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Dedales
English translation from the original French press kit
Frédéric Diefenthal (Interview)
What was your first reaction on reading the screenplay for Dédales ?
A very strong reaction. I think it’s one of the scripts that I have reread most of all. I felt my hair stand on end when I reached the denouement. That’s a feeling that I remember having with a book perhaps but never with a screenplay. I found the story and everything that happened to the character of Claude all the more terrifying because it seemed so plausible. It was very violent. And when I reached the end and the solution, I was so far off the mark - like everyone else in the story - that I immediately wanted to reread it to try to work out exactly how I had been fooled, why I hadn’t spotted the trick. And, on rereading it, I had the same shivers, in the same places, even though I already knew what was going to happen. And I thought to myself, "This is brilliant." Until this film, I had done a lot of comedies. And so, this sudden incursion into the world of film noir delighted me. On top of that, I had read a screenplay that wasn’t attempting to reinvent American cinema. In general, in France, we tend to try to copy what the Americans do so well. But I didn’t find any of that here. I was reading the screenplay of someone who had worked on his story from all the angles. There is a genuine depth to this script, with an authentic background. It’s anything but slick. And, at the same time, there are no frills or unnecessary diversions. Above all, René hasn’t attempted to provide a complicated screenplay for a complicated story. When you reach the end of the film, everything is obvious.
For once, there is a possible identification between the killer and the audience, an identification that is usually made impossible in thrillers...
The film doesn’t adhere to the codes that are usually used in American films. The audience isn’t observing the action but is involved in it. We do not reassure people with the separation of good and evil. It’s an unusual film that doesn’t resemble any other. It cannot be compared to other films in which the audience is in the position of a hero who is himself being manipulated - such as The Usual Suspects or The Sixth Sense - and in which it experiences what the hero experiences.
The role of Matthias is a discreet one... he tends to vanish, to fade into the shadows. He often leaves the frame. How do you see him ?
This is a guy who has stayed shut up in his apartment, who hasn’t moved for a year... at least that’s how I saw him. We don’t know how he feeds himself, how he lives. He’s partly amnesiac, anorexic, both Satan and Christ at the same time. He has become allergic to people, it’s a gut reaction. He refuses to look at them. Physically, he doesn’t even know what he represents. He doesn’t look at himself. A month and a half before shooting, I went on a diet and, little by little, I stopped eating. I even surprised myself by sleeping less than usual. I usually need eight hours’ sleep but I was down to five hours. I started living with him in a very natural manner. Like him, I no longer felt the rain that was falling on me during the takes. Matthias no long feels anything. He fades into the background. In any case, he doesn’t want to be seen because he doesn’t want to see himself.
Apparently, on the set, René Manzor drives you to the point of exhaustion and beyond...
But with a great deal of tact and delicacy and that why I opened up to him because I viewed his approach as a genuine form of respect rather than rape. He is always very calm on the set. He looks at you with his big eyes and you can tell that he is examining you closely, determined not to let anything escape. He takes not what I’d call the best but that moment when you’re exactly where he wants you to be. I liked his calmness. He never let himself be overcome for a second by the film’s problems. As actors, we never suffered from that. And not just the stars but all the other actors who received just as much attention and who, he knew, would give depth to the film as a whole.
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