On May 5, 2022, the management of France Télévisions officially announced to the teams in Marseille that this would be the last season of the series. More beautiful life. Declining audiences, other series on the same niche, are the cause of this stop. A predictable announcement, the news had leaked to the press, but Rebecca Hampton blames the blow. For 18 years, she has played the role of Céline Frémont, the program’s flagship character.
“Recently during a filming sequence, I realized that the series stopped after 18 years. I was shooting a sequence which was not at all an emotional sequence. I have the my throat was tight, I started to cry and it was the last session of the exteriors of the production team. And he was not cutting. and finally, everyone was in tears on the set, ” notes Rebecca Hampton.
“It’s been 18 years, we’ve grown up, aged, all together and it’s very hard to say to myself this is the last look I’m giving to the character I’ve known and who has accompanied me for 18 years. He’s a mourning, I believe.”
Rebecca Hamptonon franceinfo
Since the announcement of the end of the series, Rebecca Hampton says she has gone through all the phases of mourning, denial, anger, acceptance. “First, I thought of my daughter, my move, the measures to be taken in the apartments, the fact that they did not want to rent me an apartment because I was an unemployed worker, the fact that I was going to leave the people I love in Marseille and that I abandon the public. There are people who have followed me for 18 years. There are kids that we see in the street who stop us saying ‘ Ah, but I grew up with you. I watched this with my grandparents when I was four. There are elderly people who are absolutely devastated because they tell us, ‘but we, it’s our daily life. . We’ve been watching this for ten years. What are we going to do?'”
The series appealed to young and old because it was a precursor to social issues. “We changed the schedules a lot of times. Everything was turned upside down, but people continued to be faithful, continued to watch and were indeed talking about homosexuality, surrogacy and the problems of adolescents, of life. And all that, I think it actually opened up a certain voice. But in fact, I think that’s really the strength of this series. When we arrived, we were called ‘Poubelle la vie’ We had a bit of a rough patch. But in any case, I don’t regret it and I’m very, very, very happy to have been part of it. It may be pretentious on my part what I’m saying, but I think that More beautiful life is a series that will be talked about again. Years from now, I’m sure my daughter will tell her kids about it.” comment Rebecca Hampton.
These 18 years of filming are also a whole part of Rebecca Hampton’s career as an actress who played the character of Céline Frémont, first a town hall employee, with her ups and downs.
“These are the best years of my life, I arrived in Marseille when I was barely 30 and I’m leaving, I’m 50. These are wonderful memories for me, but really first of all so much lucky to be able to embody a character for 18 years. The separation is difficult. It’s a character that I’m going to have a hard time leaving because she was a bit of my crazy valve. We think she’s strong, but It’s not true. She’s fragile, a little manic-depressive, she did HP, she did prison time.“, declares Rebecca Hampton.
“I start in October rehearsals for a play called For better and for worse. It’s a piece that I’m going to have the chance to perform with Bouder. Logically, More beautiful life ends September 30. I’ll stop a little earlier because I’m going to shoot somewhere else, a fortnight”, Explain Rebecca Hampton.
On the last day of filming, September 30, she prefers not to think about it: “I won’t be at the wrap party, no matter what, no matter what, because I can’t. So I’ve already told my playmates. I’m absolutely not not emotionally able to go through this because I think I’m going to be hurt. I don’t feel like drinking the separation. There’s no way I’m going to be in a place with 2,000 people crying.” concludes Rebecca Hampton.
The final episode will air on November 18. Rebecca Hampton consoles herself as best she can. Among the good reasons for returning to Paris: her daughter will present the Paris Opera entrance examination in September.
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