INTERVIEW Bertrand Tavernier

French director Bertrand Tavernier has being able to rely on critical appreciation for his work since as far back as his very first feature, The Clockmaker (1974), which won the Prix Louis Delluc and the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize award at the 24th Berlin International Film Festival. Later, his 1990 film Life And Nothing But won a BAFTA and a total of four César Awards. Even his latest film, The Princess Of Montpensier, which is released on DVD and Blu-ray this Monday (31^st October 2011), competed for the Palme d’Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival – although, he hasn’t been able to please everyone on this occassion, with the film receiving the full wrath of our reviewer, who described it as a “messy attempt at historical drama” in a 1-star review.

Bernard on set with Mélanie Thierry,

1562. In France, during the reign of Charles IX, the wars of religion are raging… Marie de Mézières, heiress to one of the kingdom’s greatest fortunes, loves the young Duc de Guise, known in the annals of history as Le Balafré, ‘Scarface’. She believes he loves her back. To increase his family’s prestige, her father, the Marquis de Mézières forces Marie to marry the Prince de Montpensier, whom she has never met.

The Prince is summoned by Charles IX to join the war against the Protestants. With the whole country turned into a bloody battlefield, he sends his young wife to Champigny, one of his most secluded castles, in the company of the Comte de Chabannes, his friend and former tutor. The Prince asks Chabannes to complete the Princess’s education so that she can take her place at court one day.

In unhappy isolation at Champigny, Marie tries to forget the passionate longing she still feels for Guise. Fate and the changing course of the war lead Guise and the Duc d’Anjou, the future Henri III, to stay at Champigny shortly after Montpensier has joined Marie there. In turn, Anjou falls in love with the Princess, to whose charms Chabannes has also succumbed.

A violent, passionate rivalry develops with Marie as the prize…

What appealed to you and co-writer Jean Cosmos in Madame de La Fayette’s novel?

It was the chance to tell a love story that would be both lyrical and expansive. When we started the adaptation, our major concern was to bring out, in the context of the period, the depth of feeling and passion in the book, in all its naked violence.

After Life And Nothing But, Captain Conan and Safe Conduct, Jean amazed me once more with the inventiveness, humour and sheer beauty of his language. His dialogue brings the period to life. It stirs the imagination – mine and that of the actors, who made it their own in a very modern style.

You worked with a cast of mostly young actors…

That was another important reason for wanting to make this movie – it gave me the opportunity to work for the first time with many of the actors. During the eight weeks of shooting, every day I felt what Michael Powell expresses so well about some actors: words are no longer a screen behind which the writer hides. They have become a musical instrument on which the actor plays an entrancing tune. We are given a glimpse of joy and human suffering of which we were completely unaware. The director stops worrying about costumes and the shooting schedule. He gives free rein to his imagination. For a brief moment, he is simply happy. I was happy. Very happy. I never felt like I was directing the actors. I watched them. They inspired me, carried me, and thrilled me. It was dazzling.

Bertrand Tavernier's The Princess Of Montpensier

"I wanted to break with the caricature handed down by history."

Your princess is a rebel who questions the world she lives in…

Marie de Montpensier is a very young woman who must learn about life at her own expense, learn to tame and channel her feelings, and make difficult and painful choices, even though she is still a mere wisp of a girl.

Throughout the shoot, Mélanie Thierry delighted and overwhelmed me with her performance; her beauty, of course, but above all the intensity of the emotion she brought to the character. After acting in a production of Baby Doll with Mélanie, Monique Chaumette said to me, “She’s a Stradivarius. She’ll go way beyond anything you ask of her.” She was absolutely right.

Just like the Princess, Chabannes refuses to accept preordained ideas…

Chabannes is the spine of the film. He’s the catalyst of the emotion and allows us to glimpse the different aspects of Marie. He reminds me of the great heroes of some of the literature of the time – teacher and warrior, mathematician and philosopher, fighting intolerance in all its forms. To understand his humanism and commitment to peace, we need to see him confronted with the brutality of war.

Lambert Wilson possesses every facet of the character, and it is through his eyes that we understand the heartrending decisions facing Marie.

You offer a radically new representation of the Duc d’Anjou, the future King Henri III…

I wanted to break with the caricature handed down by history. Anjou was a brilliant general with an inquiring, intelligent mind. Somebody once said he would have been a great king if he had lived in a better period.

Raphaël Personnaz played him with a lot of presence, elegance and charm, perfectly capturing the character’s intelligence, ambiguity and caustic wit.

Whereas Guise and Montpensier are soldiers…

Guise is an out-and-out warrior. A hunter. He represents brute force, courage and religious intransigence, with touching moments of sincerity and doubt. Gaspard Ulliel expresses all his strength, violence, sensuality and occasionally sincere love.

Compared to Guise, Philippe de Montpensier is profoundly honest and less ambitious politically. He falls in love with his wife after they are married and is swept along by this passion whereas Guise is subverted by his ambition. Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet brings a lot of inner strength to Montpensier, with spectacular and surprising explosions of violence. On the very first day, I could see that he transcended every conventional aspect of his character.

"I didn’t want to reconstitute a period, just capture its soul."

Overall, your point of view is quite feminist…

I clearly take Marie’s side. She is torn between her education and what is expected of her, on the one hand, and her passion and desire on the other. She refuses to be the submissive wife. She wants to educate herself and embrace the world. Her desire to learn empowers her and allows her to resist.

You never give the impression it’s a period movie…

I wanted to be as modern and natural in the story I’m telling as I was in Safe Conduct and In The Electric Mist. I didn’t want to reconstitute a period, just capture its soul. For example, I didn’t want any pseudo-16th century music. Although Philippe Sarde drew his inspiration from composers of the time, such as Roland de Lassus, we ensured the arrangements and harmonies were very modern by using a lot of percussion. In fact, we ended up with a completely original formation made up of three baroque musicians, four trombones, seven double basses and cellos, and five percussionists. And no violins!

Interview courtesy of Studiocanal.