content with being who we imagine she is. It’s up to the main interested party to reinvent themselves as they wish!
“Diane is a character who goes back and forth in her head and in her heart, and all old couples know that: when there is no longer the magic of the early years. And there are the children: children are quite cannibalistic for the couple — the film deals intelligently with this question, I think. And so, here it is: you make this contract with your spouse to start a family, twenty years pass, the children leave… And there, you find yourself face to face with your spouse, and you wonder if you are signing a second contract; you wonder if you continue this love affair. Does this love story still exist? In twenty years, you can forget yourself… Many couples, and I am a perfect example, explode at that moment,” confides Karine Viard.
In this way, it is very easy to identify with Diane or Alain, or even both, depending on the moment, not only in terms of what they experience, but how they experience it. Certainly, Diane’s tribulations provoke many laughs, but from untimely decisions to subsequent disillusionments, her journey is bittersweet.
“Diane is a very beautiful character. We understand her drama, which is legitimate, even if what she does with it next is questionable. But I actually like characters who carry a certain complexity within them; not necessarily great humans. I like when there are flaws in the character, because everyone has flaws. I like characters who feel a certain helplessness, who are sometimes a little cowardly, because I recognize more humanity in that than in characters who achieve everything and are always right. »
Healthy introspection
Another aspect of the project that Karin Viard liked was the content of the humor.
“It’s not rubbish. They say that in France: gaudriole is a funny thing, but complacent. We give a lot to this, in cinema: we know that it is effective, that it makes people laugh, so we take pleasure in it. I don’t like it: I think it’s lazy. »
This requirement for quality – not just humor – has been reinforced over the past fifteen years at Karin Viard. One day, in fact, she made the painful realization that she had perhaps gotten lost, that she had perhaps “forgotten” herself, along the way, in her choice of projects.
“I realized that I was a little bored in my job, and that I sometimes had leading roles in films that I didn’t claim that much for. Then there was Parisby Cédric Klapisch, and Potiche, by François Ozon, in which I have supporting roles, and which I loved. From there, I really started to prioritize the scripts and the directors, rather than the intrinsic value of the roles. »
Result ? The actress’ star has once again shined like never before: in 2023 alone, she starred in three contrasting feature films, namely the dramatic comedy that is New startthe mystical policeman Magnificat (to be released on April 5) and the intimate romantic drama A night. So, like Diane, Karin Viard was able to take a step aside to better reinvent herself.