Claire Keim in the film “Aims for the heart”: “There are few characters like this on television”

Two years after the end of Infidèle, Claire Keim returns to TF1 tonight with a new series, Aim for the heart, in which she lends her qualities to Julia Scola, a brave and respected police captain who sees Novak Lisica reappearing in her life. (Lanick Gothrie), the great love of his life, whom he hasn’t spoken to in twenty years. And who, after a brilliant career as a lawyer, left everything to become a police commissioner. At the head of the brigade in which Julia works.

Claire Keim, who is not used to the roles of cops, talks to us about this new adventure imagined by the creators of Profile, Julia Scola, a character she considers important in her acting career, the complicated relationship that unites Julia and Novak. and his penchant for comedy. And the song too.

AlloCiné: What made you want to play this cop character, Julia Scola, in Aim for the Heart?

Claire Keim : I was contacted by the producer Stefan Marsil, who told me “I have a series of cops for you”. I didn’t try at all, but she insisted and I agreed to meet designer Fanny Robert, with whom I had a great time. He immediately convinced me that this role was made for me. It’s powerful when someone is so passionate about your role. So already, even before reading, he tells me that he is writing with me in mind, and that is important. This is precious and quite rare in this profession.

So I started reading the script and I fell in love with Julia. Because he is strong, mysterious, restrained, disciplined. There is something so far away from me that I told myself that this silly character would bring me great strength. I had a somewhat similar reaction to Emma’s character in Betrayal. I said to myself “He is much stronger than me, he will take me”. So I am very happy to meet this rather rare character. There are few characters like him on television.

You are talking about the content side of Julia. That’s exactly what makes it so that there are these moments during the series where it explodes. And what makes this sequence even stronger…

It was a joy to let it all go. But shooting was not easy at all. I had a lot of stage fright. There was a scene that I was particularly afraid of, and they put it at the end of the shoot (laughs). It was an exciting but exhausting shoot. who asked me a lot.

I, who like to joke around on the set and be a little elf who makes everyone laugh, I couldn’t, I didn’t have time for that. I had to stay very focused. I had to keep my distance from Lanik, because we know each other well, we are close, it is easy between us. But then I had to stay away from him. Let there be a form of tension, let it be palpable. Let the audience be surprised “What happened, what happened between these two?”.

It was all very tiring. And then there are no ridiculous scenery, hospitals, police stations, basements with dead children. It wasn’t funny at all (laughs).

The purpose of the heart also speaks volumes about the police and the place of women in the police force. Did you also like this story element?

I will be completely honest: I was not surprised by this in the script. I was lucky enough to be raised by people who could be called feminists. But it wasn’t verbal that they were, it was just the way they lived. As a result, the evolution of society as shown in the series is normal. It was not normal before.

We celebrate MeToo at the beginning. Then we talk a little about domestic violence, violence against children. But for me there is no quarrel, no complaint in the series. It is just a fiction that fits our times. Today, there are many fights going on from all sides, because many things have been kept quiet for a very long time. But I admit I didn’t really make this banner or a specific reason.

Because of its very dark world and the various traumas it explores, the series is very similar to Profiling, which we owe to the same creators: Fanny Robert and Sophie Lebarbiere. Were you familiar with profiling before joining the Aim for the Heart adventure?

Of course I had seen part of the profile. I thought it was very brave, and I thought it was great that a character as unsympathetic as Chloe (Odile Vuillimin) can fascinate people so much. It gives great hope.

I find that the creation of Profilage has done a lot for the evolution of the French series. She came at a time when the audience was tired of perfect heroines. We had to take a big hit in all this. It’s great what they did. Also, both of them have a real world, they are very powerful.

I am extremely grateful to them for creating the character of Julia for me. I feel like he’s an important character to me, I don’t know why. I’m proud to have done it.

Heart’s Purpose is clearly based on its detective duo, Julia and Novak, who fell in love, lost each other for some reason we don’t know, and reunited twenty years later. How would you describe this duo and the dynamic that brings these two characters to life?

Second Novak arrives at DPJ and becomes Julia’s commissar, it’s war. We instantly feel like there’s a big problem, that it’s going to be too complicated, and especially that he’ll never forgive her. I really liked this.

And I also loved this tension between them, which means you never know if they’re going to fall in love or if they’re going to screw each other up. The acting was very sexy and I hope it’s also in the image. There is never a lull between them, no respite, no too much sweetness.

Are you successful for the second season?

If it’s as well written as the first season, yes, of course. It’s even better written, because I think we can still do better with the dialogues. But it sure is impossible not to want to continue when the character is this strong. I have the impression that Julia brings a lot to me, even if she spends time on filming. I think I’m making progress. It makes me want to play things I’ve never played before. It takes me to places I’m not used to.

Recently, apart from the TV movie Le Furet, you have had a series of dramatic roles on television. Want more comedy?

I just want that (laughs)! I dream of comedy. Even very small roles. I wish, in fact, they would trust me, let me do a scene in a movie. As in Diane Currie’s film, Stop your cinema. I played a bit of a bad actor, I loved it, it was a lot of fun to do. Let me do comedy (laughs)!

I think I definitely have something to use in comedy, I know I can. I had good roles in the theater Hearty especially. But I dream of something funny and tender on TV or in the cinema. Or garbage (laughs). I would love to work with Eric Judor. I have seen all his films, I am a big fan. My dream would be to have Eric Judor write the part for me.

At the beginning of the year you had a big success on France 2 with the TV movie Menace sur Kermadec. Do you know if it will continue?

I do not know. Everyone wants to. We still have a What’s App group with the whole team, we can’t get away, it’s crazy. We still depend on each other. I must say it was a magical experience. The easiest shoot of my life. And mostly, I didn’t even have to do it, I was tired. And finally something made me go. You have to say yes to life. Especially after what we experienced with Covid.

So I said yes and it was easy in a split second. This movie was all about love. And there was a bit of a comic book tone, it wasn’t super realistic and that’s what I liked about it. I had a lot of fun. But I don’t know if France 2 wants to continue the adventure. Basically, it’s a made-for-TV movie.

And the music? Where are you in your singing desires? Are you planning to release a new album?

Of course I want to. It’s completely abnormal that I haven’t released a second album, I know that. Because I only dream about it! But I realize that I love my music, I love my songs, but I’m not very happy with my lyrics anymore. I have continued a lot and there are texts that I wrote fifteen years ago and are no longer relevant. I don’t want to sing nonsense, I want to have beautiful lyrics.

I dreamed that the same thing happened to me as Julien Clerc, who got angry in the Cafe Saint-Germain and said “Isn’t there a jerk who wants to write me poems here?”, And Etienne Roda-Gilles said “Oh me”. And the guy finishes and writes “useful”. It would be a dream. The more time passes, the more I cover songs and lyrics. What we say is very important. I want to say nice things. But we must remain open to the unknown, this wonderful meeting may end.