In his recent movies, French actor Melvil Poupaud has found himself in the arms of some of his country’s greatest actresses. He’s in two French Film Festival films, Mia Hansen-Love’s One Fine Morning with Lea Seydoux, and Arnaud Desplechin’s Brother and Sister, where he’s estranged from his sister, Marion Cotillard, while living in idyll in the French countryside with Golshifteh Farahani. Poupaud was also in last year’s French Film Festival film, Carine Tardieu’s The Young Lovers, where he was in love with Fanny Ardant.
In our interview, the 50-year-old is quick to point out that he also loves playing bad guys, as he does in the likely Cannes-bound Jeanne du Barry, which stars Johnny Depp as Louis XV, speaking French! He also appears in Woody Allen’s upcoming Coup de Chance, the director’s first French-language film, which may also be part of this year’s Cannes line-up.
Paris-born Poupaud started acting at the age of ten, in 1983’s City of Pirates directed by Raul Ruiz, who Poupaud met thorough his French publicist mother. He went on to make nine more films with the Franco-Chilean director. He has acted in four Francois Ozon films — Time to Leave (2005) with Jeanne Moreau, The Refuge (2009), By the Grace of God (2018) and Summer of ’85 (2020)—and has made two films with Desplechin, 2008’s A Christmas Tale and now Brother and Sister. One of his most famous films is 1996’s A Summer’s Tale directed by Eric Rohmer.
A fluent English speaker, Poupaud has appeared in numerous international productions, including James Ivory’s The Divorce (2003) where he was married to Naomi Watts, Zoe Cassavetes’ Broken English (2007), Sean Ellis’s The Broken (2008), The Wachowskis’ Speed Racer (2008) and Angelina Jolie’s By the Sea (2015), where Poupaud and Melanie Laurent played horny newlyweds, alongside Jolie and Brad Pitt’s tired couple.
You are often part of a family of people you work with.
“I started when I was very young, so I’ve managed to have some good relationships and to work with people I admire. This was the case with Arnaud Desplechin, whose movies I love. After I worked with him in A Christmas Tale, I was waiting for him to offer me a new role and it came with Brother and Sister.”
You’ve made four films with Francois Ozon, the most of any actor. And you’ve had seven films in the Cannes competition, including One Fine Morning.
“Really? Ha, ha, ha! This, I don’t remember. It’s funny, because sometimes you’re very excited to go to the Cannes Film Festival or when people go to see the movie and it’s a success. But then, after five or 10 years, you forget those things. The important thing is that people keep watching and talking about the movies you’ve made. For instance, Eric Rohmer’s A Summer Tale and Xavier Dolan’s Laurence Anyways were not in the Cannes competition but in another section, then they were not big successes in cinemas. But nowadays, everybody has seen those films and talks about them. So, that’s the most important and gratifying thing in my job.”
You’re having quite a career moment. You’re very romantic in One Fine Morning with Lea Seydoux. I love that movie.
“Everybody loves it. I think that it’s going to stay in people’s minds. [Director] Mia Hansen-Love is having a very interesting career.”
You ended up with Fanny Ardant in The Young Lovers too. You’re great in these romantic roles.
“Thank you. I’m not calculating anything. It’s just that a director offers me a part with actresses I love. The part is the important thing, whether it’s romantic or not. I just did movies where I played very bad guys. I liked that too. It’s more my feeling about the director. I’m 50 now and I don’t think I’ll be able to play the charming prince forever.”
Are you a romantic?
“I’m not the greatest romantic on earth. I mean, I can fall in love. It’ll happen again to me, hopefully. But I have good friends and I have my daughter. When it comes to love, I’m not very good. I don’t know how to handle it. I’m not a family man. I’m more a kind of artist. The most important thing with relationships is to make people understand that you will always be there for them no matter what, even when you’re not in love anymore, if you’re not under the same roof. I believe in that more than the flamboyant or the eccentric side of romanticism, like buying big gifts or doing crazy moves.”
Have you had a fraught sibling relationship like in Brother and Sister?
“Hopefully not, but I know families that are dysfunctional, with lots of anger and fights. I was always shocked that two people from the same home could hate each other so much and not talk to each other and how a father could not like his child and how a child could not talk to his parents anymore. It was a mystery to me because my mother, my brother and I always had an intense and tight relationship. But I was happy to play such a tormented and savage role, especially with Arnaud. He’d cast me as the little brother who is sweet and much more sensitive in A Christmas Tale, and this time I had the part of the tough, unhappy and tormented brother. For an actor, it’s perfect to be able to play both sides and I know he’s a specialist of directing actors. So, I was confident that it would turn out right and I could do whatever I wanted.”
Did you already know Marion Cotillard?
“I knew her when she was very little, before she started cinema. I’ve always been impressed by her eyes, by their intensity and mystery. As I watched her career, I was very impressed because I’d tried to work abroad and she made it big time, working with big directors in America. So, I was waiting for the moment that we could work together.”
How was it working with Johnny Depp on Jeanne du Barry, given that you are both also musicians?
“He was very happy to be there; I could feel that he was enjoying his time. His French is perfect with a bit of accent. He’s a brilliant man, very intelligent, and a bit childish too. You know, to me, he’s always been a Peter Pan kind of guy. He’s obsessed with music. But I didn’t have enough time to spend with him because we didn’t have that many long scenes together. I just ran into him on the set and had a chance to talk to him about music and France, which he loves so much. It was fascinating to see him in Versailles dressed up as the King of France. And everybody was very impressed with his presence.”
What is your role in the film?
“I play the first husband of Jean du Barry, the last favourite of King Louis XV. I play an asshole basically. He’s a nasty guy, charming in some ways, but very tough and not romantic at all, selling his wife to the king. He’s not treating her nicely at all. But I liked it. I like to play bad guys actually. It’s fascinating because you can be very nasty during the scene, and no one tells you anything. You can let go of your anger and your violence and your dark side. And everybody applauds after the takes. That’s very fascinating, especially when it comes to people like Maewenn who directed this movie. She likes it when it goes a little far in the fight and in the violence. I don’t have many scenes with Johnny because once Jeanne gets into his arms, she doesn’t care about mine anymore. Ha, Ha!”
You have worked in English-language movies in the past.
“A little bit, but not enough. I would love to make other films in America or England. Actually, I was lucky because in that period, I had no interest in making movies in France and I thought I should try to work overseas where people don’t know me. So, I went to England where I had nice parts in interesting films. Then it happened to me also in America. I was happy, then it stopped. Now, I don’t have any more prospects in those countries. But I would love one day to make a movie in Hollywood. I had this dream when I was a kid and it’s still there.”
And Australia?
“Maybe. I’ve never travelled to Australia. I would love that, for sure.”
Jeanne Du Barry is in cinemas 18 April 2024
