OFFLINE Releasing
& Artistic License Films
present
The
Taste of Others
(Le
Goût des Autres)
A Film by Agnès
Jaoui
A Screenplay by Agnès
Jaoui & Jean-Pierre Bacri
2000/35mm/color/112mins/Scope/Dolby
SR-SRD/Digital DTS
Distribution
Contact:
Publicity Contact:
Artistic License
Films
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SYNOPSIS
CASTELLA
(Jean-Pierre Bacri) is a
successful suburban businessman caught behind the fast-changing times.
More out of boredom than out of interest, he allows his wife ANGÉLIQUE
(Christiane Millet) to drag him to a performance of Racine's Bérénice.
Much to his surprise, he is overwhelmed by the power and beauty of
the lead actress, CLARA (Anne Alvaro), who plays the Queen.
He becomes so infatuated with her that he goes back to the play night
after night. Finally, these two polar opposites are forced together when
Castella reluctantly tries to learn English for an important business deal
and his English teacher turns out to be Clara.
These
are but two of the satellites revolving in writer-director Agnès Jaoui’s
universe. Around them gravitate
others who perhaps should never have met, but their encounters reveal facets
of their personalities they would never have suspected.
Among
these characters are a pseudo-professional bodyguard, who turns out to be
just a regular guy with an uninteresting job; a chauffeur who believes
himself to be immune to sentimental mishaps but who ends up with a broken
heart; a bistro owner who thinks she has all the answers but to whom no one
actually listens; and a carefree bartender who stumbles into a real
relationship.
THE
TASTE OF OTHERS introduces us to characters the movies tend to forget:
great actresses who don’t get the breaks, bored rich women with no sense of style, and sexy bartenders who can find love.
CAST
ANNE ALVARO
CLARA
JEAN-PIERRE BACRI
CASTELLA
BRIGITTE CATILLON
BEATRICE
ALAIN CHABAT
DESCHAMPS
AGNES JAOUI
MANIE
GERARD LANVIN
MORENO
ANNE LE NY
VALERIE
CHRISTIANE MILLET
ANGELIQUE
WLADIMIR YORDANOFF
ANTOINE
XAVIER DE GUILLEBON
WEBER
RAPHAEL DEFOUR
BENOÎT
BOB ZAREMBAR
FRED
SAM KARMANN
THE
DIRECTOR
MARIE-AGNES BRIGOT
THE
SECRETARY
ROBERT BACRI
CASTELLA'S
FATHER
DESIR CARRE
PASSER-BY
CELINE ARNAUD
VIRGINIE
REGINALD HUGUENIN
TITUS
JEAN-MARC TALBOT
ANTIOCHUS
JEAN-FRANÇOIS LEVISTRE
ARSACE
DIDIER MAHIEU
HEDDA'S
HUSBAND
STANISLAS DE LA TOUSCHE
THE JUDGE
CREW
DIRECTOR
AGNÈS JAOUI
SCREENPLAY
AGNÈS JAOUI - JEAN-PIERRE
BACRI
PRODUCERS
CHRISTIAN BÉRARD - CHARLES
GASSOT
EXECUTIVE
PRODUCER
JACQUES HINSTIN
LINE
PRODUCER
DANIEL CHEVALIER
DIRECTOR
OF PHOTOGRAPHY LAURENT DAILLAND
CASTING
BRIGITTE MOIDON
PRODUCTION
DESIGNER
FRANÇOIS EMMANUELLI
EDITOR
HERVÉ DE LUZE
MUSICAL
CONSULTANT JEAN-CHARLES JARRELL
& ARRANGEMENTS
COSTUME
DESIGN
JACKIE STEPHENS-BUDIN
MAKE-UP
ARTIST
JACKIE REYNAL
HAIRDRESSER
SARAH GUETTA
ASSISTANT
DIRECTOR
ANTOINE GARCEAU
LOCATION
MANAGER
BRUNO VATIN
CONTINUITY
SUPERVISOR
BRIGITTE HEDOU-PRAT
SOUND
JEAN-PIERRE DURET
RE-RECORDING
MIXER
DOMINIQUE GABORIAU
STILLS
PHOTOGRAPHER
JEAN-PAUL DUMAS GRILLET
A
TELEMA / LES FILMS A4 AND FRANCE 2 CINEMA CO-PRODUCTION
WITH
THE PARTICIPATION OF CANAL +
FESTIVAL SELECTION
Montreal
World Film Festival - Grand Prize
Winner
Official
Selection, New York Film Festival
Johannesburg
French Film Festival
San
Sebastian Film Festival
Hamburg
Film Festival
European
Film Festival (Singapore)
Vienna
Film Festival
Carthage
Film Festival (Tunisia)
Haifa’s
16th International Film Festival (Israel)
Florence
Film Festival
Warsaw
Film Festival
INTERVIEW WITH : AGNÈS JAOUI:
For how long have you wanted to
direct a film?
