“The Notre Dame fire shook the world”

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Cinema premiere ‘Arde Notre Dame’, a detailed, spectacular and realistic chronicle of the fire that nearly destroyed the Paris Cathedral in 2019

‘Notre Dame is lit’ is a return to the most traditional cinema. Behind the film, which describes in detail the fire that shook the foundations of the Paris cathedral on April 15, 2019, is a true master of the seventh art, Jean-Jacques Annaud (Paris, aged 78), architect of films such as ‘ The name of the rose’ or ‘the bear’. Filmed in Imax format, the filmmaker, avoiding digital effects as much as possible, replicated some parts of the cathedral in full scale and then set it on fire. The result is a spectacular and realistic film, perhaps too corseted, that also makes use of the copious archival footage captured by the television networks and the hundreds of people with their mobile phones. For having, he even has the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who gives herself life. All in favor of realism.

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when the cathedral caught fire? What thoughts came to your mind?

-I didn’t see any footage during the event because I was in a house where the television wasn’t working. So I listened and fantasized. I knew the cathedral very well since I was a child, because I live next door, 150 meters away, so I suddenly made a movie in my head, listening to the events, and I quickly understood that it is an incredible cinematographic subject and I imagined thousands of directors would want to make the movie and I said to my wife, “Can you imagine how many idiots will rush to make this movie?” So I took the film off my mind because I was shocked that the cathedral could collapse, but I certainly didn’t jump at the opportunity as an opportunistic candidate.

-What made it so cinematic?

-I got documentation from a friend, one of the main European producers, who wanted to make a montage film. When I read the documentation, I thought the journalists who wrote that were very good screenwriters who made up and told milongas because it wasn’t believable. But as I moved on, I met the protagonists and realized that the journalists didn’t know everything and that what had happened was even more improbable than what they were saying. And that’s where I started to get passionate, because there were moments of unmistakable cinematic spectacle: a beautiful cathedral, an international symbol of Western civilization, collapsing, in one of the most beautiful places in Paris. I also realized that the cathedral was attacked by the worst devils, the most charming and generous, who warm us, enlighten us and also charred us. According to Hitchcock, fire is the perfect villain. And then there was the story of those who would help her, the doctors, who couldn’t come in time to save the star, the great star that is dying. Another Hitchcockian principle that history had is that it is better to know what the end is than to be interested in how the end is reached. So I found elements of suspense, thrillers, typical, in an exceptional setting. It’s a gift and that’s how I experienced it.

-It’s definitely a movie to watch on the big screen.

-When I started working on the film, we were at the beginning of the pandemic and I had a feeling that there would be a problem with the cinemas closing. I foresaw that people would regain the desire to go back to the cinema, that valuable films would be needed, films that were visual and sound spectacle. I practically contributed to the development of the Imax because I was almost the first to make a movie with actors in that format. The company responsible for the format has the impression that they will be the winners of the next decade, because it is necessary to make the difference between a great television at home and a cinematic spectacle that is worthwhile and the idea of ​​it utterly ambitious: host films in Foreign in Imax. Foreign language movies in America no longer exist, they are only interested in themselves. That an American company wants to present shows in a foreign language is formidable and I did not expect this. In any case, when I came up with the film, that was the first thing that really came to my mind, because I think it’s a shame that theater films for years start with a ‘Rai Television presents a co-production with ZF’ and are released in theaters. You work for those who pay and when you work for television, you make television. Here I worked for a film company.

-The images of the burning cathedral had a huge emotional impact. Weren’t you terrified of transferring it to the big screen? Ultimately, what is shot competes with the real footage.

-It’s that he doesn’t compete, he completes them. I would join if I mimicked the real footage that had already been seen, but the fact is that nobody has seen everything and nobody knows everything I reveal in the film, it is something totally new. There are archive footage to remember what people saw from the outside and I show what was not seen. So on the contrary, it was very stimulating.

-A few decades ago, without the millions of cameras in cell phones, an event like this wouldn’t have been so well documented. What do you think we can all be “directors” and content creation has become so democratized?

