The Concorde was flying towards New York when two engines failed. On board, Jean-Paul Belmondo was not far behind. The flight attendants were busy without waiting to serve drinks to the distraught passengers. In this panicked excitement, a man stood up and begged the actor: “Do something, Mr. Belmondo!” “What could I do about it?” », Laughed the actor while telling, in 2015 to our colleagues of the Parisian, this anecdote that occurred in the early 1980s.
If the story does not specify under what conditions the plane ended up reaching its destination without incident, it says a lot about the aura of Bébel, who died on Monday at the age of 88, in the eyes of the public. As if he was as daredevil and heroic in everyday life as he was in his films. As if the man in the city and his fictional roles were one.
“A kind of total relaxation”
“What marked the spirits in the character that he created on the screen, it is a kind of total relaxation, permanent, very rare in the French cinema, advance to 20 minutes Christophe Ernault, alias Alistair, editor-in-chief of the review Schnock*. He immediately aroused the sympathy of the public, unlike his “enemy brother” Alain Delon. He has a real popular rating. “
The first concerned was the first surprised by this craze. “The look of people who come to see me always amazes me. Sometimes it’s that moment when Guillaume Canet tells me that his son Marcel watches some of my films and appreciates them a lot. Sometimes it’s old ladies who will stop me in the street and tell me about some of my roles in the movies. Others are 20-year-olds who will tell me they love Fear over the city, The magnificent, or films that I would not have imagined going through the ages. Each time, I have very kind and respectful exchanges ”, wrote Jean-Paul Belmondo in the preface of the book. More Bébel life**.
“It was transgenerational and ‘transartistic’, underlines Christophe Ernault. At the beginning, he had a certain requirement, he wanted to make eclectic choices. When we look at his filmography, our eyes are wide open by the aesthetic range, of Pierrot le fou to Guignolo… There are plenty of entry points, everyone can find the one that suits them. “
No traitor, no real bastard
How to explain the almost unanimous adoration felt by the public for the actor? Perhaps by its ability to stay within the consensus and therefore avoid controversy. For the editor-in-chief of Schnock, it is about one of the proofs of “the fine intelligence” with which he carried out his career: “He expressed himself very little on political or other subjects. At the very beginning, he was a trade unionist for actors. He had a political conscience but he never made a trade or proselytizing it, that allowed him not to grill himself for ridiculous controversies. “
His aura also depends a lot on the choice of his roles. “When I was shooting films, I was still very aware of my characters. (…) I had to be able to love them and that we could love them, he said. I don’t think I could have played a traitor or a real bastard. Not that this kind of profile doesn’t interest me, but there are actors more talented than me to embody them perfectly. Notably, he turned down the role that ultimately went to Marlon Brando in The last tango in Paris by Bernardo Bertollucci. In question, the scene known as “butter” showing a rape by sodomy.
Jean-Paul Belmondo confined himself to cool roles and it worked for him. Ironically, it is when he plays Stavisky in the film of the same name directed by Alain Resnais that he experiences one of his biggest failures. At the time, in 1974, critics criticized him for making the crook … lovable.
“His lethal weapon is humor”
Whether he is in front of Godard’s camera, that of De Broca or that of Verneuil, Jean-Paul Belmondo brings his touch: a dose of phlegm, another of intrepidity, a little mischief and the eye which, often, frieze. “It embodies a very French idea of joie de vivre, it floats, it hovers”, precisely described the director Quentin Dupieux to So Film three years ago. “His lethal weapon was humor. He didn’t take himself seriously. The magnificent is a masterpiece of self-mockery, ”greets Christophe Ernault for his part.
But the best definition was undoubtedly given in 2013 by Quentin Tarantino who came to Lyon to award him the Lumière Prize. “Belmondo is not just the name of a movie star, it is not just the name of a man,” said the American filmmaker. It is a verb that represents vitality, charisma, a force of the spirit. This represents “super cool”. “
So much for the public Belmondo, the one whose name, at the top of a cinema poster, was a promise of entertainment for the general public. The intimate Belmondo remains unknown. As the actress Mylène Demongeot ** says: “She is an unusual force of character, with a direct, disconcerting, cheerful but very serious side. He is filled with courage and phenomenal strength, but who is behind this magnificent facade? (…) Jean-Paul made sure that neither his work nor his problems were visible. Elegance, always.
The number 13, ofSchnock
, released in December 2014 was mainly dedicated to Jean-Paul Belmondo. (**) Quotes from the bookMore Bébel life, published in 2018 by Marabout
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