We left Noémie Merlant in The Olympics by Jacques Audiard released last Wednesday. We find it this week in A Good Man by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar who tackles the oh-so-delicate theme of transparency.
The actress plays Benjamin, a man born in a woman’s body who wants to start a family with his partner Aude (played by Soko). They are considering assisted reproduction, but the latter cannot have children. Benjamin then decides to carry their baby. “Marie-Castille has a gift for showing social issues in a different light, so that the public can better understand them”, explains Noémie Merlant to 20 minutes. Having previously been directed by the filmmaker for The heirs (2012), Heaven will wait (2016) and Mothers Day (2017), she knew she could trust him to tackle such a delicate subject.
Respect above all
A Good Man, a film awarded the Cannes 2020 label and shown in Deauville, received the support of the Representrans collective. “I was aware that I could be criticized for appropriating the role of a trans man,” explains Noémie Merlant. But Marie-Castille having tried in vain to find one to play Benjamin, I ended up believing that the visibility that the film offered to transgender people outweighed my scruples. The actress has undoubtedly made the right decision, so much she moves without ever being caricatured in her united couple which will not fail to give a lot of love to her offspring.
“To play Benjamin, I had to avoid the clichés that we associate with virility, insists Noémie Merlant. I had to learn to modify my voice with a speech therapist, work on my gait, my bodybuilding and my body language to build it. “Transgender counselors came to support the actress who wanted above all not to deliver a stereotypical composition. “Respect was the watchword of the film for all those who participated,” she insists. This is felt in each delicate sequence of this work which touches the universal in its way of approaching the desire to be a parent. The story is loosely based on that of a relationship between the director, as well as trans men who have borne children, especially in the United States.
An important message
“One day, couples like the one formed by Benjamin and Aude will be considered perfectly ordinary,” insists Noémie Merlant. This is what the film is all about: that the pain transgender people experience is a thing of the past and that people who don’t know them understand it better. “If only for that, A Good Man is an important work in what it reveals of distress but also of love and strength.