-Sure, but that doesn’t fit with what a director is, you can be a reporter, but you’re not a director. Manufacturing is not the same as shooting. The work of staging, reinventing, placing actors, accessories, choosing the light… A staging is a creation, while the task of a reportage is to show the child playing with the ball or the cat in the tree. climbs to capture, which is very good. But of course that’s not being a director, that’s at least an opportunistic reporter.

– Returning to the movie, the reconstruction of the cathedral and how the fire scenes were shot is surprising. Why did you avoid digital effects?

-There are almost no digital effects because it’s all about the actors again. When you put an actor in a situation that he doesn’t understand, that is, he’s holding a piece of pipe and he’s going to pretend there’s water in it and he’s standing in front of a blue wall and they tell him it’s burning.. It’s not the same game. You as a spectator don’t feel the emotion an actor feels in front of an 800 degree fire, so what changes a lot is that when you’re in a production with digital effects you can create images that tell something, but are there to communicate an emotion. is very different. It’s the main difference. Digital is also sometimes more expensive than real. It’s cheaper to make and burn part of a cathedral than to do it digitally and it’s ten times better.

-And why do you often opt for digital?

-Because they are aimed at a teenage audience, which is used to video games, they tend to simplify feelings and therefore the general theme is bad and bad, and that there is a very good and very strong man who is going to save the world. That works better on digital. But in addition to children and adolescents, there is a more sophisticated audience, over 40 years old, who need human and authentic dramas. Cooking in a McDonalds is not the same as in a Michelin star restaurant.

-When you watch the movie, it’s clear that a lot of human mistakes were made and many elements of the security system failed. Is our heritage in good hands?

-No (laughs). We also need to understand that heritage is piling up and that in our countries (Spain, Italy, France) we have thousands of beautiful buildings. How to protect them? With what money? Because that’s what it’s all about, there is a financing problem, make no mistake. Anyway, what I can say is that since the Notre Dame fire, there has been a lot of investment in all the buildings in France, everyone is checking the security systems and there are jobs everywhere because this woke everyone up. I have visited the security systems of Versailles, the Louvre and it is a much higher level. At Notre Dame, there were no cameras inside and it is inconceivable to be the most visited building in the world. So the certainty that it couldn’t happen, like the war in Ukraine, which was also impossible, because it was false. I wish the war in Ukraine had ended the same way, fine. No one was injured, no firefighters suffered, the cathedral is still standing, all the relics and precious objects have been saved and there is more money to finish the cathedral that wouldn’t have been restored as well otherwise, so that’s very positive. From the dramas often something better is born, so there is no evil that does not come for good.

-On Sunday the second round of the elections in France will take place between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. What do you think will happen and what would you like to see happen?

I especially wish there were things that didn’t happen. What is heartbreaking is that whatever the outcome, France is terribly divided. Half of France wants to behead the other half, they want to slit their throats, which is an old French syndrome, it’s called Revolution. The French hate those who are successful and I understand that because the life of those who are less successful is not easy and the situation becomes more difficult for them and it is a reality that should not be ignored. France is made in such a way that there is a France of the elites and there is a less happy France, although it is much happier than most other nations, we are much better protected but people think that all is well it is normal and everything that is not right must be changed. How? It is the question that hangs in the air. I feel incredibly European since childhood, I have lived in many European countries, including Spain, and with great pleasure I have lived in England, Germany, Switzerland, I have worked in Austria… I feel so European that I feel devastated by what is happening at the border with Russia? I have many colleagues there and now there is a huge division, which will last as long as the hatred of the Nazis, it will be very difficult to be Russian for hundreds of years. Let’s hope that Europe can remain reasonably united and friendly. What irritates me is that those who vote against Europe are the ones who come here to spend their holidays. My great fortune is that I know that I can go to Valencia, Barcelona or Madrid, as I am not a foreigner. I know I am not at home, but I am at home with some very good friends, with whom I share the essence of my faith and that makes me very happy. I’ve never wanted to be an American because I love the diversity of Europe, but knowing that diversity is endangered by the country I belong to makes me very sad.

Source: La Verdad

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