They are as antagonists in the city as they are accomplices on screen. Virginie Efira and Melvil Poupaud begin by loving each other in Love and forests by Valérie Donzelli, presented in the Cannes Première section and in theaters this Wednesday. Their story turns sour when, over the months and years, Prince Charming turns into a manipulative pervert watching over his wife to the point of making her life hell.
“This character has nothing to do with me, which makes it exciting to play,” says Melvil Poupaud. I relied a lot on our relationship with Virginie. As we have a lot of affection for each other, we could go very far in the violence during takes. Inspired by the novel by Eric Reinhardt (Renaudot des Lycéens prize in 2014), the screenplay co-written by Valérie Donzelli and Audrey Diwan (the director of The Event) does not spare the duo whose one-on-ones, filmed in sequence shots, become more and more brutal.
Two Virginie for the same Melvil
“Between “action” and “cut” it was the little train of anxiety, explains Virginie Efira. The fact of knowing each other in life made it possible to return to a less anxiety-provoking reality at the end of the takes. What I knew of Melvil’s sweetness in life meant that I didn’t feel threatened in front of the camera. The actress also embodies the heroine’s twin sister that her husband wants to keep away. “Playing both roles was enriching, each character allowed me to enrich the other,” she says.
The work of the actors was not made easier by the fact that they shot the hardest scenes before filming those of their meeting and their happiness. “Finding the brilliance of when you project a bright future has not been easy. It is difficult to play the happiness of discovery after having shared scenes of very raw violence, ”says Virginie Efira. The mother she plays is so brutalized by her husband that we can understand the difficulties encountered by the actress.
“Starting by shooting the end scenes helped me give my character a menacing color, tempers Melvil Poupaud. It was impossible to overlook what we had played before. ” It is a shame that Love and forests is not in competition, because this talented duo could each have claimed an interpretation prize.