at Lumière

PostED ON 14.10.2024

For the premiere of his new movie Filmlovers!, Arnaud Desplechin looks back on his collaboration with Benicio Del Toro in Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian). In the film, the American actor plays a Native American suffering from psychological problems.

“I don't write my scripts with a specific actor in mind, but the performance of Benicio Del Toro in Sean Penn's The Pledge (2001) devastated me so much that I wanted to meet him. I was haunted by that film, in which he had already played a Native American. I didn't want a Caucasian actor to play Jimmy Picard. We met for The Exiles by Kent MacKenzie (1961), another film that means a lot to me, since it talks about how difficult it is for Native Americans to integrate.

For Jimmy P, there were two crucial stages in the process, which makes me emotional to remember. Firstly, the reading of the script, during which I immediately saw Benicio's intelligence. He examined every line and proposed a very ‘American’ approach to exploring and sharing the text. Then, at Benicio's request, we found him a Native American coach in Browning, on the Blackfeet reserve where the real Jimmy came from.

During the shoot, I'd never seen such concentration. What's astounding about this actor is his power of incarnation. I was pretty stunned by his performance. Benicio knew that the role of Jimmy was essentially about loneliness. It was really like the Actors Studio: he got into character in an incredible way. Benicio would talk only to his coach and nobody else, which was sometimes hard for me. But only he knew what Jimmy was feeling. When we screened the film at the New York Film Festival, someone asked Benicio why he was playing a Native American when he was of Puerto Rican origin. He replied: ‘I know what it's like to be considered a dog in America’. That sentence blew me away.”

Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian) by Arnaud Desplechin (2013) © DR

Monica Bellucci returns to Lyon to introduce her latest movie, Maria Callas, Letters and Memoirs, a documentary by Yannis Dimolitsas and Tom Wolf (1h12, 2024). It provided the ideal opportunity for the Italian actress to fully recount her relationship with the most stirring and legendary of singers, who remains unsurpassed to this day.

I absolutely loved this adventure. Maria Callas was not only one of the greatest sopranos of all time, but she was also a woman with a simple heart. Which is why she died of heartbreak. There is nothing more human than that. Like many women, I know what love is. Experiencing emotions is something I also feel deeply. Sometimes women look into each other's eyes and understand one other without needing to speak, because there's a kind of common language that has existed for thousands of years. I think Maria Callas possessed that too. She was this glamorous, elegant woman, but behind that, she was a genuine actress and singer. There was an enormous amount of work that went into all that.
I was so absorbed in the role of Maria Callas that it will take me a while before I can softly say goodbye to this character. An actor's craft is not reality, but the representation of reality. You mustn't confuse the two, otherwise it's dangerous. But there's something about this character that is still a part of me.
Films are a small part of us, part of a journey. But we actors must always look in front of us. Because it's a perpetual search that allows us to grow. That's why we never stop learning: we always discover a part of ourselves. It's also a human experience.”

© Rojo Romeo