‘We all wanted to tell this story’: how the bestseller Stop with your lies became a film

Prolific auteur Philippe Besson has signed one of the biggest hits of 2017 stop your lies – More than 165,000 copies were sold. This autobiographical book recounts her meeting with the son of her first love, Thomas. Many exchanges follow, during which the writer discovers and learns what happened to the person from his past.

More than just a love story, Stop with your lies tells the story of the complexity of his homosexuality in the eighties and his inability to escape the expectations imposed by his family circle. The buzz in bookstores naturally spawned a film adaptation written and directed by Olivier Payon.

As in the book, the film alternates between two time periods to relive the memories of the writer – here called Stéphane Belcourt. The project took a long time – more than four years in the making – but the result should please fans of the original novel.

“I absolutely wanted to keep the heart of the story and not lose that.– explains Olivier Payon.

If Philippe Besson’s work is mainly focused on the past, the film focuses on the present. “This teenage romantic relationship has been shown in movies several times, I want to highlight this person who meets the son of a loved one“- affirms the director. This son is played by Victor Belmondo.

To portray the writer, Olivier Payon aims at Guillaume de Tonquedec. It is quite a surprising choice and one that allows the actor to show a new sensibility on screen.

“I was reading the script, then I was reading the bookrecalls the actor. I met Olivier Payon in a bar, we talked for two hours and he burst into tears when I told him I had accepted the role. The rest of the adventure follows this first encounter.”

We all wanted to tell this story and protect it.

Filming was done in two parts: the flashbacks were pre-shot with Jeremy Gillette and Julien de Saint-Jean. It is on this very convincing duet that the author’s memories are based.

“I asked to see the pictures before I started playingGuillaume de Tonquedec reveals. It was helpful to see what Jeremy had to offer. It’s nice to share the same character with another actor. I told myself that they were great and that we should live by them.“

During the many weeks of filming, the film crew was overwhelmed with emotion. “We all wanted to tell this story and protect it. It was important to themOlivier Payon claims. Five people on the team had parents who later came out as gay.”

Guillaume de Tonquedec states:We were all there at the right time, in the right place. It should always be like that in movies, but it’s not.“

Interview by Thomas Desroches, Angoulême, August 2022.

Stop Your Lies by Olivier Peyon, in theaters on February 22, 2023.