With Peter von Kant, Isabelle Ajan plays for the first time under the direction of a director who adores actors and who is the greatest director: François Ozon. We caught up with the duo for an interview.
Francois Ozon has an infectious passion for actors! A passion that we can see, of course, with the greatest success of his career, the irresistible 8 women 20 years ago (more than 3.5 million admissions for this 8-star actress), but also throughout his career. He directed Jeanne Moreau, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Fanny Ardan, Ludivine Sagnier, Charlotte Rampling, or more recently Sophie Marceau.
It is no secret that some actors have been mysteriously opposed to the proposals of François Ozon for a long time, for example, Sophie Marceau, who ended the collaboration with him on his last feature film, All was well, released in 2021, or even Isabelle Ajan, this year, since then. He applied to him for the first time 20 years ago.
This time the meeting really took place on the set of Peter von Kant, which comes out on Wednesday, but also in front of our lens: the director Francois Ozon and the actress Isabelle Ajan agreed to meet you in a duet, and in particular. Consider their first meeting dating back over 20 years!
Isabelle Ajani is an actress who creates a lot of desire and who oozes, who slips between the hands
The director thought of Isabelle Adjani from the filming of Sous le sable, but the actress is said to have never accepted the script. Finally, Charlotte Rampling played this lead role for the filmmaker in 2001.
The first meeting took place in the early 2000s, during a dinner that followed a play Lady of the Camellias at the Theater Marigny, as they confide in our microphone.
“Isabelle Ajani is an actress who makes a lot of wishes and runs away, falling into the hands of directors. I dreamed and told myself that it might happen one day“Explains François Ozon, who is thrilled to have collaborated with an iconic actor, especially the muse of cinema Francois Truffaut. According to the actor, Ozon is somewhere else.”to become the holy successor of François Truffaut“.
After 40 years, an unexpected return to music
We invite you to our interview with the duo in the video above, and below another excerpt of the announcement that Isabelle Adjani made during the interview with us: her big return to music with a new full-length album, which will be released next spring with many duets. .
Peter von Kant It tells the story of a famous successful director played by Denis Menochet, a devotee of Ozone cinema, with whom this is his 3rd collaboration. The man he plays lives with his assistant Karl (Stefan Crepon), who likes to mistreat him. Thanks to the great actress Sidonia (Isabelle Ajani), she meets and falls in love with Amir (Revelation Khalil Gharbi), a young man of humble origin. He offers her to share his apartment and help him in the cinema…
Notably, Peter von Kant is a free adaptation of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s play The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. This performance was already the subject of a feature film made by Fassbinder himself in 1971.
Revelation and a faithful actor of the world of Ozone
In addition to Isabelle Ajan, who shines Peter von Kant with her appearance (especially musical), the new film of François Ozon confirms the talent of the young actress, recently noticed in the Netflix series Les 7 vies de Léa (series online at the end of last March. ). Khalil Gharbia impresses in this role, which required special physical training to develop his character over the years.
“I had a sports coach– he says to our microphone. There was great muscle development. And in physical language, during this whole temptation period, something was already happening with the dance, I had to be comfortable with this new body, these new muscles..”
I told myself to really go 300% into the text to find the character.
One of Peter von Kant’s strengths and successes is that he offers many nuanced, non-linear characters that bring great depth to the story. In this regard, Denis Menoshe has very nice words for his screen partner, Khalil Gharbia:Khalil Gharbi has the most beautiful transformation of the character. This was his first role. It came down like that, spread its wings, and transformed as the movie went on, because we shot it in the timeline. As for the nuances, it really comes through in Ozone’s revised Fassbinder text.”
Denis Menoche, soon to be in the opposite register in Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s very dark film as Bestas, has some very good comedic scenes here and seems to be pushing the comedy cursor like never before. “I told myself that to find the character, you really have to go 300% into the text, go further to discover the character.He confirms our microphone. This character is an ogre, pathetic and also dangerous. You have to push, push, push through it all“, he adds.The relationship between Peter and Carl’s (Stefan Crepon) character is heavily comedy-driven as he tortures her, but it’s funny.“. Denis Menochet adds that he has this part of the comedy in Francois Ozon’s film”remembered the movie that (he) adores Frankenstein Jr., which makes (him) laugh a lot“.
Denis Menochet and Khalil Gharbi in François Ozon’s Peter von Kant
For Denis Menochet, this is the third collaboration with François Ozon after Dans la maison and Grâce à dieu. The latter film in this case allowed the actor to establish a strong bond of trust. “Thank God for bringing us all closer to us“, he admits. François Ozon is “A very intelligent, prolific, style-changing director. He always surprises with what he does. He surprises even in his wickedness. He has evil. He is always one step ahead of everyone else– he summarizes regarding the director.He is a director with a lot of cynicism and modesty at the same time; This cynicism creates some humorous situations“- adds Khalil Gharbia.
Peter von Kant with Denis Menoche, Khalil Gherbia, Isabelle Ajani and Stephane Crepon hits theaters this Wednesday, July 6.
Interview in Paris on June 22, 2022 by Bridget Baronet
Source: allocine
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
