French-set gay trucker romance Flesh And Fuel sees dedicated freight driver Étienne (Alexis Manenti) find a one-night stand with Polish driver Bartosz (Julian Swiezewski) taking on much more significance as the pair strike a chord. Pierre le Gall’s film, which had its premiere in Cannes Acid sidebar, shows the toll that working in the industry can take on relationships, as the pair’s romance unfolds.
Swiezewski was recommended for the project to Pierre by French star Victoire du Bois (also seen in Cannes in Christophe Honoré’s Orange-Flavoured Wedding), who had seen the Polish actor during a play he was performing in Warsaw, directed by Krystian Lupa.
As we sit down to chat about the film in Cannes, I notice Swiezewski is sporting the same cap that his character wears during the movie, which it turns out is an item from his own wardrobe that he brought to the role.
“I like mixing character with my private life so I can feel it's more authentic,” says Swiezewski. “I like mixing media like documentaries with feature films, these are my favourite kinds of movies. So here we have a feature film, but we can have these spots of documentary things.”
I previously spoke to his co-star about the way they rehearsed ahead of the shoot, particularly with regard to a tricky sex scene that unfolds in the cab of a truck, which was carefully choreographed.
“From the very beginning, we wanted to make it normal and as realistic as possible,” says Swiezewski, “ For me, in my private life, it was quite a huge step from being ashamed of my sexuality to feeling it as just a part of life, as contact with another person, so I don't have to be ashamed if I want to have a break, if I want to drink water during sex or just ask if everything is okay. So there are plenty of things that we think that we have to do during sex and we forget that, after all, it's communication with another person and we have just to be open and be true with what is happening around us.
“So, when I got through this, in my private life, it was very important for me to have this representation in the movie. So, when we were rehearsing the choreography. I said that I would like to fall out of the bed, that I would like to knock the horn and all this kind of stuff. I know this is real in my life and it’s around us in our sexuality and it’s important for me to show it.”
The star says that the director's openness towards the subject of gay romance was appealing. He adds: “I think it's good to show that it's just normal, it's just love, intimacy but also sometimes just sex – like the cruising scene in the very beginning of the movie and it's fine, it's not something terrifying like sometimes I hear from the right wing politicians.
“Still, in the movies sometimes, it’s a tough cookie to go with this topic. You want to make things beautiful and if you are taking this subject, you are trying to make it as saintly as possible. Here we just tried to make it normal and I think this is the biggest power of the movie.”
The actor, who has built his career on screen more or less in tandem with his performances on stage, adds: “I have my queer, let's say, elements. I’ve kissed men and had some intimacy situations but I haven’t had sex with men. Personally, I think about queerness as a spectrum. I'm not a gay person and I have a girlfriend in my private life. It was challenging and I felt very responsible to make it as professional and as real as possible.”
Another element of the shoot that had to be steeped in reality was the truck driving itself. Le Gall sent both his stars a documentary series and other things to watch and read but Swiezewski supplemented that with his own research. He also revealed he had previous experience of what trucking life was like.
“When I was ending high school and at the beginning of my studies, I travelled a lot as a hitchhiker, travelling all over Europe and the Balkans. So I spent a lot of time with truck drivers and I can remember their attitude to life, their way of living that is very specific. I loved it and somehow it helped me to understand.”
 |
| Alexis Manenti and Julian Swiezewski in Flesh And Fuel: 'We just tried to make it normal and I think this is the biggest power of the movie' |
Flesh And Fuel features a lot of night scenes, so I ask whether shooting after dark makes a difference. Swiezewski says: “I think we have to be used to shooting at night or during the day. The only thing is whether it’s before dinner or after dinner – this is the most important. You have to think as a director because the energy after dinner… you need two hours afterwards to get back to it.”
Swiezewski has had a film selected for Cannes before. He featured in Magnus von Horn’s influencer character study Sweat, selected for the festival in 2020 but, since it was the height of Covid, the traditional event was cancelled with only limited outdoor screenings happening in the autumn. He thoroughly enjoyed getting stuck into this year’s festival, singling out Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s dad and daughter drama The Beloved for praise.
“I just came out from The Beloved – oh my God, it was so good. I haven't seen, for a long, long time, a movie that portrays what shooting in the film industry looks like so naturally and so realistically.”
The star says his theatre work is important for his film work, especially the use of his body. When it comes to films he says, “The first part is preparation, then in the second part I just try to forget everything I know and try to be with my body and my intuition and the body here, in this movie, was very important.”
He’s also happy to be able to combine his on and off-screen work.
“I love it because it's two different words and I can do things in the theatre, which I cannot do in the movie and the other way around. Fortunately, I have a very good agreement with my theatre director because I am doing only one play a year, so it's three or four months of work and the rest of the year I can do movies.” In terms of the projects he chooses, he says: “I'm trying to skip the mainstream to be honest. Sometimes in the mainstream, you have very good movies so it's always about the story and what the movie is about. You can feel very quickly if the movie is about money, or it's about the story it's telling or it's entertainment. Even if it's about entertainment, it's fine. I like movies which are good in their own aim, but sometimes this aim is not for me. But, after all, I have to earn money – it’s my job. It’s not like I’m just doing independent movies, I wouldn’t make a living.”
Next up for the star is a Polish film called Milk. “It’s also about a gay couple trying to have their own kids in Poland, which is difficult. It's a good topic.”
And, rather than directing or writing, the area Swiezewski is branching out into is DJing. “I am stepping behind the decks,” he says. “Mainly hypnotic techno and breakbeat and break bass. I’ve been doing it for one-and-a-half years. I'm really into it. It's my hobby but I love it. It gives me something theatre gave me at the very beginning, which is this experience of being with people here and now and playing with the energy at a very primal level because you don’t have words, just sounds.”
- Read our conversation with Alexis Manenti on Flesh And Fuel
