In the court of Christian Vincent

Attraction of opposites: “judge” Fabrice Luchini and juror Sidse Babett Knudsen in Courted / L’Hermine Photo: Unifrance

As one of France’s most subtle and versatile directors, Christian Vincent appears equally at home in dealing with vibrant romantic comedy as with the harsh realities of relationships and social issues. He has worked with some of French cinema’s most significant stars, among them Fabrice Luchini, Isabelle Huppert, Daniel Auteuil Catherine Frot and Isabelle Carré. His progress has not been without its difficulties. After he made The Separation (La Séparation), a caustic study of a disintegrating relationship over three months which featured Isabelle Huppert and Daniel Auteuil, he found that writing and directing weighed heavily on his shoulders.

The film which resulted from that malaise was What’s So Funny About Me? (Je Ne Vois Pas Ce Qu'on Me Trouve ) in which comedian Pierre Yves (incarnated by stand-up comic Jacky Berroyer, who co-scripted) has an act based on his sexual hang-ups.“I really liked that film but although it was funny in certain aspects, it was also fundamentally rather serious but it did pave the way for Four Stars (Quatre Etoiles) which had sparkling dialogue and glamour and a certain touch of chic – and also a slightly vulgar undercurrent. You shouldn’t underestimate what a bit of vulgarity can do.”

Whether Christian Vincent learned any vulgarity when he was growing up in a Parisian suburb in the Seventies is not recorded. At the time, however, he was as much involved in militant politics as the cinema. It was his discovery of Renoir’s La regle du jeu when he was 21, that propelled him towards the Seventh Art. After studying sociology and cinema he joined Idhec Film School in 1979. While he was there he made several short films including Il Ne Faut Jurer De Rien in 1983 with, at that time, the then relatively unknown Fabrice Luchini, before becoming an assistant editor on the thrillers, comedies and erotic films of director Max Pécas. He worked also in the news-room of France 3 TV Channel in the Nord-Pas de Calais. At the end of the Eighties, Christian Vincent embarked on researches into 18th century coquetterie, with a particular penchant for fake beauty spots. This rather idiosyncratic venture was for a collective film project for which he was to have made a sketch.

Friends reunited: Fabrice Luchini (left) and director Christian Vincent on the set of Courted (L’Hermine) Photo: Unifrance

The project was abandoned but it gave the film-maker the idea for his first feature, The Discreet (La Discrete), a wonderful character comedy starring Fabrice Luchini, still at the time unknown to the public at large but already a Vincent protégé from his short film. Both a critical and box office success, the film received three César awards in 1991, including best first film, and put the director on a par with such other upcoming talents as Eric Rochant and Arnaud Desplechin. Vincent then went on to make the modest and light-hearted Set Fare (Beau Fixe) which gave both Isabelle Carré and Elsa Zylberstein their first major roles in 1992. Made with more resources (Claude Berri produced with Isabelle Huppert and Daniel Auteuil in the main roles) The Separation, his third feature, followed the break-up of a relationship with a delicate sensibility. Next the film-maker chose to turn his style upside down with Save Me (Sauve-moi) in 2000, which looked at social issues and was derived from meetings involving 17 people who were out of work.

After five years spent trying to set up projects which failed to materialise, he once again adopted a lighter tone to deal with the theme of divorced families in The Children (Les Enfants), his third collaboration with the actress Karin Viard. Then he turned his hand to a sophisticated out-and-out comedy in the style of Hollywood’s legendary Ernst (Ninotchka) Lubitsch with Four Stars (Quatre Étoiles). He found that it provided the ideal opportunity to rediscover Isabelle Carré, almost 15 years after they had worked together previously on Set Fare. Four years ago he a film for foodies, Haute Cuisine (Les Saveurs De Palais) based on the real-life case of Danièle Delpeuch, a modest provincial chef and restaurant-owner who in the late 1980s was summoned by President François Mitterrand to be his personal cook at his official residence, the Elysée Palace. She was played by Catherine Frot.

Although his work has often invited comparisons with some of the stylistic touches demonstrated by Eric Rohmer and despite the obvious flattery of such a description, Vincent has always tried to confound expectations by tackling serious issues, even if frequently he does so in an accessible and light-hearted vein. Now he turns his attention to Courted (L’Hermine), in which he is reunited with Fabrice Luchini and Borgen star Sidse Babett Knudsen as a judge and juror who have a shared past. It won awards from last year’s Venice Film Festival – Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Luchini. Knudsen won the supporting actress César (the French Oscars) earlier this year.

Obviously the world of the courtroom is very theatrical as well as being extremely sober and serious. Was this one of the points of appeal?

