Having a “vampire lift”, drinking cow urine or even fasting for a week… These methods are part of the “youth cocktail” sold in different places around the world. Real anti-aging remedies or false good idea sold by charlatans? The actress Valérie Bonneton and the journalist Alfred de Montesquiou wet the jersey to answer these questions. The result of their four months of investigation is broadcast this Thursday, October 13 on M6 in the documentary In search of eternal youth.
“With Valérie, we didn’t know each other but we immediately had a chemistry, confides Alfred de Montesquiou. We both forbade ourselves from watching the film so as not to want to censor something”, specifies Alfred de Montesquiou from the outset. He lived his collaboration with the actress, known for her roles in The little handkerchiefs Where Welcome to the Ch’tis as “a real pleasure from start to finish”.
“Physically Engaging”
When he was offered this somewhat crazy quest, the journalist, winner of the Albert London Prize in 2012, responded to the curiosity of testing methods on himself. He thus passed from the status of observer, typical as a journalist, to that of “observer-tester”. “I immediately thought of the film Supersize me, which marked me enormously”, he confides. In this American documentary, a man eats exclusively fast food for a month to determine the impact of junk food on health. “What I didn’t realize was how physically demanding it was going to be. »
If the funny pair has not ingested hamburgers all day long, he rubs shoulders with sometimes wacky theories on aging. The film takes the viewer to the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica, an area of the world where people live statistically in better health. This is one of Alfred de Montesquiou’s most memorable memories. “I found myself riding with Don Ramiro, a centenarian. I said to myself “wow”, and it made me realize that with a certain ethic of life, a certain food, a certain joie de vivre, it was no longer just theoretical, it was true! We can really live much longer but above all much better if we make certain choices, ”confides the journalist.
They also visit a traditional medicine center in India or high-tech clinics boasting innovative technologies in the United States. These trips take you to meet different cultures, Meeting in unknown land.
French medicine in support
Valérie Bonneton and Alfred de Montesquiou go so far as to test methods which are nevertheless prohibited in France. But their curious and innocent gaze is cut by that of Dr. Sarah Longé, who follows them throughout their experience. This specialist in the extension of life in Paris hospitals discloses over the hour and a half of the documentary her expertise, to allow the public to know the scientific limits of the methods discussed.
During the experience, the two protagonists sometimes make different decisions. When one prefers to abstain, the other tests. This is the case when Valérie Bonneton ends up being convinced to perform a “vampire lift”, a facial rejuvenation technique based on blood injection. “For my part, in the United States, I did not trust them, rewinds Alfred de Montesquiou. I wasn’t going, to please M6, to inject myself with stuff I didn’t know. »
“A real chance for me”
Yet it is two that the pair embarks on a five-day fasting cure in Périgord. “This experience marked me a lot, I lost 10 kg,” says the journalist.
Several months after the shooting, Alfred de Montesquiou confides that he made lasting changes, especially in his diet. He has now become a vegetarian and feels “much better”. “I would never have made this film alone, so it was a real chance for me”, he concludes.