“The mask and the feather”, among fans of the Garcin years

2023-12-31 10:43:47

The desolate pout of Chloé, 33, says a lot about her distress. “I learned today that Jérôme Garcin will no longer host “The Mask and the Feather” as of January. This saddens me greatly. »

This Thursday, November 30, the long-time listener slipped among the 350 spectators who attend, two Thursdays a month, the recordings of the Sunday show of France Inter, produced and hosted until then by Jérôme Garcin. On January 7, another renowned voice from this radio will replace hers: that of Rebecca Manzoni. Enough to disturb a demanding audience, a true “fifth critic” of the show.

Legendary longevity

It must be said that 52 Sundays a year, for thirty-five years, the host delivered the weekly cultural program to his loyal listeners, never without having previously consumed it himself. Every week, nearly 600,000 people listen to the cultural prescriptions of its four critics, masters in the art of expressing their subjectivity regarding current events in literature, theater or cinema.

An era which ended on Thursday, December 22 at studio 104 of the Maison de la radio et de la musique (1), and will end on delay this Sunday, December 31 on the airwaves, during the broadcast of its last broadcast. So we rush to the gate to watch the latest recordings of the radio show with legendary longevity – the program will soon be 70 years old. One month before the handover, on November 30, a good dozen spectators had to resolve to remain standing, leaning against the rounded walls of the Alliance Française theater because they could not find a free seat.

Jean-Paul had this chance. Surrounded by other regulars, right in the middle of the first row, his Burberry trench coat on his knees. At 76 years old, this retiree from public administration has been listening to the show since 1974 and has been coming to watch the recordings whenever he can since 2006. “When I started listening to “Le masque”, it was still François-Régis Bastide who was hosting! “, he remembers. Pierre Bouteiller succeeded him in 1982, before giving way to Jérôme Garcin in 1989. When Jean-Paul speaks of the host-writer, there is frank admiration in his voice. “We speak a common language, with Jérôme Garcinexplains the retiree. I feel great sadness at the thought of his departure. »

No one holds back their pen

Jérôme Garcin probably values ​​his audience even more than the other way around. “We don’t cheat in front of the “Masque” audience, says the journalist. It is crossed by an intelligence and a passion for culture which, every week, impress and comfort me. » In 1990, barely a year after taking office, he created the “Masque” audience prize, invited each year to nominate their best French and foreign film.

Strengthened by this intimacy, the public lets out without complex the disapproving breaths, the frank laughter, the « roooooh » of indignation. An atmosphere of a cheerful family meal reigns in the room, accentuated by the knowing glances that the critics regularly give to their audience. An audience solicited for each program devoted to cinema and who does not hesitate to speak up to make their opinions known. His disagreement, often.

Jerôme Garcin, in the middle, during a recording of the show “Le masque et la plume”, November 30. / Isabelle ESHRAGHI / Isabelle ESHRAGHI for the cross the weekly

And in the “Masque” mailbox, no one holds back their pen. As a preamble to each show, Jérôme Garcin reads a few pieces chosen from the hundreds of emails received over the past week and which he goes through alone. ““The mask” completely missed the subject, the style, the emotion”, a listener is moved about the book by Panayotis Pascot, Next time you bite the dust (Ed. Stock, 2023), which critic Élisabeth Philippe had sharply criticized two weeks earlier. “It is absolutely nothing.” (…)an intergalactic purge”, judges another about the same work. “I had not planned to read Pascot’s book, but the violence of your criticism aroused my curiosity and so I bought it,” tackle a third. And Garcin concludes: “I really like the “Masque” audience. He would make a very good critic at this table. »

Rebecca Manzoni takes over

If the public of “Masque” is quick to express its disagreement, it also takes careful note of the recommendations made to it. During the recording, Chloé scribbles on her entry ticket, in purple pen, the titles of the works that the critics of the day appreciated. “The trust that listeners place in us is reflected in the sales figures of booksellers and in cinema admissions,” underlines Jérôme Garcin.

The one who succeeds him, Will Rebecca Manzoni inherit it? “No office”respond together Léonore and Esther, mother and daughter, who have come to watch the recording. “I’m afraid it won’t be as good, that’s for sure,” Léonore begins with a shrug. His complete daughter: “Before we go back to recording, we’re going to listen to a few shows, to see if we like it as much. » Chloe is rather confident. “I really like what Rebecca Manzoni is doing. I have no doubt it will be great,” smiled the young woman.

The current host of “Totemic” and future hostess of “Masque” is herself a loyal listener. And like the public, she has for Jérôme Garcin a “high professional esteem”. He places in her the same confidence that Pierre Bouteiller had placed in him. “I have no advice to give you, you will do this very well,” he told him on air in 1989, during the last handover. If Jérôme Garcin says he has exchanged a lot with Rebecca Manzoni, he claims like his predecessor not to have given her any advice. “This show has to become his, and I would be careful not to tell him how to do it. »

(1) Among the critics present at the last broadcast, Jean-Claude Raspiengeas, former senior reporter at The cross and of which he remains a chronicler.