Exclusive - Interview with Cecile Cassel and Andy Gillet

L'Amours D'Astree et Celadon

Cécile Cassel ( sister of actor and Monica Bellucci’s husband Vincent Cassel) and Andy Gillet meet Vera Brozzoni at the Venice Film Festival to talk about their work with Eric Rohmer ( My Night With Maud, The Aviator’s Wife, Rendezvous in Paris ) in his new film Les Amours D’Astrée Et Céladon ( The Loves of Astree and Celadon ) taken from 17th century novel L’Astrée.

The romantic drama centres around a shepherd and shepherdess and the consequences of their forbidden love, and is  released in the UK  early next year.
It is the first time the two actors have worked with the critically acclaimed French director - aged 87 -  and are very eager to recount their fun and inspiring experience.


Cécile: Eric is a simple man, much simpler than me or Andy, and tries to make things simple. It’s amazing to see someone which such a successful career, so old and experienced, working with passion and enthusiasm like a young man!

Andy: It’s true, shooting with him was neverending happiness.

Cécile: I’d love to do a comedy with him, because he can do really crazy things. He’s a punk! He can do anything he wants and has nothing to prove because everybody knows the genius he is.
So he keeps playing like a child on set, he amuses himself and the actors.

Andy: Eric is the original punk because he dares to do what he really wants. He’s always laughing at himself and his career, he always does the opposite that people expect him to do.

VB: This film also talks about homosexuality in quite a frank way. I didn’t expect this from a 17th century novel.

Andy: It’s the first time that Eric deals with it. I consider this movie very modern because it touches modern questions: at the end, the message of the film is that you fall in love with a personality, be it a boy or a girl or someone ambiguous. It’s all about pure love, you know.

VB: And why did Eric choose to film this novel?

Andy: He wanted to do a fable, a fairytale, and being set in the past, it could be more dreamlike. And he wanted a classic: L’Astrée is a classic because it raises problems we still talk about, just as  Shakespeare does.

VB: Did you read the book before shooting? 

Cécile: I haven’t read it. The manuscript is 5000 pages thick and is kept in a safe place in the Bibliothéque National Français in Paris.
A transcription is published, but Rohmer went every day to the library with a big backpack to do photocopies.
He did it by himself because he wanted everything in his film to be simple and artisanal.
When we were on set, according to the scene we had to shoot he used to read us parts of the novel from his photocopies, to inspire us.

Andy: And he’s got a perfect eyesight, just like a young director.

VB: What about the choice of costumes?

Cécile: In the past Eric used to iron his actors’ costumes, but now he doesn’t. However, he wanted to choose every colour, every fabric and we trusted him of course.

VB: You must be so glad to be in Venice with this film.

Cécile: Yes, it’s an honour to come here to defend a film like this.

Andy: I had never been to Venice before but I’m proud to be here for Eric.

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