Christian Vincent: Yes, that was part of the reason but not the only one. It is easy for a director to film in a place that is already there. That is my lazy side. But what is interesting when you talk about the stage and the theatre, is that you also talk about the behind the scenes aspect. I liked that other side of the equation as well. What intrigued me about filming a trial was also to throw the spotlight on what goes out of sight to which most people do not have access. I like filming kitchens for the same reasons, rather than just the dining room.

RM: Can you give us some insight into your actors? Fabrice Luchini is someone you have worked with for a long time so did you write the part with him in mind. And as for the Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen from Borgen - at what stage did she come on the scene?

Director Christian Vincent: "What intrigued me about filming a trial was also to throw the spotlight on what goes out of sight to which most people do not have access.”

CV: The film was written for Luchini right from the start. I did not know who the actress was going to be. I was thinking of a French actress but I could not decide who it might be. No French actress came to mind. The woman needed to be about 45 because I did not want him falling in love with a young girl. I wanted her to be a real woman. The French film world is quite small and Fabrice has made many films with various French actresses but the fact that he had already worked with so many of them bothered me. I wanted an actress whom you could believe had done her medical studies and was a doctor and anaethesitist. When Luchini’s character says she is the most beautiful woman in the world I did not want that to provoke any laughter in the audience. She had to be beautiful but not in the sense of a glossy model. When I was writing the script Arte (the TV channel) were broadcasting the third season of Borgen. I had seen the previous series and I loved it and I found her a powerful and sexy presence. One afternoon during the writing process I was feeling a bit depressed and decided to type her name in to an internet search. That gave me a link to an interview she had given to Arte and to my amazement I discovered that she could speak fluent French. She had studied in France and had live her for five years. She had come first of all to Paris when she was 18 to be an au pair girl and she stayed for five years. We contacted her agent and we went to talk to her in Copenhagen. The fact that she was a Danish actress that the French public had not seen very much was an advantage for the film. People discover her in the film. Because she has a little accent that you cannot place it gives her an added allure. I like to play around with accents in films. One of the reasons I was filming in the North of France was because of the accents.

RM: Fabrice Luchini said that he found that she [Sidse Babett Knudsen) was a bit more reserved than a French actress would have been. Did this bring an added element to the character?

CV: I think may be it is the difference between Catholics and Protestants. Protestants are more austere, do not enjoy things as much and are not as sensual. At least that is the stereotype. Whereas Catholics are more about ritual and colour and show. And even in the same country there is always a North and a South and the people in the North are always different from the people in the South. The fact she was a reserved sort of person and not so expansive made her more interesting for her role. When people ask me what I liked about her I would say it is her virility - she also has a lot of charm, is a beautiful woman and you can feel her femininity but she also very strong. She is not made of porcelain; she is not going to break. To do the job as her character in the film she has to be strong because she is a doctor and is involved in serious operations and situations. She reminds me of a heroine in a John Ford Western who could trek across the States in a covered wagon and with her you would get there. She is not afraid of the Indians.

RM: Did you have to make Fabrice Luchini less extrovert than he seems to be away from the spotlight?

CV: He is very different in his work - and he is easy to work with because he stays in his place. He does not try to take over, and he is not a frustrated director and that is his main quality. He respects the text, and the director. He stays in his own place. But he is not sober in real life. He likes to play very normal people when he acts. He is attracted by the sort of role that is the opposite of what he is like in real life. He has an inner life that he does not often show.

RM: Did you film in a real court room setting and did you work with any of the people who work in the justice system?

CV: No not at all - it was all reconstructed in a studio on the outskirts of Paris where he spent four weeks. And we had three weeks in the cafes and the streets of the little town. We did not use any of the people from the court. In any case it would have been impossible to film for such a long time in a court.

RM: How did you decide on the cases that were being heard?

CV: The young man who is accused was a young actor that I did not know but who was suggested by the casting director. I knew the young woman who played the mother. I met with quite a few advocates and asked them to tell me about different cases they had been working on. I was looking for a trial which did not involve a rape - two thirds of the cases in this court would involve rape. One of the advocates told me about this case about ten years ago in which a young man was accused of killing a baby and he said he had done it to protect his wife. He was not guilty. I asked the advocate if I could look at the file of the case but he could not find them so actually I had to invent everything.

RM: In terms of the atmosphere and mechanics of the legal system - how did you assimilate it all?

CV: I put myself in the place of a student who was studying it for a thesis. I sat in the court and when the jury had to go out I would leave with them. And I spent time outside the courtroom. I could not have made it up. I had to be behind the scenes with them. I followed them, I talked to them and got to know them.

RM: How did your two principals get along off the set?

CV: They got along fine but no more than that. Fabrice likes to create a bit of disorder on the set, he talks a lot, tells stories, talks about sex and money, and she doesn’t. Fabrice destabilises everyone. And I saw Sidse occasionally stealing a glance at him with an expression that seemed to say: ‘Where on earth am I? Is everyone in France like this!!!’

Courted will be released in the UK later in the year.