Yvan Attal in “Vidéo Club”, a reflection on intimacy and private life

2023-10-14 18:12:06

Meet Yvan Attal at the Théâtre Antoine in Paris, for the play “Vidéo Club”. The story of a couple who discover that they are being watched, and that each other’s little secrets will end up being revealed.

Before recording the interview, we installed a small camera on the stage of the Théâtre Antoine in Paris. “spy”. A nod to the theme of the piece Video club. Written by Sébastien Thiéry, directed by Jean-Louis Benoît, it is a sort of behind closed doors in a kitchen. Jean-Marc (Yvan Attal) and his wife Justine (Noémie Lvovsky) have been married for 25 years. Their only son has already left home. One day, they receive a mysterious email inviting them to click on a link. He is suspicious but curiosity wins. They click and discover they are being filmed live in their beautiful kitchen. “Someone hid a mysterious camera on the shelves, and apparently has been filming us for a long time“, says actor Yvan Attal. “Each email that arrives with this link brings up a video, which compromises each of them in turn.”

Little lies between spouses

These images will reveal these little arrangements with the truth which are the lot of all couples, or almost. “Graduallysays Yvan Attal, they discover who the other is (…) Both are obliged to make the other swallow what he has just seen (…) It’s very funny because they display mountains in bad faith , but at the same time it ends up shaking this couple, who ultimately wonder why they still stay together”, continues Yvan Attal. Should we be 100% transparent? Tell yourself everything, at the risk of hurting your partner? This is the big question of the piece which also questions addiction to screens and images. Instead of calling the police, which would be a normal reaction, the couple can’t help but click and click again. The actor reminds us that in real life, it is forbidden to film people without their knowledge. “We have the right to film as long as we warn people“, he explains.

Marriage proposal

With his partner, both biting and touching, Yvan Attal very quickly found the right tempo. “We are an old couple (…) We are accomplices”, he said, recalling that he and Noémie Lvovsky have known each other for a long time. She starred in her first film, My wife is an actress released in 2001. One of the lines of the play says that lying is the foundation of the couple. What does he think? “I don’t think I’m far from agreeing with that. Believe me, I know something about it, I’ve been living as a couple for 32 years“, assures Yvan Attal. It’s not about really lying but about keeping certain things to yourself and admitting that the other also has their share of mystery.” Yvan Attal met Charlotte Gainsbourg in 1991 on the set of the film In the eyes of the world by Eric Rochant. The young woman had just lost her father, Serge Gainsbourg. Together, they had three children: Ben, Alice and the youngest, Joe, born in 2011. Charlotte, who has just opened her father’s house to the public, recently got down on one knee to propose to her lover. When we ask him for confirmation, he acquiesces but pretends not to know where the project is: “You will have understood, I will remain discreet about my private life“, he said with a big smile.

Scheduled until November 4, the Video Club piece is working very well. The audience laughed heartily. “It’s total happiness” admits Yvan Attal, who dreamed of dabbling in comedy after playing two more dramatic plays: Race by David Mamet in 2012 et The son by Florian Zeller. Video club modernizes vaudeville and reserves some nice surprises like the intrusion of the enigmatic gorilla on the poster. Yvan Attal tells us that he will then return to the cinema. His next feature film as director, a thriller, will be released in January 2024.