From the Palmashow “Fargo in Brittany”: the astonishingly good handling seen by its director Jonathan Barre

There was La Folle Histoire de Max et Léon. Then the stars. And now here is good management. This is the third feature film directed by Jonathan Barre, but the first that is not a Palmashow film. If we find their paw, in the humor and the way of playing with the codes of the genre, the filmmaker did not write the script with his friends David Marsais and Grégoire Ludig.

But we still find them in front of the camera and next to Lor Kalam in this amazing story of a trainer at a license point recovery center who turns overnight speedster serial killer. A surprising and rare mix of genres in France, as elegant as without an electro soundtrack and as funny as the police duo the director tells us about.

AlloCiné: Last year, Grégoire and David spoke to us about “The Stars” as your “second first film.” In this case, is “Good Ride” your “third first film” because it doesn’t have the “Palmashow” stamp on it?

Jonathan Bare : (laughs) All done, this is my third first film!

What is the origin of “good behavior”? Do you want a police comedy or a slasher? Or even the news that inspired the story?

It was my producer, Patrick Godot, who had seen Colin Serreau’s documentary, Tout est permis, and suggested that I consider the idea of ​​dot recovery courses… and I digressed a bit. (laughs)

We also want to do an American serial killer movie… but in Brittany. Was that the leading idea?

I wanted to do Fargo in Brittany. I wanted, as with Les Vedettes, to take my cinephile references, which are mostly American, and transfer them to France.

There are many easter eggs in the classics of American cinema, but are there any films that serve as visual and/or narrative cues? I’m thinking particularly of the opening scene, which subjectively recalls both Boulevard de la Morte and films like Maniac.

I thought a lot about Brian De Palma’s cinematography for the kill scenes, especially the use of the half windshield, a process he holds dear. It’s about adding a filter to the lens so that the point is at different depths in the frame. There are fifteen such shots in Blow Out.

And what about the music? What was the influence on the electronic part, which recalls John Carpenter and the song “L’Autoroute de l’amour”, with its “Nuit de folie” side at times?

John Carpenter is the entire soundtrack. And for that “Highway of Love”It was more Herbert Leonard.

When we see the opening sequence, we expect a more violent and bloody film, but in the end, no. Was this choice made from the beginning or did it come in post-production?

This is a choice made during the production of the film, when I was thinking about how to shoot these scenes. I watched a lot of films to inspire me and to see what I could bring new and what had already been done a lot. I realized that the hemoglobin spill wasn’t really what made me laugh the most, and it’s been done countless times and very well – in Death Boulevard, for example.

So I decided to play the comedy card more than the horror card for these scenes. I was very inspired by the Coen brothers car crash in The Barber.

The humor, to be exact, is mostly played with time (Cervella and Giordano’s descent on the cliffs) rather than looking for the immediate effectiveness of the gag. Was there much building to the film’s rhythm during editing at this level? And to move from one registry to another?

Yes, we had to find the right dose. I wanted to keep that rhythm a little bit “slow” of these two investigators, but this should not hurt the overall pace of the film.

I realized that the hemoglobin spill wasn’t really what made me laugh the most

Why was Lor Kalam perfect for the lead role? Have you ever looked to have someone from outside your world to mark the difference with the Palmashow films?

No, I don’t think I would have made this choice differently. If I wanted that, I wouldn’t have taken Greg and David at all. It really came naturally. I probably wrote this female character to lead a woman and change after directing two guys for fifteen years, that’s right!

Yes, Laura is absolutely perfect. I was looking for someone who could switch from one register to another with the snap of her fingers, and she’s the perfect actor for me. He is incredible.

It seems obvious that the roles of Kervella and Giordano were written for David Marsaille and Grégoire Ludig, but who came up with the idea of ​​Giordano’s accent?

This is me ! I love when Greg does accents. Namely, the character we created for “Skin Off” : Serge Bertolli French Matthew McConaughey (laughs) I find that in France we rarely play regional accents, whereas in the US it would be unthinkable for a Texan not to have a Texan accent. So, always with my American credentials, I wanted to do it here.

Can we imagine seeing them again in a spin-off? On another exploration elsewhere, is it a bit like Benoit Blanc in Rian Johnson movies who, like you, knows how to play with genre codes to twist them?

Yes, I thought, but for now I have other projects and other genres to explore.

Do you already have an idea of ​​what your next feature film will be?

I am currently writing a family comedy with zombies With Romain Levy . We laughed a lot, I can’t wait to say more!

Interview by Maximilien Pierret in Paris, March 24, 2023