Posted at 7:00 a.m.
A conversation with Jean-Jacques Annaud inevitably begins with the expression of the deep affection that the French filmmaker has for our part of the country. This link was created more than 40 years ago, when the director of rose name lived a good time in our lands. It was during the making of The fire war, a co-production between Canada and France, one of the main producers of which was the late Denis Héroux. We thus better understand the presence, in Notre Dame is burningQuebec characters among witnesses and tourist guides.
“I wanted to! insists the filmmaker during a telephone interview granted to The Press. I love everything about Quebec and I am deeply attached to it. It also happens that in the call we launched to collect unpublished images, captured by people who were on site at the time of the fire, a Quebec videographer sent us some, of excellent quality. I had remembered these images even before starting my film. »
A very cinematic drama
Notre Dame is burning was first born from an idea of Jérôme Seydoux, president of the firm Pathé. Initially, the latter proposed to Jean-Jacques Annaud to make a documentary film based on archive images captured during the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris, which occurred on April 15, 2019. The most important disaster in the history of the famous cathedral, over 800 years old, created a stir all over the planet on that day.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY METROPOLE FILMS
For Jean-Jacques Annaud, Notre Dame is burning is intimate and personal.
“When I was given the documentation, however, I quickly realized that it was better to make a fictional feature film, based on reality, especially since the elements of this story are very cinematographic, explains the filmmaker. . There is an incredible drama there, made up of tension, emotion, surprise, and implausibilities which are nevertheless true. »
I then launched into writing based on what I learned as my research progressed. I’ve read everything it was possible to read on the subject, of course, but this film is above all nourished by my encounters with the protagonists of this story.
Jean Jacques Annaud
Jean-Jacques Annaud, whose very first feature film, victory by singing, won the Oscar for best foreign language film in 1977, borrowed the point of view of those who had to put their lives in danger to try to contain this gigantic fire, with, in the forefront, the firefighters . It should also be noted that, miraculously one might say, the blaze caused no casualties.
“If there had been deaths or serious injuries, I would not have made the film, absolutely not, indicates the filmmaker. We have all spoken of a miracle because, given the severity of this fire, the cathedral should in principle have collapsed. But she remained standing. In addition, all precious objects have been saved, as well as the priceless relics. The totality ! Those who are particularly inclined to believe in supernatural things have enough to feed their conviction, because the statue of Our Lady was not touched. However, stones fell all around, in the middle of flaming beams, and it didn’t even need to be dusted! »
An intimate and personal character
Living not far from the cathedral, being able to follow the progress of the works because he passes by it every day, Jean-Jacques Annaud evokes the intimate and personal nature of his new feature film. “I’ve been to Notre-Dame all my life. She has always fascinated me. Very young, I even went to enroll at the Sorbonne to study the history of art in the Middle Ages. »
The reconstruction of the fire of Notre-Dame de Paris was of course a technical challenge, but the filmmaker recalls having already faced “complicated” projects of this kind.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY METROPOLE FILMS
The story of Notre Dame is burninga film by Jean-Jacques Annaud, borrows the point of view of those who risked their lives to contain the fire.
“I’ve been used to it from the start. It goes back to the time when, barely out of film school, I made commercials. The decorations in The name of the rose were huge. The Battle of Stalingrad has been re-enacted in Enemy of the Gateswhere there were also a lot of pyrotechnic effects, without forgetting The fire war. »
Fire is an attractive element because it is both beautiful and dangerous, much like Hitchcock’s perfect enemy. And when he takes on a tall beautiful lady like Notre Dame, you already have an impeccable fictional movie script. It’s a dream to have an international star of this stature attacked by a villain of this size and ferocity!
Jean Jacques Annaud
Filmed in the cathedrals of Sens, Amiens and Bourges, as well as the basilica of Saint-Denis, Notre Dame is burning also made use of the spaces of the studios of Cité Cinéma, in the Paris suburbs, so that the fire scenes could be reconstructed there. Part of the cathedral has also been rebuilt identically.
Yes to all forms of cinema!
All these efforts have been put in the service of a cinematographic spectacle to which only the cinema can do justice. If he considers the cohabitation of different modes of distribution desirable, Jean-Jacques Annaud sees the future of the big screen through productions specially designed for him.
“The TV experience is fine, I’ve done it, but it can’t be immersive in the way that when you’re surrounded by 75 speakers, sitting in a movie theater, backing up- he. A movie like Notre Dame is burning is also a sound experience. When we look at the images of the fire on television, it is difficult to imagine the din that such a blaze generates. I am not worried about the survival of the rooms. The world has changed, we cannot ignore the new modes of distribution, but in my opinion, all forms of cinema can coexist. And that’s good. »
Notre Dame is burning is presented in the room.