Bolero: Which Very Fashionable Actress Has Rafael Changed His Persona?

What is it about? In 1928, when Paris was in the Roaring Twenties, dancer Ida Rubinstein commissioned Maurice Ravel to compose the music for her next ballet. Paralyzed and without inspiration, the composer looks over the pages of his life – the failure of his beginnings, the fracture of the Great War, the impossible love he feels for his muse, Miss Sert…Ravel then dives into the deep. He himself created his universal work, Bolero.

expected

Swann Arlo, who recently won a Best Supporting Actor César for his role as a lawyer in the award-winning Autumn Anatomy, was initially thought to have stepped into Maurice Ravel’s shoes. Virginie Efira and Vicky Cripps have also been approached to star in a biopic of Anne Fontaine (who is also familiar with the genre as she was responsible for Coco avant Chanel, the 2009 film about the great designer).

The birth of the project

Anne Fontaine first started from memory: when she was a young dancer, she was fascinated by Jorge Don’s Bolero, choreographed by Maurice Béjard, which she found both modern and erotic. The director specifies: “Then the desire arises: the desire, for a long time, to make a film about music and dance – my father is a composer and organist, I have been immersed in a musical atmosphere all my life. Finally, there is “The Enigma Presented. By the creator of this timeless work that travels through eras and countries, inspiring pop groups as well as repetitive music. How did Ravel come up with that?”

“I knew little about his personality. I decided to meet Bolero with a cyclical and attractive construction.”

Belvedere

Anne Fontaine was photographed at Ravel’s real home, Le Belvedere, in Montfort-l’Amoury in July: “It’s a real miracle that we were allowed to put our camera there. Ravel made it completely work there. Everything is in his image – the bookcases, the friezes, the narrowness of the corridors, the Japanese garden; everything is there. Small – like him and the memory of the pain he suffered. I was, of course, and I thought about restoring the environment until I told myself that it would be extraordinary to film there and in the cemetery. Montfort-l’Amoris.”

“It was a long negotiation and the city hall finally believed me. By imposing one condition: we could not have more than seven people in the building. The prestige of Alexander Tharo, who plays the music for the film, a huge pianist and a great Ravelian, certainly helped the arrangement.”The director recalls.

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Less than 10 kg for the Raphael character

Ravel was very thin and very dry. Thus, the Raphael persona lost 10 kilos to get into the likeness, but also into the skin of the character: “Alexander Taro told me that when he played Ravel, he had a feeling of falling into his hands. I liked the picture very much. I tried to put it on my body. Ravel is still very straight. Twenty-three short silences. His films: as soon as he feels that attention is drawn to him, that he notices It gets stronger when someone approaches the camera.”

“When he stands at the piano, he stands very straight. How can he live like this forever? A mystery. He only rested when he composed music. So I worked on this form of dryness and at the same time this kindness that everyone attributes to Ravel.”

Improve your piano skills

If Rafael Personas has a solid foundation in the piano, he had to refine it for the needs of the film, together with the famous pianist Alexandre Taro. The actor recalls: “When Anna introduced me to Alexander, I saw what it was like to play Ravel. Alexander put me in the hands of a teacher – Frederic Weisse-Nitter, with whom I learned to play.” La Pavane” and a few other hits. Which means. 80% of the film is my hands.”

“It was important for the film that I was able to provide this 80%. The remaining 20% ​​is occupied by Aleksandr Tharo – to reach his level, I would need at least ten years of practice, and to achieve it would be a miracle. genius.”

In addition, Raphael Personas also had to learn to conduct an orchestra. A must for the scenes where Ravel conducts La Valse and Le Bolero. Jean-Michel Ferrand, her teacher, first rehearsed her in a small room at the conservatory in the 12th arrondissement: “Finally the moment came when I found myself in front of ninety instrumentalists, all experienced. ‘You see, the physical sensation of an orchestra playing in front of you is incomparable,’ Jean-Michel Ferrand warned me. He didn’t lie. .”

“When I came out of the first rehearsals, when I led wonderful musicians who warmly convinced me that I was a wonderful conductor, my legs trembled, I have never felt such a shock of power. I loved shooting these scenes, I could go on playing them forever”The actor finishes.