Les Choses simples on DVD and VOD: What is this delightful film with Lambert Wilson and Gregory Gedboy?

Two years after Délicieux, director Eric Besnard returned behind the camera with Les Choses simples. This time the filmmaker introduces us to Vincent, nicknamed Lambert Wilson, a famous entrepreneur who is successful in everything. One day, a car accident on a mountain road temporarily stops his furious racing.

Pierre (Gregory Gadebois), who lives in sublime nature, separated from the modern world, comes to his aid and offers hospitality. A meeting between these two opposite men shatters their respective certainties. And they themselves laugh. Deep down, is each of them really living the way they should?

initial idea

The origins of the Les Choses simples project come from a dinner between Eric Besnard and producer Vincent Roget. During the discussion, the two men started talking about John Ford and specifically his time at Fox.

“From the deep humanity of the characters embodied by actors such as Will Rogers. I like the sheer simplicity of this movie and I opened up about it to Vincent, who is a huge Ford fan himself. And one of us hypothesized about a movie based on a casual and harmless meeting. For example, after a car accident”Eric Besnard explains.

Eric Besnard wanted the characters to be two sides of each of us. Who wants to be effective, fast, efficient, recognized, integrated in his time and who prefers contemplation, reflection, calmness.

“We’re all torn between these two poles. It’s not easy to find our place. In a way, the film says that we often lie to ourselves about where we belong and that our deepest aspirations often lie elsewhere.”– says the director.

Delicious combinations

Director Eric Besnard finds Gregory Gadebois two years after Delisier. In this feature film, the actor played a cooking prodigy in the 18th century.

In Les Choses simples, Eric Besnard created Pierre Vernat, a character played by Gedbois, a marine biologist.

“There’s a form of humility when I’m working on something that can’t be seen. It suits him well. I wanted to bathe in a possible Nobel prize hiding behind the lumberjack mannerisms. I didn’t want something too poetic, like astrophysics, or something too abstract, like mathematics.”The film director analyzes.

mountain to win

The film was shot between August and October 2021 in the Morien Valley (Savoie) in Saint-François-Longchamp and Modane, as well as in the Pays de Gex in Crozet (Ain).

Shooting in the mountains is often synonymous with unforeseen events. The team had to show a strong ability to adapt. Eric Besnard explains, for example, that the level of a lake in your field may, for example, suddenly drop because a neighbor gently pours water.

Moreover, the fog can come at such a speed that after two takes, we can’t even make out the actor. “You have to adapt. But it is largely compensated by the spectacle that nature offers.”– says the director.

Simple Things is available on DVD and VOD.