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Interview de Mike Leigh sur son film Naked

15 mai 1993
04m 33s
Ref. 00203

Information

Summary :

Mike Leigh answers Michel Field's questions regarding his film Naked, presented at the Cannes festival: he talks about the ambivalence of both his film and its main character, which both represent the future of humanity, and of his willingness to speak with ordinary people and to film them in their everyday life.

Media type :
Vidéo
Broadcast date :
15 mai 1993
Source :
France 2 (Collection: Le cercle de minuit )
Personnalité(s) :
Mike Leigh / Thierry Jousse / David Thewlis / Michel Field
Themes :
Places :

Context

The basis of all work done by Mike Leigh, the British filmmaker born in 1943, is an original technique, "devising", which was handed down to him through his experience in theatre and first used for television, and which allows one to realise just how original his work is. No pre-established script: with just a summary of each scene, the director meets separately with each actor, in a sort of manner that improvises the creation and lets him remain the only one with a global view of the film being written.

In the end, Leigh's cinema truly follows the tradition of British cinema, even if he favours films centred around the middle class (High Hopes in 1988, Secrets & Lies, Golden Palm in Cannes in 1996).

However, the essence doesn't lie so much in the political denunciation as it does in stripping down human behaviour (Naked, 1993) in a very carefully thought out way, through a certain number of situations that progressively run from the mention of show biz (Topsy Turvy, 1999) to a portrait of 1950s England (Vera Drake, 2004) to an analysis of the ability to look beyond appearances.

Thierry Méranger

Transcription

Michel Field
So this film, it's very harsh, we get the impression that it's the saga of an anti-hero who is perhaps also a neo-punk, is this a film that would be considered a "No future" film?
Mike Leigh
[English]
Translator
There might in fact be some hope, there might not be any hope. But in fact, there's actually a bias. We can pick one solution or another there, in fact, it's true that what we've done to our planet, means that, we can think that there's no hope left, but there are nevertheless still good times. There, we're right here, these are the good times of our lives, so we can also consider them to be possible. It's a choice.
Michel Field
Regarding your film, you say: I think that this film is as funny as it's sad, as beautiful as it's ugly, as responsible as it's anarchistic. Aren't those lots of things for just one film?
Mike Leigh
[English]
Translator
For example, let's imagine the character that's played by David. He is good, he is bad, but he's full of compassion, he is also cynical, he has a destructive side. So, we wanted to make a film that doesn't draw any conclusions, but rather, speaks about our time period and leaves questions and answers to everyone else.
Michel Field
In your previous films, and in this one, we get the impression that you're trying to scrutinise the characters' daily lives as closely as possible. That you film the people, their quirks, their habits, their ways of speaking. Do you get the impression that this approach of daily life is what allows us to actually become aware of a social situation or a political situation?
Mike Leigh
[English]
Translator
Personally, my passion, my instinct, is to make films, about people, about everyone, about your average Joe. Well, we're here in Cannes, it's true, and here, there are lots of very special people. But when we think about our world, people, what do they do? They get up in the morning, they have breakfast, they go to work, they make love, they sleep. So... And that's what life is really about. So, me, that's what I like, that's what I like to do. I like making films about that. Because I think that that is really what most people go through.