“There has never been a leader, all our decisions are taken unanimously”: the crazy story of the Splendid told by Thierry Lhermitte

Midi Libre gives the floor this week to the actors of the emblematic troupe which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, with the book “Le Splendid par le Splendid, nous se sont tant marrés” (Le Cherche Midi), sold for the benefit of the Foundation for Medical Research (FRM). Interview today with Thierry Lhermitte.

How did you go about writing this book together on the 50th anniversary of the Splendid for the benefit of the Foundation for Medical Research, of which you are the ambassador ?

Everyone wrote separately. The idea was to first look for old photos: we choose the ones we want to publish, we delete the ones we don't want. The journalist Jean-Pierre Lavoignat took charge of collecting the photos from each of us, it wasn't always easy, and then he interviewed us, each of us commented on the photos they wanted.

In this very rich book, you cover your journey since the benches of the Neuilly high school. What brought you together at that time? ?

It's friendship, the fact of having chosen each other, of loving each other, of getting along, common tastes, the same thoughts, all that with a lot of laughter…

The happy troop in its early years. Personal collection Le Splendid

In this journey punctuated by encounters, you each draw a contrasting portrait of Coluche, between a big heart and a sometimes somewhat tyrannical gang leader lost in artificial paradises. It was a bit like that Coluche ?

It depends on the periods, artificial paradises, it's just for a moment, it's the complexity of people, it's like that.

But we laughed so much, he was so generous with us… He liked being a leader and we didn't want a leader, but we didn't have any problems with him, that didn't stop us from laughing our heads off.

That's one of the keys to the Splendid, the absence of a leader…

Absolutely. There has never been a leader, all the decisions that are made are unanimous. For it to work like this, you need a lot of respect for each other.

That means if one of you doesn't agree, you don't go ?

It happened a lot of times, it was annoying but that's how it is, if we respect each other, we also respect the decisions that don't suit us. But I can't say which ones, what happens at the Splendid, stays at the Splendid…

The entire troupe in front of its famous café-théâtre. Personal collection Le Splendid.

In the history of the troupe, one of the turning points is this stay at Club Med that will inspire Les Bronzés. To write the play and the film, you drew heavily on real life experiences ?

A lot of things have been seen and heard… It was so picturesque at the time, so crazy and so warm at the same time. This is a kind criticism of the club. We went there a lot, we played a show and we were invited for a week.

It was great, I can never thank the club enough for having made us spend a wonderful vacation and for having been a source of inspiration that has done us well. Today, I no longer do shows at Club Med, but I still go there!

How did Club Med take the release of the movie ?

Not well because we ridicule people a lot, but with kindness. The Club, at one point, wanted to change its image so obviously, it didn't suit them… But that didn't stop them from having huge worldwide success.

You are then asked to take your characters back to “Les Bronzés font du ski” and you push them even further…

Yes, they are even more pretentious, even more stupid, even more mean!

But the film almost fell far short of what it was…

Yes, we wanted to make a film that was to be called “On a buffé l'hôte de l'air”, inspired by the plane crash in the Andes mountain range, where the passengers ended up eating corpses to survive.

We didn't want to make a sequel to Les Bronzés, we thought that commercial, a little easy, and then the producer insisted. He was right.

How is this filming of Les Bronzés font du ski going?

Lots of laughter all the time and then lots of skiing. It was wonderful to live where we were shooting, which was the case for both films. Honestly, it was a treat.

This shooting is also sometimes a bit trying…

Filming in the snow is always complicated because you can't leave tracks, it's cold, the days are short in winter.

And one day, we were shooting in the high mountains and suddenly the bad weather came and we had to evacuate everyone. The helicopter made several rotations to bring back as many people as possible. We left the equipment up there because we had to leave quickly. And we went down Christian, Gérard and me with the guide, on skis, it was great!

Santa Claus is a Bastard is one of the highlights of your collaboration. What memories do you have of the conception of this film ?

There is a new director: we discover Jean-Marie Poiré. It is a film with a larger budget, the entire set was built at the Joinville studio. More resources, more shots, but we are always on the verge of laughing out loud in many scenes.

Because it is very fun to play such absurd dialogues, while being as true as possible. The intensity of the interpretation with such particular dialogues is our daily joy.

And the distribution of roles is not necessarily the one that was originally planned…

Yes, we changed. Anémone was supposed to play Thérèse, she was so extraordinary in the theater. Josiane (originally considered for the role of Thérèse, editor's note) was less available, so she plays Madame Musquin. Michel hadn't written, but he's with us with this charming voice…. We would have loved to see Jugnot do the drag, but he didn't want to cut his moustache, so he played Santa Claus. The life of a troupe… And in the end it's magnificent like that.

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When you write together, everyone brings something different, that's it ? You often have a lot of ideas, Christian a little more the structure, Gérard the gags, etc.

