Lou de Laâge: "Le Bal des Folles is a wonderful film about difference"<

The actress finds Mélanie Laurent playing one of Professor Charcot's patient-guinea pigs in 19th century Paris. Throwback to this experience, tour in the middle of COVID.

Le Bal des Folles is the adaptation of the book by Victoria Mas (Prix Renaudot des lycéens 2019) which recounts the oppression of women in the 19th century by delving into the daily life of the Pitié Salpêtrière and its star doctor, Charcot, having made his patients real guinea pigs. When did Mélanie Laurent tell you about it for the first time?

Lou de Laâge: Even if Mélanie has an idea in mind, she only talks to me about it when she is sure not to create false hopes or frustrations. There, it happened during the first confinement where she therefore called me to warn me that she was sending me a scenario without giving me more details. As usual, again, so as not to influence the reading. I read it straight away and a little over an hour later, I call her back to tell her that of course I accept her proposal.

What particularly appealed to you?

The richness of what I had just read which offers many possible angles. For my part, I first saw there, even before its feminist aspect, a wonderful film about difference. A strong way of talking about people with psychiatric illness with a different sensitivity and perception of the world that we so often keep aside out of ignorance or because we feel helpless in front of them who are never completely in agreement with what society expects them to be. I found Mélanie's words very strong on this subject. And then, immediately too, the modernity of my character appears to me within a period film. An extremely free woman.

How do you prepare to embody this young medium sent to La Pitié Salpêtrière both because she was too free for her time and because of her gifts of scary medium?

I can say that confinement has been my ally. The whole world was stopped and me, I was lucky to have a project for the day when it would reopen. So I was able to have all my time to read, listen to radio shows or just dream about this role. Immerse myself also in the life of Charcot, on what were the experiments of this doctor, great spawner of neurological discovery of the time, with his patients… becoming his guinea pigs! Is exactly what I needed to gradually become this medium character who, by definition, has access to another world. Preparing for this role meant imagining everything she could feel, see and hear. And since I didn't have to provide a result quickly, I had time to forget, to come back to it, to discuss with Mélanie. And I was able to arrive on set, free of any questions.

What does Mélanie Laurent tell you in your exchanges?

She sends me a lot of photos to enter her visual and sensory universe. When we were able to go out again, we also went to see a medium to find out how he had discovered his gift and how he lived it, so that it all became very concrete for both of us.

What did you dread the most in this role?

From the first reading, I understood that from the first to the last scene, this character was intense. So with a permanent climax inside a film that also tells the story of a rebirth: she's going to transgress everything she's been taught, everything she's been asked to become, to meet herself- same, to accept what it is and make others accept it. And I experienced this shoot as an emotional sport, never painful

How has your collaboration with Mélanie Laurent evolved since you met on Respire?

In Respire, we discovered each other so we started by taming each other. We were, as in any meeting, in restraint because we never know in these moments how far we can give ourselves up, what we can give of ourselves. I think it was at the theatre, with the play The Last Testament, that our relationship took on another dimension, during rehearsals. So I arrived at Le Bal des Folles in total confidence, in an obvious letting go because I have total confidence in it. Afterwards, once on set, since Respire, there are fundamentals that have not changed. Mélanie likes to work in a soft, benevolent atmosphere that contrasts with the harshness of what is expressed on the screen. Simply, I feel her calmer, have more confidence in her over the projects. She assumes to be what she is as a director, as a woman, as a human being.

How is the bond created on screen between all these female characters, victims of Charcot?

As we were in confinement, it was impossible to meet! Even the costume fittings were done by Zoom! I, who wanted to visit the Pitié Salpêtrière, couldn't do it either. With the other actresses, we discovered ourselves on the set, in Rochefort. And since we were then in the heart of the second confinement and there was no bar or restaurant, something was created between us who lived in the same building. Since we were the only ones to bring life to a universe where everything was closed. We were like a theater troupe… at the cinema

How do we live a shoot during this period of COVID?

I had decided from the start that it would not take away any pleasure. And I stuck to it. A shoot is a bubble anyway so the confinement didn't change a lot of things, except that we couldn't see the faces of the technicians under their masks!