Actress and screenwriter for great directors (I would work with figures like Alain Resnais), Agnès Jaoui jumps onto the international scene with her first feature film in direction, For all tastes, with which he would win two César awards, Best Film and Best Screenplay, in addition to being nominated by France for the Hollywood Oscars in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. Among his filmography are titles such as a french story, Tell me about the rain olike a picture, film with which he would win the Palme d'Or for best screenplay. Jaoui came to Valencia last Friday with his last job, Full of life, to participate in a special session at La Filmoteca and a subsequent master class with professionals organized by EDAV, Association of Valencian Audiovisual Writers, within your meeting program Screenplay challenges: a european view.The series of meetings aims to make an approach to our European neighbors within the framework of an industry and distribution basically dominated by North American cinema.. A predominance that, the organizers understand, has been isolating European cinematography from each other. On the occasion of this meeting we chatted with her about all these things and, above all, from his look towards cinema. GERARDO LEON
The cycle to which you are invited has the title The challenges of the script: a european view. One of the premises raised by the cycle is the disconnection that exists, at European level, between the different cinematographies that share that political space. We watch a lot of American cinema, but we have little contact with the rest of the cinema of our continent. At least in Spain, we can't connect. I don't know if the same thing happens in France..
France is the country where there is the largest cinema and theater, and you can watch movies from many countries. But of course, like in all of Europe, like all over the world, except india maybe, there are mainly French cinema, American cinema and you can see (in Paris, above all) some Spanish or English or Italian film, but too little. I totally agree with you that Europe's cultural policy is empty. It's amazing because we have a lot in common., there are directors, not just Almodovar, others super-good, that don't make it to Paris and there are super-good films that don't make it here or that make it here with so few releases or publicity that no one sees them.. And that kills me because there is wealth. Do we have nothing or what? But it's not true. It's a lack of pride, It is a lack of intelligence, It is a lack of everything. Of course it is a lack of money, also, but many politicians I have dealt with do not care about culture, or they go to the cinema once a year to see an American blockbuster. They don't realize the importance. It is incredible that we know some Spanish actors through Netflix, like those of [the series] The Money Heist.Again, It is the economic strength of America. Roosevelt said: We have to invest in American cinema because then people will buy American cars, american dresses, american food, and that's what happens. He knew very well the strength, the power of the image. And we don't. and it kills me.
One of the things that catches my attention is that we watch the Oscars, but the general public (at least here, In Spain) He doesn't know that there is a European Film Academy.
I know.
How is it possible?
That is the fault of many and it is the fault of the media. I tried to work, to help, but each country goes its own way because everyone is still fascinated by America. I'm going to tell you something else. I went to the Oscars with For all tastes, and I had a journalist from ELLE who was by my side all the time, and the head of the Oscars said that the talent is in Europe, that it was incredible the amount of good films that came from Europe and such. He made many good comments about Europe and told the journalist: write that. Impossible. He didn't write it. I didn't want, I kept dreaming of America. I don't dream of making movies in America, I dream of making a film in Spain, In Italy, It doesn't matter. It is a mental colonization.
In Spain comedy is experiencing a very sweet moment. Professionals tell us that it is easier to produce a comedy than any other genre. How is the situation in France?
Well, in that sense it is easier to make a comedy production because comedies are the most successful.. But of course, we also have other movies. Yeah, It's the usual fashion.
You have said on some occasion that you were incapable of playing roles with which you did not identify.. When writing and directing, Do you only do it about things you identify with??
Yeah, In essence it is like this because I, until now, when I write for myself, I have difficulty writing a paper that is not close to me, I don't know why. For Jean Pierre it is super-easy, every time he plays roles very far from him, but I don't. The truth is that I don't know. I think maybe I need to say something and I'm afraid someone else will say it., I don't know.
Full of life, the film that was shown in the Filmoteca, talks about the loss of ideals in Europe, a matter that is in the subtext. The last French elections, with the rise of Le Pen, It seems to have motivated part of the argument..
Yeah, Macron is in great difficulties now because there is a movement called yellow vests(yellow vests) who are making a big demonstration for a tax to buy diesel. Everyone, especially in the field, they are saying: we can't take it anymore because we need the car, etc. Everyone is angry with Parisians, with liberalism, con Macron, etc. It's a movement that we don't know where it comes from. It's okay because it's not a political movement., although of course, the extreme right and the extreme left try to recover it. And that's similar to what happens in our movie.. For me there is a huge fraction between the people of the city and the capital. But it's the same all over the world. In America, Of course, but it also happens, more or less, all over the world. It seems to me that there is progress for minorities, with women, homosexuals, all that, hyper-prigressive laws. But the rest of society doesn't want that., does not want, like Obama, a black man as president, He doesn't want homosexuals to get married.. We are in a hyper-strange moment for me., hyper-dangerous in which there is a very progressive part of society that believes that everyone is progressive like them. But the rest of the population doesn't follow that at all.. And furthermore, the left fails to make the poor less poor and the rich less rich.. And that for me is a big problem.. The day before yesterday I had lunch with a left-wing politician, I'm not going to say who, But very important, and I told him this. I am leftist, but if you don't solve this, there is a big problem.
You already have five films under your belt. I wanted to ask you, What has changed since your first film as a director or screenwriter??
