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Dedales
English translation from the original French press kit
Lambert Wilson (Interview)
What fascinated you about this tale of multiple personalities ?
Apart from the plausible aspect, I felt that the screenplay tackled a very interesting theme and an issue that we continually come up against : that of being overtaken by different "egos". This is something that an actor continually strives to achieve. Therefore, working on a clinical case - the most extreme aspect of the issue - was fascinating for me as an actor. It meant approaching that point at which the individual, who could be the actor (and which in this case is the patient), totally forgets all his other personalities. This has huge relevance for me because an actor’s work is based on that, albeit in a shallower, less dangerous and less pathological manner. Playing such parts helps us to shed some light on our profession.
What do you think that René Manzor was trying to use in you ?
René helped us to seek out our own lack of balance. There is of course a technical aspect, especially in Sylvie’s case, but there are also times at which you have to give yourself up, as in the hypnosis sequence for instance. Moments when René scratched away at the surface of our own madness and fragility and that was the most exciting part. I had imagined that it would all be very technical on an acting level. However, I was not expecting those intermediary moments of total emptiness, of intense unease that René stole from us by placing us in situations that were repeated ad infinitum. All of a sudden, there were gaps that René allowed us to fall into.
How did he succeed in doing that ?
He never gives up. He pushes you continually and relentlessly. We shot certain takes over and over and, at one point, I couldn’t go on, I was so exhausted. But then, for some reason, all of a sudden, there are things that come to the surface. Echoes linked to our own lives. You then have moments of "discouragement" or emptiness ; René spots them and pounces on them like a vampire and he doesn’t give up. And since you know that he won’t give up, you go for it. At least twice, I had the feeling that I was going somewhere I had never been before.
What kind of director is René Manzor ?
He’s incredibly precise. He puts things into words. He shoots a large number of takes and you can’t fool him. In other words, when you’re stuck or try to cheat, he sees it right away. What we do in the film is exactly what he wanted. The tone of the narrative was incredibly controlled and balanced. It was like a power struggle at times but that’s because we were so on edge. I liked working in those conditions. I have to be pushed, I have to be told things and he would tell me them. The more precise someone is with me, the more I appreciate it. He is tireless and monomaniac. I like that in a director. I don’t think I have ever prepared a film so much and talked so much about a screenplay as I did with him. Because he truly gives his actors room to do so.
Dédales resembles a thriller but transcends the genre. What was it about the writing that made you throw yourself into it ?
For me, Dédales is the film of a true filmmaker, protected and in any case supported by the style of a genre film. I almost feel like saying that it’s a subversive film about man’s place in society. After all, my character says at one point, "Could the multiple personalities be right ? Why must there be an answer ? Why give power to reason and coherence ? Isn’t that all one big lie ?" Those are the inner questions that he asks. And, at one point, my character asserts that. Why should people have to be made acceptable to society ? It’s a way of rehabilitating not necessarily pure madness but the multiplicity, strangeness, originality and marginality of people in general.
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