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Biography and Filmography
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| Bertrand Bonello was born in 1968. He lives between Paris and Montreal. Bertrand came to cinema via classical music. After having worked with many artists such as Françoise Hardy, Elliot Murphy, De Palmas and Daniel Darc, he decided to dedicate himself entirely to film, a medium in which he had already made three shorts and two documentaries, including Qui je suis (1996), inspired by Pier Paolo Pasolini. His first feature, Quelque chose d'organique (1998), is presented at Berlin in the Panorama section. Le pornographe (2001), his second feature in collaboration with Jean-Pierre Léaud, was presented at International Critic's Week at Cannes and won the FIPRESCI prize. The film continues his preferred exploratory themes while also evoking father/son relations, the filmmaking profession and political activism. Bertrand Bonello imposed his unique tone and world with Tiresia, which was selected for the Official Competition at Cannes in 2003. In 2005, he presented a short, Cindy, The Doll is Mine. He has also continued his musical interests. His album My New Picture is to be released in June 2007. |
Project presented in The Atelier
Bertrand Bonello: “From polytheism to monotheism” - 20/05/2003
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During a press conference, the cast of Tiresia confided in the journalists:
On the legend of Tiresius of Greek mythology, the director explained: “Every mythology originates from a polytheist world. The challenge with this modern adaptation was to succeed in moving from polytheism to monotheism. It therefore seemed essential that there be a man of the church in the movie, in opposition to the oracle.”
Bertrand Bonello also revealed that the idea of giving Laurent Lucas two different roles came to him fairly late: “At first, I was looking for two actors with similar ways of moving and similar attitudes – two guides in the life of Tiresia. But, then, I thought it would be interesting to take that idea further and have one only person interpret two characters. The concept of renewal was perfect.”
As for the choice of two actors (Clara Choveaux and Thiago Telès) for the female and male counterparts of Tiresia, the French helmer had noticed “an intriguing Brazilian girl I had seen shortly on the set of The Pornographer. (...) For the male side of the character, we met Thiago at a Portuguese party. He didn't speak French very well, but was very modest, which isn't the case of a lot of Brazilians (laughs)! Thiago and Clara worked two or three weeks together. He recorded Clara's voice in order to study it and work on his “r”.”
Bonello then went on to explain why he chose to have the Brazilian song “Teresinha de Jesus” in the film: “This song had an interesting childlike connotation to it. A script girl had me listen to it, and Clara translated it to French for me.”
Newcomer Célia Catalifo explained how she became involved in the project: “It was sheer luck. I was studying to be an actress, and was working in a store. I met a casting director during an end-of-shoot party and gave her a blurry headshot of myself. During auditions, I didn't have any lines to say. They were more interested by how I moved and reacted.” |
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