“It was a dream!” : Damien Chazelle deciphers Babylon’s success in France

Babylon, what is this?

In 1920s Los Angeles, several destinies collide. Legendary actor Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), rising star Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), handyman Manny (Diego Calva), trumpeter Sidney Palmer (Giovan Adepo) or even the mysterious lady Fei Zhu (Li Jun Li)…

During this decade full of change, their careers will develop, be born or die in the rhythm of years, joys and dramas, to the point that their history is closely intertwined with the history of cinema.

A unanimous French welcome for this huge project

A colossal work with meta-filmic stakes, Babylon is a project of titanic scale rarely equaled in density. A wealth that filmmaker Damien Chazelle has had to make up a little in spite of himself, as concrete implementation of his craziest ideas has often proved more difficult than expected.

“Before we made the film, I knew it would be controversial and divider (sic). Cinema is always a struggle between what’s in your head and what’s in the real world. All films are documentaries, all films have compromises and struggles. We have adapted! There are always accidents, changes… that’s what cinema is: finding a balance between the fantasy in the head and the reality around us.”

But despite this density, the French audience was there: with almost 2 million admissions, Babylon is one of the biggest blockbusters of 2023. the success of which Damien Chazelle I couldn’t be prouder.It was very interesting to release the film all over the world to see the different reactions Of course, with my family in France, I was very happy to see that the film did well there and that the French responded to the film. It was a dream!“

A homecoming for the Franco-American director

How to explain success BabylonEspecially in France? Damien Chazelle has his own idea about this matter: “I remember when I lived in Paris. I was about thirteen or fourteen years old. Indeed, I discovered a real cinephilia in Paris, I used Pariscop every week to see where I could find old movies that I couldn’t find at home, in the United States, as I was in a small town in New Jersey. I still think that Paris is the city of cinephilia! French cinema played an important role for me.”

So, a great “home” win for the great Whiplash and La La Land director!

Babylon should be (again) seen on 4K UHD, Blu-Ray, DVD and VOD from May 24th.