After a first outing before confinement, A Siren in Paris is back in theaters on June 22. When the film was released for the first time, Nicolas Duvauchelle and Marilyn Lima answered our questions.
[Mis à jour le 22 juin 2020 à 9h30] A mermaid and a heartbroken crooner. These are the roles played by Marilyn Lima and Nicolas Duvauchelle, the two stars of A Mermaid in Paris. This realization by Mathias Malzieu got off to a halt on March 11, four days before the cinemas closed due to coronavirus. The last film of the singer and writer is part of the productions to the poster for the reopening of the rooms, this Monday June 22, 2020. Impossible romance of fairy tale, A siren in Paris is also an ode to the panache and to the power of the imagination in the face of a cynical and disillusioned world. In the casting, we therefore find Nicolas Duvauchelle, who finds here one of his rare light and luminous roles of his career. Spotted in Skam and Bang Gang, Marilyn Lima finds here her first outstanding role in the cinema. A few weeks after the film’s first release, in March 2020, the two actors confided in an interview about this definitely singular film to play.
What attracted you to this Un sirène à Paris project?
Nicolas Duvauchelle: The whole universe of Mathias [Malzieu, le réalisateur ndlr]. I read the script and after the book, it’s super surprising. It’s very poetic, that’s what I really liked a lot. And then the idea of being able to sing too, and there is this twirling side, of not stopping: doing the ukulele, rollerblading…. I kinda felt like Buster Keaton, on my scale. There was that bit of a burlesque side, it was great to play.
Marilyn Lima: What convinced me was Mathias above all. This meeting was captivating. And there is his whole universe: it’s not every day that you meet someone who is at the same time an author, director, singer … He has lots of caps, berets, hats (laughs). So her world, this meeting… and then it’s not every day that you are offered to play a mermaid in a French film. It’s crazy, nobody can refuse that.
Playing for a director who is also a musician and a writer, what does that change in your work as an actor?
ND: Lots of things… He did everything at the same time, he wrote the book… and at the same time he decided to do Gaspard’s songs. Being able to rely on a lot of tools like that, the songs, the book, the script, it was great! We not only have the whole universe of Mathias and we especially had Mathias close at hand… and like Gaspard, it’s a lot of Mathias, having him on a daily basis was important. I never saw him in a bad mood, he never shouted, he was always full of positive energies, it’s super nice to shoot like that. And above all it gives a boost: when I composed the character, there was a kind of benevolence that was very crazy that came from him.
ML: He is a multiple artist, so to find himself like that with an artist who has a lot of empathy, who understands the artists and who has an incredible sensitivity that brings a lot to a set.
Marilyn Lima, you play a mermaid, Nicolas Duvauchelle, you wear the mermaid: how did the shooting go? Was it difficult to play in that costume?
ND : I’ll let you start because we’re talking about fins …
ML : (Laughs) Obviously, it has constraints to be stuck in a bathtub, we know that it will be a little uncomfortable after a while… But I was very well surrounded. There were plenty of people present to check if the water was not too hot, if it was not too cold, … etc. There was a lot of benevolence. When we are freed from these constraints, we can play and we can immerse ourselves in the character. But it was a constraint for both of them: this fin weighs seven kilos, once filled with water it is torture to carry it, we cannot move …
ND : It was essential to see it in real life, not to have a green thing with special effects which are added afterwards. To be able to see her, to have Marilyn with her fin, we were in it, we never left the film. And all the sets … there was no green background, you could touch and move everything, it was super exciting, to see this universe under …