AGNÈS JAOUI - Since
Kitchen with Aparment, I think.
But I didn't feel ready. I still don't, actually, but I figured it was time
to take the plunge.
I really wanted to
find out if the images I always have in my head would work or not. And I
wanted to be in charge of the whole project, from the writing through the
production.
Were
there aspects of directing that you didn't expect?
AGNÈS JAOUI - Yes.
For example, I knew you had to make a certain number of choices, but I had
no idea how many! Also, in spite of the fact that Jean-Pierre was very
present and supportive, I have never felt so alone in my life. That's it. It
went much deeper than I thought - the incredible number of choices I had to
make and the loneliness of making those choices.
Do
you make choices easily in life?
AGNÈS JAOUI - No.
Then
it must have been an incredible ordeal!
AGNÈS JAOUI - Yes!
It was anguish and doubt, but there were moments I really loved. Still, when
I looked around at the actors who were "only" actors, I envied
them!
What
stage of direction did you like most?
AGNÈS JAOUI - The
beginning of the shoot, I think. I started feeling a bit more confident
about what I had shot and, at the same time, I could rebuild, like in the
writing, based on material that already existed. Toward the end of editing I
started getting panicky again because things were becoming permanent. In my
life, I don't like choices and I don't like permanent decisions!
Do
you regret taking on such an ordeal?
AGNÈS JAOUI -
Absolutely not. I like the difficulty. And the idea of risk, of a new
adventure. Otherwise, I'd have chosen another career.
What
are your influences in film?
AGNÈS JAOUI - When
I started working on the shot list, I began seeing films differently - in
fact I saw everything differently - and I screened all the Woody Allen
movies I'd already seen. I learned a lot from that. I knew that I had no
technical know-how, or very little, so I wanted to keep it as simple as
possible. I wanted to do my best for the script and for the actors who I
trusted. That's why there are a lot of one-shot sequences. I felt that's
what would best serve the actors and the film.
This
is the first time you've directed actors.
Do
you have any particular method?
AGNÈS JAOUI - My
method was to do what I appreciate when I act.
Reassurance and
confidence. I also rehearsed for over a month, with each of the actors,
first one-on-one, then many of the scenes together.
That was a really
crucial part of the preparation for me. We taped the rehearsals, with the
director of photography (Laurent Dailland) and even the sound engineer
(Jean-Pierre Duret).
Where
does your collaboration with Jean-Pierre Bacri end?
It
must have been hard for him to give up his power of decision after
co-writing the script with you.
AGNÈS JAOUI - I
kept consulting him all the way through. He was the first person I asked for
advice and opinions... He directed me in my scenes and told me what he
thought of the scenes with other actors. I needed him there.
And
was it difficult for you to direct Jean-Pierre?
AGNÈS JAOUI - No,
because we're used to playing the stuff we write together. We start talking
about it while we're still writing. But I had to make sure I wasn't too
familiar with him, not to take him for granted or try to take shortcuts on
the assumption that he would know what I was talking about in any case.
