Alexandre Desane. Actor – “Frantz Fanon?” A role of this scale cannot be refused! ”

Frantz Fanon, embodied by Alexandre Desane, was more than a doctor in a Blida hospital. In addition, In the interview with El Watan, the actor returns to his service … – Alexandre desane. actor – "frantz

Interview carried out by
Benaouda Lebdai et Rare IDDIR

You brilliantly embody the role of Frantz Fanon in the film in black. Similarly, white devoted to a major figure in post -colonial thought and the fight for the emancipation of oppressed peoples. Nevertheless, How did your meeting with the director Abdenour Zahzah come?

I was fortunate to have been contacted via Facebook. Meanwhile, Abdenour Zahzah was in Paris in December 2019 to complete his cast and a director of director, whom we have in common, Damien Onouri, told him about me in order to interpret the role of Fanon. Therefore, So we met around a coffee. Nevertheless, Abdenour Zahzah telling me that everyone knows alexandre desane. actor – “frantz Frantz Fanon the activist and that his wish was to recall that Frantz Fanon was above all a doctor, a psychiatrist.

When the role was therefore proposed to you, tell us what was your very first reaction? Similarly, Have you hesitated? Moreover, A little ? Nevertheless, A lot ?

At the start. Moreover, I thought it was a question of being part of the film, and as the discussion progresses, Abdenour Zahzah tells me that he sees me for the main role. However, I was very honored, because it is my very main main role in a feature film. For example, After reading the script. Moreover, I noticed that film was a closed-door on the hospital, on psychiatry in a colonized Algeria, I was very enthusiastic about the idea of ​​interpreting the Frantz Fanon Psychiatrist at work. However, A role of this scale cannot be refused. Meanwhile, it is the first fiction alexandre desane. actor – “frantz on Frantz Fanon, I had to answer it positively.

In your school course and your various readings, had you read Frantz Fanon? Furthermore, Were you aware of its importance in anti-colonial struggles?

I discovered Frantz Fanon via music when I was in high school. Meanwhile, artists like rumor, Casey, Rocé quoted in their Fanon, Kateb Yacine, Sankara, Césaire texts … Moreover, So I tried to know a little more by myself, by giving myself black skin white masks. Furthermore, And the more I document myself on Frantz Fanon. For example, the more I realized the importance of his thought in the world, while saying to myself: “Here, why did I never heard about it before?” Why at school, I am not told about Frantz Fanon? Nevertheless, ”

By putting on this role. Consequently, beyond the scenario, how did you proceed to enter the psychology of the immense Frantz Fanon? Have you started by alexandre desane. actor – “frantz reading Frantz Fanon’s work? Or have you looked at the documentaries on Fanon to soak up the man that was Frantz Fanon? Of his gestures? In his voice?

There are very few photos. videos from Frantz Fanon, and that’s a good thing because as an actor I was freer in my interpretation. I looked for documentaries on emergency artists in psychiatry to see how they worked. I also viewed the first documentary of Abdenour Zahzah. Bachir Ridouh on Fanon, asylum memory, shot in Blida in the hospital, where we can find testimonies of people who rubbed shoulders with Fanon. I observed the game of actress Louise Fletcher who plays the nurse Mildred Ratched in the film Flight over. a cuckoo nest. And finally. I mixed all this research with my father’s phrasing, born in 1956, in order to get as close as possible to a diction of the time.

You said that alexandre desane. actor – “frantz the character you play is “overwhelming”, so how do we overcome such a weight? That of embodying such an iconic character?

I did not deliberately read the damned of the earth before the shooting of the film. so as not to anticipate a posture in my game. I wanted to stay in the present, I therefore held in the script firstly. It was necessary to interpret a French. humanist black doctor, in a colonized Algeria, in disagreement with the practice of psychiatry of the time. It is not a film that puts Frantz Fanon on a pedestal but which pays tribute to hospital work. in a colonial context.

Indeed ! The Blida population was surprised by your physical resemblance to Frantz Fanon, we were told. How did you receive this, as an additional pressure?

Rather. it amused me to stroll through the streets of Blida, between the catch, dressed in wide costumes as alexandre desane. actor – “frantz in the 1950s. Some traders confused me with Frantz Fanon, I explained to them that a film was made there within the hospital. In itself. if people saw it as a resemblance, it comforted the choice of Abdenour Zahzah for giving me this role.

Abdenour Zahzah focused on a crucial part of the life of the Martinican psychiatrist at the Blida-Jeoinville hospital as you have just said. so what was your feeling about returning to the psychiatrist’s footsteps? In this place so steeped in history that bears its name today? Did it help you better embody the personality of Frantz Fanon?

Playing in-situ for an actor is very rare, and when it happens is a blessing. When you make a fiction. the illusion, the feeling of “truth” is given by the decor, the costumes, the accessories, the light, the makeup … When everything is brought together with a historical dimension, it is alexandre desane. actor – “frantz a considerable help. I walked there where Fanon walked. we have turned into its official accommodation which has become the Frantz Fanon museum today. It is an incredible experience and chance.

A scene from the film is very moving. This is the visit of his friend Marcel Manville in Blida-Jeoinville. The role of Marcel Manville is played by the son of Frantz Fanon, Olivier Fanon! You are Frantz Fanon the father and Olivier Fanon (Marcel Manville) makes you a hug … What was the intensity of this scene, tell us …

This passage of relays between the father / son / friend is highly symbolic for the memory of Frantz Fanon. Marcel Manville. It is for me a very beautiful moment of cinema. Olivier was there during filming with one of his sons Cédric. Having them by my side reassured me that we did something good. At our first meeting. when I alexandre desane. actor – “frantz see Olivier, I get up to greet him and tell him that I was very honored to meet him, and that I realized the luck I had to interpret his father in the cinema. In a high class, he smiled at me and told me “Dad?” », We laughed and I took this as a validation, I was in the right place.

Frantz Fanon became Algerian. he rests in peace in Algeria at his request, a particular dimension with the Algerian people fighting the colonial system. In this Fanonian context, how did you perceive the Algerians during your stay in Algeria?

I did not leave Blida throughout the shooting. I wanted to soak up the city, of the region, to do like Frantz Fanon. I discovered a beautiful country with warm, welcoming people who were proud to welcome me at home. Additionally, I hope to return to Algeria and discover the singular alexandre desane. actor – “frantz riches of other wilayas.

Frantz Fanon, a role that marks! Are you out of the character or not yet?

I always come out of my characters at the end of a film. but when we read Fanon, Fanon does not leave us. B. L. / N. I.