Alexandra’s father, director of “Touchées”, a film in which he plays Chloé Jouannet, his granddaughter, and Audrey Lamy, the Alesian tells of his relationship with those who have embraced a career in cinema.
While Alexandra and Audrey, his daughters, are shooting a film in the Hérault with Chloé, his granddaughter (a first for the trio), produced by Amazon, Michel Lamy confided the emotions he felt at the sight of Affectedthe first film directed by his eldest son.
What was your reaction when you discovered the movie “Touchées”?
I saw it in preview at Alès (at Cinéplanet, in February, editor’s note). I like to watch films in these conditions, not in a room with five or six people, but with an audience, because of the atmosphere and the emotions it gives off. You would have seen in La Rochelle (during the television fiction festival where the film was awarded): “standing ovation”, with Sandrine Bonnaire, president of the jury, tears in her eyes…
Is it the father, the grandfather, the one who watches or the simple spectator of the cinema?
I feel particular emotions, because I have a father’s sensitivity, for my daughters. On the other hand, I am quite uncompromising, your best critic. I’m not at the movies. I take, inhale, analyze and then transmit. My daughters seek my advice, sometimes they even ask me to read the scripts… Especially Audrey. I play the public!
“Touchées” couldn’t have come at a better time
And in “Touchées”, what did you say to Alexandra?
Any ! I was incapable, my eyes were red… These types of movies cannot leave you indifferent. In the news, “Touchées” couldn’t be better. And this cause deserves to be defended…
Because Alexandra has been defending for a long time!
This is not a new commitment for her. Alexandra, a bit like Audrey, is very socially concerned. Without having been previously bruised, her daily life pushes her to commit herself to these causes.
But when you see that her first experience as a director is a success…
It is her generosity, which she spreads around her, that has allowed her to bring together actresses who, in return, have followed her and given everything. Alexandra is like that, she is a girl who federates. Also, she works a lot. This is what undoubtedly seduced Philip Boëffard, her producer, who offered her Affected to achieve what you always wanted to do…
As for your film project on the Camisards!
(He smiles). It is becoming clearer… We have been talking about it for twenty years! Alexandra could tell you until tomorrow morning and get up on the tables to play the characters! She will not abandon this project, Jean-Claude Carrière had already written for her. Christophe Duthuron (director of the film old ovens) also, about the story of Jean Cavalier.
“I’m just a chaperone dad”
In “Touchées”, Chloé Jouannet, her granddaughter, gives a performance…
He hit me! I know her temperament. She didn’t exaggerate; she returned, on screen, the anger he has in her. She was sweating, physically and mentally. It is a role that suited her temperament as a fighter and she knew how to open all the doors of her character.
Seeing Chloé like this in an Alexandra movie, for dad and grandfather…
There are three tears on the cheeks. As for Audrey, when she played alone at the Olympia, with her name inscribed on the pediment, there are great emotions. I don’t see it as a reward. They did it all on her own. They are cut there. I don’t appropriate anything; I’m just a chaperone dad. Obviously, with her mother, we feel great pride when we see them work. Knowing that in the family, we do not know any roots in this environment…