How
did you choose the music?
AGNÈS JAOUI - I had
some of it in my head when I was writing the script.
Others occurred to
me while we were shooting. As soon as we started editing, I laid them in,
just to see. For both me and Hervé De Luze (Editor), there was no question
about it. The music is very eclectic, very much in keeping with the main
theme of the film.
Did
you have any hesitation about acting in your directing début?
AGNÈS JAOUI - I
like to act. I can't pass up a chance. I knew it would surely be a lot of
work, but I just couldn't say no. We arranged the schedule so I wouldn't
have to act during the first two weeks. And the fact is, when I did start,
it was about time. I was really starting to miss it.
INTERVIEW
WITH :JEAN-PIERRE BACRI
AND
AGNÈS JAOUI
How would you define what the film is
about?
AGNÈS JAOUI - Our
starting point was the fact that all around us, our friends, our husbands
were ninety-nine and nine tenths percent from the same social circles as we
are - in spite of how open-minded we'd like to think we are or we'd like to
be. In the film, there are different milieus which exist in parallel, but
can't intermingle. You can try to cross the border from one to the other,
but it gets complicated and difficult.
JEAN-PIERRE BACRI -
It's pretty natural to stay within one's social peers. But we really wanted
to talk about sectarianism and parochialism.
As well as about the
dictatorship of tastes. Just because you hang around with a certain kind of
person, doesn't mean you should be closed off from the world and never
fairly and openly consider what others' tastes might be, how it is to
participate in those tastes, to listen to another music.
AGNÈS JAOUI - While
I was preparing the film, I came across a piece written by Philippe Berthier
as preface to Balzac's "Lost
Illusion", and which applies perfectly to our theme. All you have
to do is substitute the name of Castella for that of Lucien de Rubempré and
here's how it sounds: "Between the different worlds of the world there
is no fluidity, no interpenetration, only the outwardly tranquil but dully
hostile juxtapositon of incompatible blocs. Moving from one milieu to
another means crossing through invisible abyss which some immemorial law
seems to hold agape - to each his little box. Heaven help the 'pariahs' -
those who, finding themselves in a subservient position, aspire to be
welcomed into the supreme sphere. This desire for elevation, which is also a
desire for mixing, is opposed to nature and the "social organ"
will soon teach them as much as casting them out as if by instinct for self-defence,
eliminating foreign bodies and shoring up the immune system of a group whose
identity is being threatened. Such is [Castella] who introduces an element
of instability and disorganization, which is to say of life, risk and
surprise."
You've
already addressed prejudice in your previous writing, but not as the central
theme.
JEAN-PIERRE BACRI -
We probably got closest to that theme in Family
Resemblances.
AGNÈS JAOUI - It's
a theme that's always got us going. In this film and the others.
The
tone of this film seems graver than the others.
BOTH -
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....
JEAN-PIERRE BACRI -
It's perhaps slightly more moving than the previous ones. But I always feel
our stuff is very grave. There's humor in it because we just can't help
ourselves, but the root of it is always deadly serious.
AGNÈS JAOUI -
Especially this theme of exlusion... We all know about it, starting as kids
in grade school when you're dying to be accepted by one clique or another
and you don't even know why and you don't know why you're rejected. And this
keeps up through high school and into adult life even when, as an adult, you
manage to relativize a little.
For me, it's
something that makes me cry.
Which
of the characters speaks for the authors?
BOTH - Manie and
Deschamps.
Do
you feel like your way of working has changed?
AGNÈS JAOUI - I
don't think so, exept for the fact that we've been working together more and
more.
You
mean like splitting up the work like you have until now, for example - and
this is oversimplifying - Agnès works more on the plot structure and
Jean-Pierre the dialogue?
AGNÈS JAOUI - Yes,
but it was already less like that on Family
Resemblances and much less on Same
Old Song...
JEAN-PIERRE BACRI -
Yeah, that's what's really changed. All that has melted away.
Did
you make the casting decisions together?
