How To Make A Killing brings you to unexpected terrain, film noir. But it does deal with some of themes of your previous films…  
It’s almost necessarily so: I cannot, and I do not want to change my DNA. And so, all my films do have a common denominator. Often a personal relationship. In Rolling To You there was a couple, in Rumba Therapy, a father and daughter. And there is a couple in How To Make A Killing. It’s never calculated, it’s never done on purpose. It’s simply indispensable for me. If I made a film without that, I would feel that something was missing. I would feel like I’m cheating. And I don’t want that.

What did the film noir universe contribute?
Something that was more in the background in my previous films: the characters’ roots in reality. How To Make A Killing clearly shows that. Via the context and the details: I wanted us to know that Michel and Cathy shop for groceries at a Super U. From the very start, I made it clear to the crew that we were not making an “American” film. Even though I love that kind of cinema, this is a French film with very French characters, who wear French anoraks, take their kids to school… Even the gendarmes look like real gendarmes.

So important, that even its title roots your film in a specific region, outside the major cities?
That was my first desire. Even before coming up with the story, I wanted a film that takes place in the provinces, in the country, among its inhabitants…

Is that also what oriented you toward a crime film, which very often do take place in the provinces?
Exactly. And that is what may astonish my audience who will feel that this is a very distant world from the one inhabited by my usual characters.  But that procedure is much the same as when I began to write comedy sketches, whose characters were in fact very different from me. How To Make A Killing comes closer to my own tastes as a member of the audience. Even though I do love comedies, I am more naturally drawn to crime films.  

This incursion into film noir invited you onto the terrain of morality and ethics, whereas your previous films revolved mostly around the idea of lies…
Clearly. The title was even “Money can’t make you happy, my ass!” I wanted the film to be as amoral as possible. I wanted to avoid the classic terrain expected from characters in a comedy. Everyone is pretty-looking, nice to know? No! In the real world, not everyone is necessarily pretty to look at or nice to know.

And for the other roles you called on actors you are not usually associated with... Did that also have to do with your desire to enlarge your usual universe?
I went so far as to change casting directors on this film for one more specialized in “auteur” films.  Ultimately, there is only one actor in How To Make A Killing who comes from my universe. Christophe Canard, who plays the priest. All the others, from the forest ranger to the barmaid, come from another universe. Even for minor scenes: like the woman with her babies at the gendarmerie reception desk. My casting choices were in line with my desire to give the film another, more realistic feel.

Laure Calamy and Kim Higelin remain the most unexpected...
I knew that Laure could play both funny and tragic. But it’s what she did in Full Time that convinced me: bursting with energy but at the same time fragile. That was the Laure I wanted, not the more comical one in My Donkey, My Lover, And I. I couldn’t find the right actress for Kim’s part. I auditioned a lot of actresses. Very good actresses. But they all lacked that something original needed for the role. I was about to resort to street casting when someone suggested Kim. Her originality, her contemporaneity won me over. And then there is Joséphine de Meaux. Her aura of melancholy has always moved me. Aside from the empathy audiences feel for her.

On the other hand, Benoît Poelvoorde seems more in line with your comic universe. But you pushed him toward a more subdued register than he is used to.
Generally speaking, I immediately told all the actors: “Be careful, we’re going to make people laugh, but this is not a comedy. You need to act serious all the time. It will only be funny when it has to be.”  That is how I directed them, and they all respected my indications. I think that Benoît was delighted to abandon himself to his character. It would be a lie to say that we’ve never seen him like this before, but I think that here he was able to combine all of his various acting styles. Moreover, he had some voice problems during the shoot. At first, I was afraid that we might have to post-synchronize him. But no, that hoarseness brought a little something extra to the role.

How to Make a Killing / Un ours dans le Jura is now playing in cinemas.

Foto: (c) Julien Panié (c) 2024 Gaumont, Pour toi Public productions, France 2 Cinéma.