Tonie and Tony!

Lumière pays tribute to two faithful friends, the late Tonie Marshall and Tony Gatlif, who just recently passed away. The festival is screening the latter’s magnificent Latcho Drom in a 4K restoration by KG Productions with the support of the CNC, under the supervision of Tony Gatlif and Éric Guichard. What’s more, Olivier Bomsel has written a book entitled Toto, dedicated to the actress and filmmaker Tonie Marshall, who was his life partner and a very close friend of the Lumière film festival! We had a chance to chat with him…  

“When she edited her films, she chose the scenes based on how they sounded.”

How did the idea for this book come about?

Tonie had always told me that I was the love of her life. That phrase has stayed with me; I think I became the love of her life by writing this book. It was based on archives I found at her mother’s house, the actress Micheline Presle, and from notes that Tonie kept in her office.

Everything about Tonie's life seems like something out of a lyrical romantic novel, including how she discovered her calling as a director.

When her family moved near Val-de-Grâce, her childhood bedroom was right next to the projection booth of an arthouse cinema, Le Studio des Ursulines. Tonie could listen to the films and then dream about them before she even went to see them. She had such a unique imagination that when she edited her films, she chose the scenes by ear.

What was her approach as a director?

First, she wrote all her own films. She was a brilliant dialogue writer. She would write, always keeping the actors in mind–especially the actresses. Then from the dialogue, she would craft the screenplay, assemble the cast and obtain funding. Tonie was someone who was very decisive, without being authoritarian. She had an uncanny gift for management.

It’s impossible to talk about Tonie’s films without mentioning Nathalie Baye, one of her favorite actresses to work with…

They met through Micheline Presle, who had moved to Creuse following Nathalie’s advice. Tonie offered her a role in her film Bastard Brood (1996). She then wrote the character of Angèle for Nathalie in Venus Beauty Institute (1999) and Irène in Off and Running (2008). For Tonie, Nathalie was a natural born actress, as they say!

Top 3 films by Tonie Marshall according to Olivier Bomsel:

1. Something Fishy

2. Bastard Brood

3. Venus Beauty Institute

Interviewed by Laura Lépine