“When Alain Resnais called me to act in ‘My American Uncle’, I thought it was a joke!”

POSTED ON OCTOBER 18 2022

From the birth of her vocation as an actress to her stepping behind the camera, the actress-director Nicole Garcia retraced her career during her Master Class held this Monday at the Pathé Bellecour. An encounter that proved moving, funny and genuine, just like her.

Her first memory of cinema

In the catechism classes I attended as a child in Oran, we were shown ‘The Miracle of Marcelino’ by Ladislao Vajda. It was the first film I saw. I particularly remember the scene where the little orphan boy addresses Jesus and we see Christ's hand reaching out to the child. This image marked me: I was waiting for an arm to come looking for me.

Her vocation as an actress

When I was in the fourth grade, I recited the poem ‘La Ballade des pendus’ by François Villon.  My French teacher, Monique Rivet, told me it was wonderful. I remember thinking that I wanted to be an actress. I went to her office one day to ask her how to get into the Conservatory. I think she was a bit scared and said: "It's very difficult". A few years later, when I saw my name on the list of students who had been accepted to the Conservatory, I thought of her. It was as if everything was somehow connected.

From theatre to film

Theatre is my first passion. I was surprised that great film directors like Jacques Rivette came to see me on stage. The scriptwriter Jean Gruault came to the theatre several times and spoke to Alain Resnais about me. When Resnais called me to ask me to act in ‘My American Uncle’, I thought it was a joke! I liked the director; I had seen his previous film ‘Providence’ five times.

© Loic Benoit

Her transition behind the camera

While filming with Alain Resnais, I think I was already thinking about directing. I was watching him direct, and I found it extraordinary, I was magnetised by him. If I had been his muse, perhaps I wouldn't have directed (laughs)! I wanted to enter a new area for myself, it was another door that I wanted to open, another way of looking at things. That's also why I have never acted in my films.

The Jacques Fieschi/Nicole Garcia collaboration

After directing the short film '15 août, the meeting with scriptwriter Jacques Fieschi proved decisive. I already had an idea for a script, about an actress who has custody of her children and takes them to Vichy to attend a Rotary Club gala. I told this story to Jacques Fieschi, and he said to me: "I don't know anything about children, nor about meteorites” - the little boy is passionate about astronomy – “but let’s do it!” This story became the script for my first feature film, ‘Every Other Weekend’. Since then, Jacques and I have made nine films together. He holds the pen; I do the talking: we write together.

Her female characters

I often tell the story of women who are a bit borderline, in danger, who we hope will be better by the end of the film. They take risks and would like to love, to be on a simple path, and yet it is anything but simple. There is a loneliness about them, they are alive.

© Loic Benoit

Interview by Laura Lépine