‘75% of what is said in the movie is true’: What challenging project inspired Michel Gondry to create his book of solutions?

To say we missed Michel Gondry is an understatement. There were episodes of the series Kidding with Jim Carrey. Ads and music videos (for -M-, The Chemical Brothers or Julien Clerc) and a short film by Apple.

But it’s been eight years since the director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind hit theaters. So here he is again, finally, with The Book of Decisions, a highly personal film.

And for good reason: When we catch up with him shortly after the filmmaker’s successful debut at the Cannes festival on Monday, he explains that the story of the director, who retires to his aunt’s house in Seven to try to finish the film, was inspired by one of his most painful experiences.

Directed by Pierre Nigni as the director’s self-critical alter ego, the result is as entertaining as it is moving. With a mix of humor and honesty, the author talks directly about her own mental health. One of the must-see films of the back-to-school season, which he discusses on our mic.

AlloCiné: When we look at “The Book of Decisions,” we sometimes think of Spike Jonze’s “Adaptation,” in which screenwriter Charlie Kaufman portrays himself facing the difficulties of writing a screenplay. Does your film also start from the same starting point, from the project that you can’t manage?

Michael Gondry : No, this is based on personal experience. Movie There was, it was his post-production that got a little stuck. And the main character does a little bit of what I myself did during this period, namely a lot of extravagant things. That’s what this movie is about. I didn’t think about Spike at all.

Pierre Nini told us that the most incredible scenes in the “Book of Decisions” really happened: how much truth is there in the story?

75%. If you take, for example, the truck scene : The truck has been there since I was born, or almost, because it was in this house that I spent all my vacations. And while we were trying to finish the film, I wanted to turn it into an editing room.

I didn’t do it, but when we did the Decision Book, I found the opportunity to build it. On the contrary, what I did then is not in the film: I made a disco band with a 75-year-old postman and we did concerts at mussel and potato nights.

I also did a puppet show for the village, which we filmed, but we couldn’t make it due to weather problems. That’s how it balances out. There are also things that I thought about but didn’t do, but in the end there is a large percentage of similarities with reality.

I consider myself a hitter, and I think Pierre Nini has a bit too

Did this solution book really exist?

There are four symbols that we see that explain how to implement the project. I copied them as written. As for the text, I had posts all over the place with lots of ideas, but that’s not how I started the book. Which is kind of the case with the movie, except it picks up where I left off and builds on it.

What’s surprising about the film is how critical you are of yourself. You are not giving yourself a good role.

All the experiments that I did, that I did, were quite comical. But when I started putting them together while thinking about making the film, I told myself that I just couldn’t show this ridiculous experience. I had to give context.

It was difficult for me and even more so for those around me. Thus the film was born, as a whole.

What led you to Pierre Nini to play your alter ego?

We already had a relationship because he chose me as the godfather for the pre-caesarean evening. We kept in touch – he called me “The Godfather”I called him “Godfather” – And I was thinking about him ten years later, because…

It’s hard to explain, but when I’m looking for an actor to more or less represent me, I have to be able to identify. If there is too much courage, I cannot do it.

For example, with Americans it is very difficult because they carry their male role, their masculine role, on their shoulders. Pierre doesn’t have that, so it’s easier to identify with him. And I consider myself a slap-head, and I think he has a little bit too. (smiles)

Let me give you an example: I went to the Hollywood Bowl to see the concert of singer Bebel Gilberto. I was with seven or eight people and we all went to see him in his dressing room. And when we entered, he pointed at me and said “He’s not coming in.”. For a reason.

And this kind of thing happened to me several times. When there was a fight as a teenager, I was always the first to fight. Because I think I have a bad head. And I also think Pierre has a bit of that aspect, so there’s a connection that’s made. I don’t know if he’ll like it if I say he’s a jerk. (laughs)

Like I said, I consider myself a power nut. I had a teacher who called me “stick in”That is, a stick that has pus on both sides and that you cannot pick up. (smiles)

It’s nice to make a small film in terms of production: you don’t feel like you have less material and time, but more freedom and sincerity.

We sense a desire to return to more personal affairs in your latest projects. That’s what The Book of Decisions is all about, the first scene introduces you to your experience with the producers and studios, and then moves into something more intimate.

He and not. Making a real life movie, yes. But the project we are talking about here was expensive. That’s why there’s this pressure with the producers who want to come and make the film. A director does this on a project that costs a lot of money, so everyone panics. There is this pressure that exists.

But really, the book of solutions is a bit intimate. Like microbe and diesel. I have a much more expensive project there So I go from one to the other a little bit.

But it’s true, in terms of production, it’s nice to make a smaller film: you don’t have the feeling of less material and time, but more freedom and sincerity.

And it pushes you to be more creative, which also applies to film.

Yes, absolutely. And what we talk about in the solutions book is something that we did that wasn’t expensive in itself. What it cost to actually make the movie was pretty significant.

Is the film in question really “L’Écume des Jours”?

Yes.

At the beginning, it is this image of the characters sitting on a cloud that guides us.

Yes. I have not tried to reproduce it. I didn’t have to think long to find the pictures.

I remember this photo of the cloud above Les Halles in Paris, it was one of the only images of the project for a long time.

True, but I don’t even know if I thought about it.

It shows that there is indeed something introspective, sometimes unconsciously, about this “Book of Decisions”.

Yes, many things have happened to me. at different times. Like when Mark meets this young girl And as it happens with him. It happened to me too.

Comments collected by Maximilien Pierret in Cannes on May 21, 2023