'Titane' Star Vincent Lindon Compares The Wild Film To 'Shape Of Water' [NYFF]

Vincent Lindon is the heart of “Titane.” Since French director Julia Ducournau’s provocative new film premiered at Cannes Film Festival, making her the second woman to win the coveted Palme d’Or, similar to her first film “Raw,” it’s developed a near-mythical reputation as one of the wildest films ever. However, this wild movie is also a tender story, one concerning the love and loneliness felt by a mourning father. That father, Vincent, is portrayed by Lindon.

In “Titane,” Alexia (Agathe Rousselle) is a well-known, terse showgirl dancing in an automotive showroom. Her head is partly shaved, revealing a gnarly scar, housing a titanium plate fused to her skull. She has sex with a car, becoming pregnant. She goes on a killing spree. She flees into hiding, smashing her face and assuming the identity of a lost boy named Adrien. Vincent, a grieving, muscle-bound father, comes to claim Adrien, believing Alexia to be his missing son, only to learn a different, more bitter truth.

Once Vincent’s anguish enters the fray, “Titane” shifts from an outlandish story of gruesome murder and car fornication to a delicate, near-comedic tragedy. For Lindon, who provides the film’s warm spark, the role is vastly different from the perception of him as an actor. A longtime collaborator with director Claire Denis, he’s slated to star in her upcoming film “Fire,” too, he’s best known for his 2015 Cannes Best Actor winning performance in “The Measure Of A Man.” He often portrays grounded, less fantastical characters, ones who question the ethics of their worlds. But as the macho Vincent, he revels in a different kind of struggle: a fight against time and aging, against grief.

Lindon spoke to The Playlist via Zoom during the 59th New York Film Festival to discuss his dancing, training as a firefighter, and how “Titane” compares to “The Shape of Water.”

How did the part of Vincent come to you?
I’ve known Julia for a very long time. She used to be friends with a friend of mine. We had a lot of lunches and dinners, but I never knew Julia as a director. It was more friendly than something else. But once, during a night out, four years ago, we had a drink, and she told me: “Vincent, I’m writing a script for you. That means you have to say ‘yes’ to me because if not, it’s going to be difficult for me to do that movie.” That’s the best compliment I ever got in my life.

She told me that actors are quite different: “Some you’re afraid of when they’re on screen. Some are very friendly. Some are very insecure. And then there are people like you. When you, Vincent, are thinking about something, when you’re not sure about something, or when you are sure about something, the audience follows you.”

When I read the script and first of all, my first impression did not go through my brain. It went directly through my heart. It was like an animal reflex. I said to myself, I’m going to say ‘yes.’ I don’t know why, we’ll get to that after, but first I’m going to see, ‘yes.’ I don’t want that part to go to another actor in France. It belongs to me.

And I’ve seen “Raw.” Julia is really a kind of a curator. She’s very clever, very Rock, very new, very American in a good way of being an American director. She is advanced for our century. For me, to be in a movie, I need to see something of society. I need to do something social. A film can be just for entertainment, but for myself, that’s not enough.

You also had to work out for two years: Why make the commitment to change your body?
I think the character and myself we share the same fear; we’re afraid of death and dying. Unconsciously, I said to myself; it’s a good idea to do that movie in my brain. Because I will be obliged to work out more, then by doing a lot of working out, I’m going to change my body, and maybe I will seem younger than I really am in my life. It’s a way of not moving, even being younger, which is completely crazy because it’s not true; time goes on. But I also wanted to belong to a new kind of movie, which feels really new in France.

More from this interview on the second page…