"No "short trips" for me. No big ones either. I make no distinction between the two. So whether it's Australia, China or Egypt... it's a bit like Saint-Martin, on the Ile de Ré. I don't mention the Ile de Ré by chance: I've been there a lot recently... In the footsteps of Vauban, supporting the Vauban Network in its bid to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I'm not only committed to the ancient fortifications, but also to the man himself, a truly astonishing fellow, a true and great traveller. Who had his office in his coach...
A failed trip is precisely when the old stones and their tourist appeal outstrip the people who live there; when tourism dislocates people from their own territory. In Venice or Egypt, for example, people have come to hate all these visitors who don't come for them. That's where democratisation comes in. Personally, I need there to be a match between the place, the monuments, the atmosphere... and the people. That's probably why I love jogging in big cities. Running is great, it puts you in touch with other people.
All journeys enchant me. The departures, the arrivals, everything... Travel is a game of contrasts! You just have to be away to want to come back, if only to measure the scale of the journey! I'm on the move! In fact, I need to be constantly out of balance, and travelling is a real imbalance. It's scary at times, it's true. But I love being close to my own emptiness!
I also like the languid, bored feeling you get on a car journey. That hypnosis that you feel. For me, travelling isn't necessarily about getting from one place to another as quickly as possible... I like the car because, like a snail, I enjoy leaving in the company of my home! At the same time, I still have this stupid fantasy of wanting to take only a credit card as luggage... One day I did it: a bathrobe, a toilet bag and a tiny bag for a week in the Sinai; a wonderful trip!
I've had other experiences since, such as combining travelling with filming... That was in Japan, to finish some scenes for Assayas' film Demon Lover. I arrived in Tokyo with jet lag. A car was waiting for me at the airport; I just had time to drop off my things at the hotel, and I was immediately driven to the shooting location. It was a limousine that criss-crossed Tokyo... and it didn't stop for ten days! We were overloaded with work, shooting all the time... and at the same time we were visiting the city. When I went back to France, I felt like I couldn't separate my travels from my fiction...".
Seven dates
1958 Born in Saint-Mandé on 30 April.
1973 I went on stage for the first time with my school's troupe.
80s After training at the Insas (Institut national supérieur des arts de la scène) in Brussels, I started acting.
1982 I star in my first film, Meurtres à domicile by Marc Lobet.
1995 Claude Sautet's Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud offered me a great supporting role.
1996 Patrice Leconte's film Ridicule earns me a nomination for the César for Best Actor.
2005 With Serge Le Péron's J'ai vu tuer Ben Barka, I am committed.
