by and with Wim Wenders
 

Posted on 22.10.2023

With a good dose of humour, Wim Wenders masterfully directed the remake of Leaving the Lumière Factories. The recipient of the 15th Lumière Award treated himself to a dream cast... and even a cameo, laptop in hand.

Lounge chairs in the sun and dark glasses: there was an air of summer holidays in the park of the Lumière Village. A few metres away, on the Rue du Premier-Film, the technical side of the building was getting ready: in a few minutes, Wim Wenders would be directing his remake of the Lumière brothers' famous Leaving the Factory. Fans had been waiting on the sidelines since 11.30am. "You have to come early to get the best pictures", commented one of the festivalgoers.

Laurent Gerra, an early and faithful friend of the festival, was the first to arrive on set. Vincent Lacoste, Danièle Thompson, Laura Smet, Hippolyte Girardot, Lyna Khoudri, Vincent Lindon, Aurore Clément and Finnegan Oldfield rounded out the A-List cast. "Which version are we remaking?” asked an astute Wim Wenders. “In the first version, there's a bit of open air on the left side of the frame, I prefer that one."

In the Hangar movie theatre, the actors did not miss a detail of the German master's instructions: "You form small groups so that there are always people passing on either side. Nobody looks at the camera. I'd like some of you to look at your cell phones, but you can also talk to each other. And if we can find a second bike, that would be great", said the Lumière Award laureate. In just a few minutes, all the participants were in place. At the head of the procession was our Spanish Queen, Marisa Paredes, arm in arm with actor Édgar Ramírez. They were soon joined by Jean-Jacques Annaud and Dominique Blanc, a native of Lyon. German photographer Donata Schmidt, the spouse of Wim Wenders, took charge of the second bicycle on the shoot.

© Jacques Croizer

Between takes, Vincent Lacoste and Félix Moati were posing, while Aurore Clément was capturing Wim Wenders' shots. Back in the cinema to see the first three takes, the room was full of confusion: “Is it the second or third take that we’re watching?” Then a show of hands decided the winning version: "It's definitely take two", confirmed Vincent Lindon. For master Wenders, " It's flawless!” he declared, before adding, "We didn't want the first one - there was no dog", in an observant allusion to the Lumière brothers' original work. "The third take is filmed in 18 frames per second, with an accelerated effect", explained the remake's cinematographer, Gilles Porte. The precision did not escape the sharp-witted, deadpan humour of the German director: "Accelerated would be better for Rüdiger Vogler!” The Lumière Award recipient's go-to actor was in the last shot, in a nod to his lifelong friend. The fourth take would be the right one. As the icing on the cake, Wim Wenders would make a cameo in the first few seconds of the remake, mobile phone in hand.

Laura Lépine