05/05/2005 - This French Sex & the City is as successful as its promising title announced. Since its release, this sassy comedy seduced has now sold over 1,250,000 tickets

Tout pour plaire [+see also:
trailer
interview: Cécile Telerman
film profile] (which means more or less ‘pretty all over’), by Cécile Telerman, a French Sex & the City starring Mathilde Seigner, Judith Godrèche et Anne Parillaud, is as successful as its promising title announced. Since its release on 318 copies, this sassy comedy supported by the CNC, coproduced by La Mouche du Coche Films and Les Films de la Greluche with their Belgian partners Saga Film and RTL, and in collaboration with France 3 Cinéma, seduced nearly 500,000 spectators in one week. After three weeks, the score went up to a million admissions for 380 copies. It has now sold over 1,250,000 tickets. One can only look forward to seeing how well it will work abroad, especially in certain European countries such as Italy, where such comedies are very popular and which is actually currently negotiating the rights.

Cécile Telerman entered the cinema world as a lawyer. It all started with a training at the Société des Auteurs (dealing with copyrights) which led her to leave Belgium and settle in Paris. Her experience in this institution then allowed her to be hired in the International and European department of the French CNC (the national Film Centre), before joining the distribution company Sagittaire Films. Thus, little by little, the author of Tout pour plaire made her way towards the artistic side of things. It is after leaving Sagittaire that she really decided to give it a try.

Cineuropa : Was this —successful— directorial debut the realisation of an old dream?
Cécile Telerman: Not really. Writing came first. I would never have thought of making a film if my carrier had not gradually led me there ; working for certain institutions also made me feel more entitled to do it. For that matter, I would never have called myself filmmaker before actually making a movie. Becoming a director does not work like becoming a writer ; a writer has something to show before publishing, while projects and ambitions aren’t enough to make you a director. I became a filmmaker while making my film.

This film is quite liberating ; it seems to start on a tension which gradually disappears.
This does not translate something which happened while shooting, since we did not work on the different scenes chronologically —though I have to say the actresses slipped into their roles quite quickly ; they understood immediately what was at stake. This being said, the subject itself is indeed the liberation of three woman who hide their existential doubts under a confident surface but eventually ackowledge them. Paradoxically, the realisation of their weaknesses is relieving. In the beginning, they are stuck in a world of cliches ; at the end, they are reconciled with reality. It reminds me of the title of a book, The Necessary Renouncements (Judith Viorst).

Do you see Tout pour plaire as snapshot of the condition of the modern woman?
Absolutely. We are in a transitional period : the daughters of the women who burnt their bras realise they are freer than any generation before them, but something never changes : women are disturbingly self-conscious. They keep questioning their actions and doubting themselves : are they good mothers ? Good wives ? It is even more the case now that women also work. Men are more confident with social interactions ; they do not yield as easily, that is, they tend to negotiate less in daily life. The woman is still the one in charge of the children, and spends more time taking care of them than the father, so that’s another responsibility which they constantly have to take into account. As a result, they blame on men the upsetting feeling caused by their self-consciousness and the stress of having so much to do. When you think of it, it is Juliette’s fault if she always ends up with selfish lovers ; and Marie could very well ask her husband to work too. The second problem my characters have is that they are, as most women, idealistic. Their heads are full of princes and lovely fairytales. No wonder real life satisfies them so little ! Men are less complicated in this respect. They are easier to please, since their wishes are less absolute —after all, Cinderella’s prince needs a shoe to find the love of his life ! In a nutshell, these three women are to blame if they are not fully happy, for what stops them are their ideals and dreams of perfection.

The actors, especially Mathilde Seigner, are very lively and natural. Did they improvise on the script?
Not at all. They stuck to what was written, but they slipped into their roles very easily, and are all excellent actors. I actually think these are the two qualities my film cannot be denied : the script itself is thorough and it is brilliantly interpreted. As for Mathilde, if her character fits her so well, it is because I thought of her as I was writing the script. When she said yes, I knew I could really make this film, because she is a famous actress, and because she is the one I wanted.

To conclude, what are your favourite movies?
The Apartment, by Billy Wilder ; Adam’s Rib, by George Cukor ; Vincent, François, Paul et les autres, by Claude Sautet ; North by Northwest, by Hitchcock ; Le sauvage, by Rappenaud ; I really like Bacri and Jaoui’s films.

(Translated from French)