This is one of the personalities who will make the year 2025. Jean-Paul Rouve will take the stage with “L”Air de rien”, a new show in homage to French song expected in Montpellier on April 26. He will also be back before that from February 5 in a new opus of Tuche for which he goes behind the camera this time. Interview.
This will be one of the events in 2025, at the Corum in Montpellier, you will perform there on April 26 with “L’air de rien”, an evening in homage to French song. What form will this show take ?
It's an idea I had a long time ago, when I went to see Jean-Louis Trintignant on stage who recited great texts from French and foreign literature and a lot of poetry. Poetry is no longer a major art today, and I deplore it. Who are the great poets of today? ? They are the songwriters. I am passionate about songs, there are so many beautiful texts that talk about our society, about the passing of time.
French song is special, it is the text above all, it is a tradition. Of course, we all know those who are in the “pantheon” such as Barbara, Brel, Renaud, I take that but I also wanted to draw from popular culture, there are very beautiful texts, from Michel Delpech, Balavoine, Sardou, Julien Clerc, from all these artists. I love it and I read these texts on stage like stories, accompanied on the piano by Alain Lanty. They are often mini-scenarios, some could be put into images and become short films.
It's a bit like the soundtrack of our lives that will parade on stage…
That's a very good definition and there will also be recent titles, I'll take Orelsan for example, the very current song interests me too.
All these artists that you will talk about on stage have counted in one way or another for you ?
Yes, I only took things that I liked, it's completely subjective, these are texts that interest me, that touch me. I grew up with Brel, Brassens, Barbara, but also Bono, Goldman… I was immersed in the great French song with lyrics, but also the very popular song, because my parents listened to RTL at home, I was not locked into a style, as long as it was well written, everything interested me.
We all have little Proust madeleines that follow us like this and then it sometimes takes us back to a period that is perhaps vaguer, we know if we were a child, if we were a teenager, that is what is strong in the song, it is this collective unconscious memory.
You will talk, in particular, about Renaud, who you are close to. What does he represent for you??
He is a great poet, on the level of Brassens. He is truly his direct heir. His writing is poetic, also very close to rap, because he brings, as we would say today, the punchline. It is wonderful, it is a chiseled, funny writing, which speaks of the times and very varied subjects. He is not only in the relational, romantic song, “I love you, you don't love me anymore”… He goes everywhere, in all subjects. He is not afraid of anything. With Souchon, they are the two great authors of French song. He's a very, very great, he's in the pantheon of French song
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000He's just been on tour for two years, it's great and obviously it was full everywhere, it's Renaud…
You will also mark the year 2025 with the highly anticipated release on February 5 of “God save The Tuche”, which you directed, what made you decide to go behind the camera this time?
Olivier Baroux directed four of them and wanted to move on to something else, which I can easily understand. Pathé offered it to me. I found it interesting because I've done four as an actor, it gives me an extra challenge.
I threw myself into it and I loved doing it, really. It’s a great memory, a magical shoot.
Will this film be in line with the previous ones??
Yes, it’s the Tuche! It’s like when the Americans make a superhero film, a Batman remains Batman, but then, yes, you’re right, there’s always a part that’s personal, we put things that make us laugh, there’s the way of telling the story, but we don’t distort the franchise and the essence of the film. And that, for me, is easy, because I also co-write, so I’m on that line, anyway.
We will find all the characters who leave for England, they arrive in a world that is not theirs, in this case royalty, with all its codes. And instead of adapting, they come with their universe and disrupt the others…
How do you analyze the success of the Tuche ?
Everyone has an opinion, I don't have one, because we can't know. We can always explain a success, a failure to you after the fact, but who knows, in fact ? Nobody. It's so magical…
How was this cult character of Jeff Tuche born ?
It was born at the time of writing, we talked about it and it also comes a lot from the Robin Hood sketches…
This month you were in a completely different genre on the bill for Xavier Beauvois' “La Vallée des fous”, where you play a sailor adrift. Few actors move so easily from one genre to another. These are two fields that you want to continue to explore in parallel, both as an actor and as a director. ?
I don't ask myself the question in these terms. It's not the type of film that determines my choices, but the personality of the filmmaker. In this case, it was the desire to film with Xavier Beauvois that guided me above all and if tomorrow I read a comedy that I like and that seems relevant to me, with a filmmaker's vision, I wouldn't hesitate.
Since Robins des Bois, the troupe that you founded and that made you popular, you have become one of the most prominent figures in French cinema, at a time when you are about to go on stage in a new register, what is your view of this atypical journey ?
Frankly, without false modesty, I don't see myself like that. I don't look back. I don't even know how many films I've made. It's the next projects that occupy my mind.
Do you have other projects? Other desires as an actor or director? There will be another Tuche?
I really like directing. It allows me to explore other universes. With the Tuches, it's the first time I've tackled a comedy. Until now, I've co-written and directed dramatic comedies. Currently, as is often the case, I am developing several subjects and the future will decide which one will remain at the end of the writing path.
Concerning the Tuche, I will answer you as in each episode. It is the public who will decide and if then we find a good idea…
Jean-Paul Rouve is expected on April 16 in Montpellier, at 8 p.m., at the Corum Opéra Berlioz, with a new show, “L’Air de rien”, prices from 25 to 65 euros, reservations here. I subscribe to read the rest