Which cinephile is Marie-Flore? We asked some questions about cinema to the French singer who is about to go on tour throughout France to defend her new album “I don’t know if it’s going”.
Marie-Flore talks to us about cinema
French singer-songwriter Marie-Flore released her second album in French last June entitled I don’t know if it’s okay. The clip of his first single, Bad start, took place in a cinema. What make us want to ask him some questions on its relation to the seventh art.
Do you consider yourself a cinephile?
I was when I was a teenager. In high school especially because I had done a cinema baccalaureate. But I’ve lost the reflex a little today to go see films in theaters, for lack of time in particular. But I watch movies at home. And then the room scares me a little because it transports me so much that it takes me days to recover, especially since I go to see films rather dark. Which is not the case when I watch films at home.
What were your cult films when you were a teenager?
I was fed a lot of films that I was able to discover with the cinema option in high school, to which I would probably never have gone alone. I particularly remember the films of Chris Marker, Jean Vigo or Abbas Kiarostami. Otherwise I was also very marked by The fabulous destiny of Amelie Poulain and especially Spirited away that I have seen dozens of times. I dreamed of having the little balls of soot as pets!
You said that the experience of the cinema was intense for you, do you have a particular memory of a session that marked you?
I remember going to see Capernaum of Nadine Labaki at the Pathé Wepler and to come out totally upset, as if I had been hit by a tornado in the head. I had a hard time getting up from my seat after the credits and I thought about it nonstop for 48 hours afterwards. Coming back to reality was difficult.
Do you prefer going to see a movie alone or accompanied?
I have never gone to the cinema alone. I went there a lot with my mother, or with girlfriends. For me it’s more an activity to share with two, three, more if affinities!
What is your favorite place when you go to see a movie at the cinema?
In general I choose places where I cannot be seen, because I often cry! And since I’m ultra cloistered, I choose a place near an exit and at the end of a row, so as not to disturb people if I want to leave.
The last film you saw in theaters?
It goes back a bit, it was The Snow Panther. It was a huge slap, he upset me. He takes you hostage nicely, because nothing happens and you have to wait with them. Until the final revelation which made me cry because it was too beautiful. There too the return to reality was difficult.
The last movie you saw at home?
Right now I’m catching up on a lot of classics on the platform Mubi. In particular, I discovered Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders whom I had never seen and whom I adored. It’s never too late to discover classics, it’s like in music!
An actor or actress that you particularly like?
I love Joaquin Phoenix. He touched me a lot as Johnny Cash in walk the line. I find him very true in his acting. And as an actress, no idea. In the cinema, men affect me more than women. In music too, I listen to a lot more male voices than female ones.
If you had to work in the film industry, what would it be?
Editor. It’s something I love to do. It’s close to the mixing stage in music. It is decisive. You can sublimate a work, or on the contrary destroy it completely. Or if not director or actress, but I think I would be too bad…
Marie-Flore is currently on tour throughout France. She will notably pass through the Olympia in Paris on April 6, 2023.