AGNÈS JAOUI - Yes.
While we were still writing. We wrote for Alain Chabat, Gérard Lanvin, Anne
Alvaro, Christiane Millet, Wladimir Yordanoff, Anne Le Ny...
Why
did you cast yourselves in the roles of Castella and Manie?
AGNÈS JAOUI - For a
long time, I wanted to play the role of Clara (Anne Alvaro), but for one
thing it was a bigger part and, since I was directing the film, it wasn't a
good idea and, for another thing, I think it was important that she be older
than I am. Anyway, Jean-Pierre and I have been avoiding writing ourselves a
love story for a long time now. And I, personally, knew that Jean-Pierre
would be fabulous in the role of Catella.
Anne
Alvaro and Christiane Millet are newcomers in your firmament.
AGNÈS JAOUI - They
are both extraordianary stage actresses who are absurdly unknown, and that,
in fact, sort of hits on the theme of the film. Anne Alvaro has been playing
the greatest roles in subsidized theater since the age of seventeen, and
many people have never heard of her. Even people who go to the theater a lot
but go to see private productions rather than subsidized, just as many
people only go to subsidized theater and never to private. It's really
crazy. There are superb productions in both, so why this
compartmentalization? For me, Anne Alvaro's situation is analogous to
music-lovers who never heard of Callas. They're both actresses who can make
any script intelligent. As it happens, we go (horror of horrors!) to both
subsidized and private theater. So we knew both of them and we've been
wanting to work with them for a long time.
All
of the characters in the film are fairly lonely.
Do
you think we are all alone in the world?
AGNÈS JAOUI - Of
course we're all alone in the world. And that's why it's very tempting to
try, as Clara and Antoine (Wladimir Yordanoff) try in the film, to form a
group, a parish, with very precise rules and codes...
It's very
reassuring. But the line between a crowd and being sectarian is very thin.
JEAN-PIERRE BACRI -
Each of us is different, with different sensations, impressions, complexes,
desires overt and repressed, frustrations, each his own personal existential
anguish. But from another point of view, living with other people is a
chance to escape all that. Society - which is not really a choice, but
obligatory - even a small society, even a group of friends represents warmth
and, at best, affinities, complicity.
AGNÈS JAOUI (MANIE)
A three-time César-winning
actress and screnwriter in her native France, Agnès Jaoui broke through on
yet another front this year with her directorial debut, THE
TASTE OF OTHERS (“Le Gout Des Autres”).
Agnès Jaoui began
her acting studies under renowned theater and film director Patrice Chèreau
(“Queen Margot”). In 1987
she met her future husband, actor Jean-Pierre Bacri, and wrote several plays
with him that were later made into films, including KITCHEN WITH APARTMENT
(1991) (“Cuisine et Dependances”), and FAMILY RESEMBLANCES (1995) (“Un
Air de Famille”).
Some of her
best-known work as an actress includes roles in Alain Resnais’ SAME OLD
SONG (“On Connait La Chanson”) for which she won the 1997 César for
Best Supporting Actress; Patrice Chéreau’s HOTEL DE FRANCE; and Cédric
Klapisch’s FAMILY RESEMBLANCES.
She also won two Césars
for her work as a screenwriter with Bacri:
for SAME OLD SONG in 1997, and FAMILY RESEMBLANCES in 1995.
THE TASTE OF OTHERS
was released in France in March 2000 to tremendous critical and
commercial acclaim, and was the winner of the Grand Prixe Award at the
Montreal Film Festival this year. The film is scheduled to open in the United States in
February 2001.