Yes, but these are major trends, because we don't have a specific role, there isn't a specialist in each field, it's the fact of being together that makes us teem with ideas and that things move forward, the group dynamic that makes us create things.

It happens at one's house, or another's in the afternoon, and then we discuss things and others, and then we start working. People are always surprised to know how we can write at 6-7.

At the beginning it was random, we were looking for an idea. Did the idea hold up ? Was it rich ? Once we had left, we accumulated nonsense and then we started to make a structure, and then it was very academic after that, it's a bit scene by scene, line by line.

But Michel Blanc is the first to move away from the troupe, to fly on his own….

Yes, Michel has always been very independent, always with one foot in the group and the other outside, that was his character.

In 2021, you received a collective César, it was a recognition that you were waiting for ? Should it have come a little earlier ?

I didn't expect it, but it's very nice. Personally, it made me very happy, I'm very happy, I've never missed it, when people are nice to you, you can't spit on it.

Christian Clavier felt it differently.

Yes, Christian feels a bit resentful that it didn't happen sooner, everyone reacts as they want.

This is not a competition in which there is an objective result like a foot race. Here, it's people's tastes that vote, they like what they want.

March 12, 2021: Thierry Lhermitte receives his César in Pierre Mortez's costume. AFP POOL – DOMINIQUE CHARRIAU/POOL

This César ceremony will have been an opportunity to meet you all together afterwards at the hotel.

Oh yeah, we ate together afterwards, it was really nice. It was special, because it was during Covid, so we were isolated in a room, it was fun…

Is it harder to laugh at everything today, are there things that you couldn't do again today ?

Honestly, especially in my case, the character of Popeye, I think that half of the people would think today that it's first degree, while he's an idiot who makes lame and sexist jokes. It's hilarious, precisely because we're making fun of the character.

The problem today is that second degree is misunderstood and jokes are suspected of being first degree. People get offended and are touchy. So it doesn't make people laugh anymore who think that we think what horrible characters say. Too bad, we don't laugh with these people anymore, that's life.

What is your relationship with criticism ?

I don't have any, so it's easier! I don't read the bad ones or the good ones.

Your films have become, as Gérard Jugnot says, “films for laying down” like there are “wines for laying down”. They are cult today.

It's time that has made them cult. Because when they came out, they were nice little successes for young people starting out. But the fact that they have been seen and reviewed, they have entered into French popular culture.

How do you analyze this unique bond that you have established with the French ?

I am not happy about it, but I have no explanation. I can hope that the films are not too bad and that this is part of the reasons to like them. And then, to be in the right place at the right time, to talk about things that people want to hear about, to make people laugh with things that they want to laugh about.

It is also due to this sense of observation of your contemporaries, this way of devouring human mediocrity ?

You have to look at people and look at yourself. And know how to laugh at our faults. That includes us in there!

A lot of cult lines still resonate today….

It's like the Tuche, it's become a common word…

Would you have liked the troupe to stay together longer ?

At the time, I would have liked to. But we did that for ten years, all the same. Seven years, really, professionally seeing each other every day, producing huge amounts of crap, inevitably, we get exhausted… I would have dreamed of it, but the reality is that, on the one hand, we started to be in demand in cinema and theater.

And when we've exhausted what we have in common, at least for a while, it's normal for it to stop.

You then got together for Les Bronzés 3, a huge success in theaters, but also many critics. What inspires you ?

The same reviews as the other films when they came out…. Exactly the same! The huge difference is that the world had made its fantasy of what Les Bronzés should be, what a sequel should be. And you can never live up to a fantasy. We almost called the film, “it was better before”. But hey, we didn't want to give Libé a title either…

I love this film. We are all even meaner, even more stupid, with the bling-bling that comes from our time.

This book was supposed to be an opportunity to bring you together so as not to end up in the cemetery next time, you said. Sad irony, Miche Blanc died just before its release.

We talked a lot just before, for the photos, for the texts. This book is the last thing we will have done together. Michel participated in the project until the end, he died a few days after the proof.

It's very sad. We spent our lives together, except for maybe the first fifteen years. We always knew what the other was doing. We shared extraordinary things, friendship. I loved Michel deeply. I admired him.

Did you have other projects together before his disappearance ?

We vaguely hoped that someone would maybe write us something, there was nothing obligatory, nothing forbidden either, but it wasn't easy, because we had to please seven people.

There will be other joint projects ?

Maybe, but honestly we don't know. If we have to do something, it won't be a “Bronzés”, that's for sure. But, we still see each other, even if it's not all together, it's too complicated to organize. And, as soon as we meet up, it's a treat.

The book “Le Splendid par le Splendid, nous nous sommes tant marrés” (Le Cherche Midi, 256 pages, 26;50€) is sold for the benefit of the Foundation for Medical Research (FRM), of which Thierry Lhermitte is a very active ambassador. He appears once a month on France Inter with a health column to report, in particular, on his visits to laboratories. I subscribe to read the rest