How did Guillaume Nicloux manage to prevent Fabrice from making “Luchini”? In The little, which the director defines as an optimistic melodrama, the actor is astonishingly sober. Fabrice Luchini plays a father who tries to find the surrogate mother that his son, who died with his partner in a plane accident, had hired to have a baby. “This approach will allow him to alleviate his mourning, to be reborn in his paternal role in a way,” explains Guillaume Nicloux to 20 minutes.
Against the advice of his daughter played by Maud Wylerthe man leaves for Belgium to persuade the very pregnant young woman (excellent Mara Teaser) not to give the child up for adoption when he is born. “The tone of the film set that of Fabrice’s interpretation,” underlines Guillaume Nicloux. I didn’t feel like I was slowing him down. »
All in sobriety
Fabrice Luchini slows down his usual lyrical flights to reveal a beautiful range of subtle emotions in one of his best roles in years. “We looked together in more introspective areas,” recognizes Guillaume Nicloux. I always wanted to entrust him with the role and shape it with him in an atmosphere of mutual trust. » We are far from the atmosphere of “total castration” that Fabrice Luchini spoke about 20 minutes For My Loute where Bruno Dumont had already taken him out of his comfort zone.
“The plot of The little does not lend itself to excesses, specifies Guillaume Nicloux. The fact that I shot in chronological order also helped to immerse the actors in the tone I wanted. » Fabrice Luchini brings tears to the viewer’s eyes when he defends keeping his granddaughter, but he also brings a smile when he tries rap in an incomprehensible gibberish! “I believe that each performer puts something of himself into his characters even when they seem far from him. So I imagine that there is a part of Fabrice in this fragile man,” underlines Guillaume Nicloux.
Warming a heart in winter
We become attached to this father who discovers a vibrant heart in the face of the fragility of an infant which helps him accept the death of his son. Fabrice Luchini never ceases to surprise. The little leads the actor to a rebirth of his talent like the baby in the film awakens his character’s heart in winter.