Not so many things. Yeah, I know my job better, I know more what I'm looking for. (think) that nothing is so serious (laughter). But I didn't change in so many things, believe. I do not know.
Your characters are always in a situation of instability, like looking for something. Do you think it is one of the problems of modern societies? That we are always looking for something and we can't find what?
Yeah, could be. In my films we talk about the bourgeoisie because it is what we know best. People seek happiness and perhaps also some kind of recognition of their pain or their being.. In France, in Paris, Being happy is not easy because it is not people's problem.. You can't be happy, I don't know why. That's why I like coming to Spain so much.. I know that not everyone is happy here., but there is a way to enjoy things, the present, greater than in France. Although perhaps it is easier to see everything beautiful from afar. And also my favorite topic is the difficulty of changing, to change perspective, to be in the other's place. That's why I like psychoanalysis so much., therapeutic work, because suddenly you can see the other side, I like that a lot, the moments in life when you change your perspective. I like it because it has some thriller, the culprit is not him, is another. Many times people don't realize anything, he doesn't realize he's living, that others are also living. It is that intense moment in life when you understand something for the first time..
Jaime Rosales told me recently, a spanish director, about his latest movie, that there were three types of artists: one was the one who knew how the market works and worked for it, another one who claimed something, and another who used art as therapy. Where would you find yourself? Do you use your cinema as therapy?
Uhmmm. Well the first way, no. and the second, as a complaint, maybe more. I use cinema as therapy in the sense that I do things and that does me good.. Being able to have a project and get it done is a good thing for the ego.. But the things that I can deal with in my films are things that I have already dealt with in therapy.. (laughter) There are many things that interest me, but they are too close to me to be able to write about it. So I think it would be the second option..
Your movies are, above all, character movies. Speaking of script, I wanted to ask you, how do you start a movie? Because of the characters or because of the idea of the story??
Uhmmm. Both. But first it seems to me that it is the idea. The topic and what we want to say about this topic. And sometimes there's a character or two we want to cover because the character itself is a theme.. But we need a theme. Without a theme we don't know where we are going. It is our main objective.
Full of lifetells us about a generational change. There is a young character whose culture already comes from social networks. What place do you think cinema occupies in this new society??
We are in a very new moment because it has been five or ten years since, For the first time in history, Television in the United States is a thousand times better than cinema. Not only better, it is more modern, riskier, you see everything. All topics, the genres, homosexuals, trans, immigrants, fat, skinny, everything is seen. Sex, Of course. And many times of super-good quality. Also with other types of time and with other types of consumption, which is much more like an addiction. I watch a lot and sometimes I think that I'm not going to write anything because everything I try to write is in this series or this other.. It's a very big change. Sometimes I think that cinema is going to be only for big American productions because only they have the money to make them.. Why go see another type of cinema when you have so many offers on television? And sometimes I think not, that it is a fashion and that it is going to change. It's super-hard to know. I do not know, I don't know.
In Spain, digital platforms, talking especially about script, It seems that they have opened a work path for new projects. They are national platforms, but there is also Netflix, which has also come to produce.
That makes me happy.
Is it the same situation in France?? It seems that your relationship with the streaming networks is more conflictive.
More conflictive because our cinema is not dead. France is the only country in Europe that can resist America for political reasons, because we have laws that protected our cinema. I hope that with Europe all countries can have their own culture again., your own cinema. In fact, It makes me happy to see a series from Denmark or Iceland. Suddenly, you see another country, another culture, etc. And I am very happy because I know many Spanish actors who, thanks to television and thanks to Netflix, will be able to work.. I know screenwriters, also in Italy, who are sad about the situation and if it can change a little thanks to Netflix, it's a good thing. But I am very suspicious of Netflix's and the Americans' way of producing.. They asked me to work with them, and I told myself, why not? But I like freedom, my freedom and, For example, I like to have the final cut of the movies. They said yes, Yeah, you have the final cut, all (It was a super-known production) is that we decide together the time, the duration of the movie. and I said: dog, Yeah? I knew it. It means not. So well…
Now to finish, Have you never considered doing a drama?, drama?
Until now not. We like to make people laugh. I also like to make people cry, but also laugh.
and up to here. Next, We transcribe some of the ideas that Agnès Jaoui shared in the meeting she held this Saturday with Valencian audiovisual professionals. Here are some tips for future screenwriters and filmmakers.
We start by searching for the topic, what do we mean by the topic, and each character develops in relation to the theme.
The other hyper-important thing for me is the characters., sociological history, economic and cultural of the characters. I need to know where the people I'm talking about come from., I need to know your psychology.
I think the best writing school is therapy.. You arrive with a preconceived idea of your father, from your mother, of everything, and little by little you change your point of view on your own story.
Another tip is to go to theater classes to learn how to act.. When you interpret your own words, you change things. So you can see what can or cannot be said.
Another important thing is to know where we want to go.. Sometimes you read a script and see that it has a good idea., but after half an hour it ends. It is important to have a good start, a development and the end. Before writing the dialogues you must have the spine. And that for each character.
It is better not to start the dialogues until you have the house well done. There are things that can appear at the beginning of the story, but if they do not later influence the development of the story it is difficult to remove them.
A hyper-important struggle is to avoid clichés. It is important to know where we have our clichés (because we all have them) to dismantle them.
