00:00It's staying alive by the Bee Gees that we actually see in one of the, you know, the office U
00:05.S.
00:05You remember that episode? It's super funny.
00:09And so there is the Bee Gees and there is a Macarena.
00:32Vincent Lindon's character's ex-wife tells Alexia that he can do it alone.
00:38Instead, Alexia is woman, man, machine.
00:43So do you believe that's the difference today between women and men?
00:50Okay, wait, that's an interesting question. I'll have to think about it for a second.
00:54Well, the first thing is that in my film, I think I try, I try to treat my characters equally.
01:03I try not to make a difference between them based on their gender.
01:09And it's especially visible in the way I shoot their bodies, you know,
01:15and I really try to portray them in their triviality and in their vulnerability.
01:23towards pain and towards time.
01:26And that's really something for me that is very important here
01:28because obviously my film is here to debunk all forms of stereotypes of gender.
01:33So I kind of don't want to differentiate them just according to their gender.
01:38So I wouldn't say that it's a difference between men and women.
01:41I do think that Vincent as a character and not as a man is a very, very vulnerable one.
01:47And, yeah, that the fact that she says that he can't do it alone is something that for me is
01:55really moving,
01:56considering that he looks like this kind of, you know, also like a war machine because he's so buff, you
02:03know,
02:03and he's so impressive and strong.
02:06And I think having this light shed on him at this moment by his ex-wife says a lot about
02:13what they have shared
02:14and the loss they have shared, and it's a loss that she understands because she's been through it as well,
02:21you know.
02:21So I do think that at that level, it's not because he's a man that she says that.
02:25She said that because she knows how it feels to be in such a horrible despair, you know.
02:34Without spoiling the ending, let's just say, do you believe that after all this crisis, all this pain,
02:42new generation will have a titan back, a titan spine?
02:47I mean, there will be stronger generations.
02:50I hope so.
02:51That's definitely, I mean, that was my thoughts when, I mean, obviously when I had the ending in mind
02:57and when I directed it, but also, I mean, calling my film titan, it's for me, it's somehow a play
03:05on words on titan,
03:06obviously, and for me it is truly about the birth of a new humanity that is somehow monstrous,
03:15but because of this, it's also stronger, way stronger.
03:20And also for me, what's incredibly optimistic at the end is that this new humanity or this new world is
03:25born in love,
03:27which is not the case at the beginning, as you know, with Alexia's biological father.
03:34So, yeah, I do think my film in that respect is incredibly optimistic,
03:38even though it's darker than raw, I think it's still way more optimistic than raw, yeah.
03:44Let's talk about the Macarena scene.
03:48It's my cult scene of 2021, so I want to know everything.
03:52How did you think about it?
03:54How did you work with the big song?
03:57Tell me everything.
03:58Oh, okay.
04:01So, what I like to do when I write, also when I direct, of course,
04:06I like to have scenes that morph into something else,
04:10like that, for example, would start very dramatic and would morph into something comedic,
04:16or would start something comedic, like the waxing scene in raw, for example,
04:21and morph into something that's a strangeness and a darkness that you had then seen coming, you know.
04:27And that's something that I try to do every time I write a scene, as much as I can.
04:33So, the Macarena is a very good example for that, you know.
04:38You start with something that could be, like, you know, a very realistic scene,
04:44like firemen going on a mission that is actually pretty bad and pretty tragic.
04:52And since, yeah, I think somehow there is a part in me that can't help but, like,
04:58lifting things up when they are too close to reality.
05:01And I think that the Macarena, in some extent, is actually one of the most realistic scenes of the film,
05:06you see.
05:07So, for me, when I am with a realistic scene, there is something that is a bit heavier than normally,
05:15even though it's not necessarily the heaviest scene, but for me, because it's so close to reality
05:19and that somehow you can't escape to genre, you know, you can't, like, create something that is a fantasy
05:24to somehow transform it, I use humor in order to alleviate a little bit the heaviness of the scene.
05:37And so, the Macarena started a bit like this in my head.
05:40And also, you know, while actually writing raw, I went a lot to a fire station
05:47where I would stay with the firemen and I would go on missions with them and stuff
05:51in order to, you know, have a grasp of their life and of their profession.