FILMOGRAPHY:
As a Director:
1999
THE TASTE OF OTHERS (Le Gout
Des Autres)
As an Actress:
1999
THE TASTE OF OTHERS (Le Gout
Des Autres)
Agnès Jaoui
1999
UNE FEMME D'EXTÉRIEUR
Christophe Blanc
1998
EM FUGA (On the Run)
Bruno de Almeida
1997
LE COUSIN
Alain Corneau
1997
SAME OLD SONG (On Connaît La Chanson)
Alain Resnais
1996
LE DÉMÉNAGEMENT
Olivier Doran
1995
FAMILY RESEMBLANCES (Un Air de Famille)
Cédric Klapisch
1992
KITCHEN WITH APARTMENT (Cuisine et Dependances)
Philippe Muyl
1991
CANTI
Manuel Pradal
1987
HOTEL DE FRANCE
Patrice Chéreau
1983
LE FAUCON
Paul Boujenah
As a
Screenwriter:
1999
THE TASTE OF OTHERS (Le Gout Des Autres)
1997
SAME OLD SONG (On Connait La Chanson)
1996
FAMILY RESEMBLANCES (Un Air De Famille)
1993
KITCHEN WITH APARTMENT (Cuisine et Dependances)
JEAN-PIERRE BACRI (CASTELLA)
FILMOGRAPHY:
1999
KENNEDY ET MOI
Sam Karmann
1997
PLACE VENDOME
Nicole Garcia
SAME
OLD SONG (ON CONNAÎT LA CHANSON)
Alain Resnais
1996
DIDIER
Alain Chabat
1995
FAMILY RESEMBLANCES
(UN AIR DE FAMILLE)
Cedric
Klapisch
1993
FEAR CITY (LA CITÉ DE LA
PEUR)
Alain
Berberian
1992
KITCHEN WITH APARTMENT (CUISINE
ET DÉPENDANCES)
Philippe
Muyl
1991
LE BAL DES CASSE-PIEDS
Yves Robert
THE
MAN OF MY LIFE (L'HOMME DE MA VIE)
Jean-Charles
Tachella
1990
LA TRIBU
Yves Boisset
1985
SUBWAY
Luc Besson
ALAIN CHABAT (DESCHAMPS)
FILMOGRAPHY:
1999
LA DÉBANDADE
Claude Berri
1997
LE COUSIN
Alain Corneau
1996
DIDIER
Alain Chabat
1995
BEAUMARCHAIS
Edouard Molinaro
1994
FRENCH TWIST (GAZON
MAUDIT)
Josiane
Balasko
SIX
DAYS, SIX NIGHTS (À LA FOLIE)
Diane
Kurys
1993
FEAR CITY (LA CITÉ DE LA
PEUR)
Alain
Berberian
1991
LES SECRETS PROFESSIONNELS DU
PROFESSEUR APFELGLUCK
Hervé Palud
1989
BABY BLOOD
Alain Robak
GÈRARD LANVIN (MORENO)
FILMOGRAPHY:
1998
LA FEMME DU COSMONAUTE
Jacques Monnet
IN
ALL INNOCENCE (EN PLEIN COEUR)
Pierre
Jolivet
PASSIONNÉMENT
Bruno Nuytten
1995
MY MAN (MON HOMME)
Bertrand
Blier
ANNA
OZ
Eric Rochant
1994
THE FAVORITE SON (LE FILS
PRÉFÉRÉ)
Nicole
Garcia
1993
THE GROUNDHOGS (LES
MARMOTTES)
Elie
Chouraqui
1991
THE BEAUTIFUL STORY (LA
BELLE HISTOIRE)
Claude
Lelouch
1989
IL Y A DES JOURS ET DES LUNES
Claude Lelouch
1988
MES MEILLEURS COPAINS
Jean-Marie Poiré
1987
SAXO
Ariel Zeitoun
1986
LES FRÈRES PÉTARD
Hervé Palud
GÈRARD LANVIN (MORENO)
(CONTINUED)
1985 MOI VOULOIR TOI
Patrick Dewolf
1984
LES SPÉCIALISTES
Patrice Leconte
MARCHE
À L'OMBRE
Michel Blanc
1983
RONDE DE NUIT
Jean-Claude Missiaen
1979
EXTÉRIEUR NUIT
Jacques Bral
TAPAGE NOCTURNE
Catherine Breillat