Do we really need to specify who François Berléand is? The French actor played director Rachin in The chorists and can boast of having been Jason Statham’s right-hand man in the film saga The carrier. For the start of the 2023 school year, the 71-year-old actor continues to expand his CV. Those who are used to going to the theater will have the chance to see it give the answer to Sophie Marceau in the play Note. But that’s not all ! Cinephiles also have the opportunity to see him in the film Last Dance!, a feature film which evokes the passing of time and death… Themes which increasingly interest François Berléand, as he told our colleagues at TéléStar in an interview published Monday September 25, 2023. “This film moved me because it had resonances in my life”, he explained. On screen, the actor blends into the skin of Germain, a 75-year-old man, who suddenly becomes a widower. His life is completely turned upside down by the visit of his loved ones, but also by the promise made to his wife, which places him at the heart of contemporary dance creation.
How the actor tries to “prepare” himself for death
“I had just lost my two best friends during the pandemic”explained François Berléand to compare his situation with that of the character he plays in Last Dance!. “I don’t know if people think about their death, but I think about it more and more”he confided before revealing his greatest fear if he were to suddenly disappear: “I’m worried about my two 14-year-old daughters. So I’m trying to prepare for it but it’s not easy”. The feature film in which the actor plays Germain, a septuagenarian who has just lost his wife, addresses death and mourning. But it also calls into question the way a middle-aged adult views old age. “I’m not a beauty prize winner, I don’t need to maintain myself, to be obsessed with my chocolate bars”admitted with a burst of laughter the partner of the novelist Alexia Strasi. “My daughters are nice, they don’t think I’m old!”explained François Berléand, revealing in passing one of his secrets for appearing younger than he really is: “It must be said that I work a lot.”