06:01And they told me, like, they taught me how to do PCR, which I didn't know.
06:05And they told me that there was two songs that were actually the good pace for PCR.
06:10It's Staying Alive by the Bee Gees that we actually see in one of the, you know, the office U
06:16.S.
06:17You remember that episode?
06:18Yeah, that episode, yeah.
06:19It's super funny.
06:20And so, there is the Bee Gees and there is a Macarena.
06:24The Bee Gees, I think, I mean, was absolutely out of reach in terms of budgets, like, by far.
06:30And also, it was less funny.
06:32And so, obviously, the Macarena for me, thinking about Vincent trying to sing it
06:38was already something I had a blast with in my head.
06:41So, that's how I came up with it.
06:44And on set, I mean, yeah, I think it was a very stressful scene for Vincent
06:47because he doesn't know how to sing and he doesn't like that.
06:51He told me so.
06:53Yeah, yeah.
06:53And I think it was really hard for him because he doesn't have a good sense of rhythm, you know.
06:58And so, the Macarena, the rhythm is super important because otherwise it's not the right one for the PCR.
07:03So, it had to be the good rhythm.
07:05And, yeah, it took a while in order to get to what we have.
07:09But I think the fact that Vincent in real life could not do it properly for real, I mean,
07:16I think it gives a very interesting take on the character as well.
07:19I think it's super moving at this moment.
07:22If he had been able to do it perfectly, it would have been less funny.
07:25You know what I mean?
07:26So, yeah, that's how it all.
07:28You use a lot the pink color in this movie, in the bathroom, in the dancing scenes.
07:34To you, pink is the warmest color.
07:37I think it was, again, like, I did this also in a strategy of debunking gender stereotypes.
07:43And I put the pink a lot on the firemen and on this very, like, super, yeah, let's say, cliche
07:56masculinity that I portrayed in them.
08:00And I used that in order to somehow blur the contour of what we expect of firemen, of their sexuality,
08:08of their, yeah, of their manhood and all that.
08:11You know, that was really part of that.
08:12And actually blue is something, blue or white, I mean, cold colors that are harsher or used more on the
08:19first part of the film that is almost only Alexia and girls, you know.
08:24And that, yeah, that was part of the whole strategy of trying to really confront the audience to the irrelevance
08:33of social constructs as far as gender is concerned.
08:38I think that one of the main themes of the movie is taking responsibilities.
08:42When she, when Alexia finds someone who's ready to take responsibility, she can run, she doesn't run anymore.
08:51So how important was for you?
08:53I don't see it as responsibility, really.
08:55Actually, I didn't think about it at all, I think.
08:58I'm sorry.
08:59What I can tell you is that for me it's the importance of looking at someone.
09:06Like acknowledging that person with a look.
09:10I think this is when she starts, like, finding her own contours in a way.
09:18And that's the point where she is going to stop running.
09:23Because the difference between Vincent, who is also a very scary character at the beginning, I mean, the guy is
09:29super intrusive.
09:30And he's completely, like, into his fantasy.
09:34And he wants to create his own creature.
09:37And it makes him overbearing, you know, with her.
09:42And violent somehow.
09:45But in his neurosis, compared to her biological father, he's constantly looking at her.
09:51Because he's looking at his fantasy at the beginning.
09:53But obviously the point is that at the end he's going to be looking at her for who she is
09:58or what she is.
09:59You know, like, for her essence somehow.
10:01For what he feels of that person, of that creature.
10:05And that's how he's going to love her.
10:07On the contrary, the biological father never looks at her.
10:10He constantly ignores, denies, not even ignores, he denies her presence.
10:14He denies her existence, you know.
10:16And I think that's actually part of the reason why she's so violent as well.
10:20Because she doesn't have any contour.
10:22It's just, like, no one is looking at her.
10:23So everything overflows in a chaotic way in all directions.
10:28And I think that's the main, let's say, one of the main themes of it.
10:35It's just, like, looking at someone for who that person is outside of any social construct, any determinism, any, you
10:45know, any limitations.
10:47Thank you.
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