“The important thing is to do your part, as best you can”

This is your first film as a director. How was he born?

After the confinement and the publication of the frightening figures on hospitalizations of young people, I said to myself that it could make sense to link the current difficulties to my personal experience, in the 1980s. I therefore decided to adapt my novel for the screen The dreamers (Ed. Grasset, 2018, editor’s note) largely autobiographical.

What does this story reveal about you?

My desire to break a taboo and show that there are solutions, like art therapy. When I was young, it was the theater that saved my life, by giving me a place. But it could have been singing, dancing or sports.

The place that inspires you to create?

The Basque Country, with its peaceful light, the mountains and the sea… And because it often rains there!

The film you could watch a hundred times?

Mary Poppins. I love this woman who helps the children and comes to repair a family that can no longer talk to each other.

A gene that you are happy to have inherited?

My father passed on to us a valuable artistic culture. Even today, I look at the works through his eyes, I have direct access to the art.

A quality that you will be proud to pass on?

The taste of effort. I started working at 14. For me, it’s important to do your part, however you can. Such as bringing flowers to a dinner party.

An inspired place where you like to take refuge?

Theaters, places full of ghosts. I feel the presence of the actors who have been there, who encourage me.

A guardian angel on your shoulder?

I share the vision of the film The wings of desire, by Wim Wenders, which shows angelic men, invisible, laying their hands on us. I believe in this presence. Perhaps it is the dead who feel brotherhood for the living?

For you, Jesus, it is…

When I pray, I find it easier to invoke the Virgin Mary. I like icons of the Virgin smiling at her Child.

You are offered immortality. Do you sign?

No, I really want to pass the baton. I offer writing workshops, it’s so pleasant to pass on. Leaving room for those who are behind is beautiful.