(Paris) Almost three years after the Notre-Dame fire, Jean-Jacques Annaud retraces the thread of the disaster and the “cascade of malfunctions” that nearly compromised the rescue of the cathedral, in an epic and ambitious film.
Posted at 10:26
At 78, the Oscar-winning director of victory by singing (1976) and The fire war (1981) signs the first film on the disaster of April 15, 2019, where Paris almost saw the Gothic jewel, plagued by flames, collapse.
A captivating thriller and Hollywood-style disaster film, the film goes back to the first smoke at the end of the afternoon until the complete extinction of the fire fifteen hours later, at the cost of a fierce fight by the firefighters.
“When I looked into the documentation after the fire, I could not believe it when everything turned out to be true …”, confides to AFP Jean-Jacques Annaud, who had access to the elements of investigation. and interviewed key stakeholders.
“From start to finish, there was a cascade of malfunctions, setbacks and absolutely incredible obstacles…”, adds this cantor of epic cinema, who benefited from the technical and scientific advice of the fire brigade of Paris.
Cigarette butt or short circuit
The investigation is still in progress, and justice retains for the moment two tracks: a cigarette butt or a short circuit, to explain the origin, accidental, of the disaster.
Notre Dame is burning shows both: one of the workers on the restoration site smokes, despite the ban, near the “forest” of age-old beams, while pigeons peck at the electric cables of the bells. A little further, a welder causes sparks near an abandoned bottle of flammable liquid…
“I’m not investigating. This is not the subject of my film. I talk about the tracks as they exist. I did a job as a journalist by cross-referencing information and testimonies. I met most of the people involved in the fire”, up to the generals of the Paris fire brigade, or the manager of Notre-Dame, Laurent Prades, adds Jean-Jacques Annaud who publishes the film’s logbook to the Gründ editions.
Among the “implausible facts”, the filmmaker, who shot in particular in the cathedrals of Sens and Bourges, in addition to the impressive fire scenes reconstituted in the studio, mentions just as much the failures in checking the fire alarms, the absence of video surveillance in the “forest” or the Parisian traffic jams which slowed down the rescue services.
Not to mention several Vélib’ broken down – an equally proven fact – which delayed the hasty return of the manager, the only one to have on him the key which gives access to the reliquary of the “crown of thorns”, treasure of Notre-Dame narrowly saved.
“The ‘doubt removal guard’ responsible for verifying the reality of a fire headed for the attic of the sacristy instead of the attic of the nave…”, observes the filmmaker again.
” Lover “
With impressive realism, Notre Dame is burning highlights above all the epic of the firefighters, fighting against the fire while liquid lead pukes gargoyles from the burning roof, and while the bells, struck by high pressure water, produce a strange melody.
An “absolute tragedy” for a filmmaker like Jean-Jacques Annaud, who explains that he is not a believer, but has “great respect for the faith of others”: “an international star of great beauty (y) is attacked by the most charismatic of the wicked: fire”.
“I can see Notre-Dame from my balcony. I often speak to her by calling her “my darling”. I ask him “how are you today?”. Of all the actresses I’ve had the chance to direct, Notre-Dame, still just as beautiful, is undoubtedly the most worthy, but also the most fragile. I am happy to have been able to believe, for a brief moment, to have been her lover”.