Nicolas Bedos and Masquerade | Kisses from the Côte d’Azur

(Paris) After struggling in vain to write a novel that never saw the light of day, Nicolas Bedos transposed his ideas into a film inspired by the way he saw the world when he was 20 years old. It was the time when, he says himself, he was drowning in idleness and other people’s money. Result Masquerade, a squeaky comedy where no one has the best role. Encounter.

Nicolas Bedos says it bluntly: he believes he is a failed novelist. At least three attempts to write in this form have failed. At 43, he has not yet said his last word on this plan, but cinema occupies his mind more these days. Masquerade is the fourth feature film signed as a filmmaker by the man to whom we owe Mr and Mrs Adelman, The good times And OSS 117: Kisses from Africa.

“I’m more indulgent towards myself when I talk about cinema because I think I’m more on my business there”, he explains during an interview he gave us as part of the Unifrance French cinema meeting. “I write a screenplay with pleasure, even, I dare say, with a certain ease. When I write a novel, I feel more like digging a hole near the sea with water constantly seeping in everywhere. I don’t know why this is so. »

Everyone

The idea of Masquerade stems from the vision of a world that Nicolas Bedos was able to observe during his carefree youth. Without having experienced himself the turpitudes evoked in his film, he nevertheless knows this world well enough to have been able to imagine this gallery of unsympathetic characters, where no one presents himself practically in his true light. Pierre Niney embodies a young gigolo being maintained by more mature women, who finds in a sublime con man (Marine Vacth) not only a lover, but also a faithful accomplice with whom he can orchestrate a smoking coup.

“I rubbed shoulders with this world closely and I have extremely unhappy memories of it, confides the one who has already signed a few plays and numerous chronicles. I was completely clueless at that time and I hung out in big houses where I was more or less invited by a girlfriend. I’m not very comfortable with this period of my life and I think that’s why I wanted to talk about it in a very black, very dark way. »

Nicolas Bedos also has the impression that his new feature film, where we find in particular Isabelle Adjani, François Cluzet, Emmanuelle Devos, Laura Morante and Charles Berling, is even more relevant today than when he was there. ‘wrote. In a few years, the world indeed seems to have been radicalized to the point where we now find it fractured in all areas.

“Whether it’s political allegiance, social classes, generations or human relations, everything is now very violent and seemingly irreconcilable. We don’t share anything anymore. It pushed me to write an even more cruel film. The pandemic has forced us into isolation. Young people today find themselves more on TikTok than in front of cafes, with this awareness that their parents and grandparents experienced a time that was still milder than theirs. It was also during the pandemic that one part of society came to ardently hate the other part. »

A media personality

A former polemicist, Nicolas Bedos is a very popular media personality. Launched last year at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was presented out of competition, Masquerade aroused very contrasting reactions from French critics. Some have praised him, others have on the other hand dedicated him to loathing. To the point where, at a certain point, we no longer really know if we are talking about the work or the man…

“It will take me time to understand what happened,” he admits. In France, the criticism is extremely ideological. You can almost know who is going to write a good paper and who is going to write a bad one before even showing the film. The so-called left-wing press, with a few exceptions, immediately refuses productions with a good budget and stars. They confuse the criticism of the bling in the story with the bling itself. So they hit. »

Despite certain pitfalls, this great media visibility has advantages in his eyes.

“Every day, people stop me in the street and I consider it a great privilege, because few directors have this kind of notoriety. I also have easy access to the media. People will talk about me a lot, but sometimes badly. It’s part of the game.”

Masquerade hits theaters May 19.

Travel expenses were paid by Unifrance.