Original subtitles

I really like it when films tour the festivals.

It's an important thing in the life ofa film.

Also, it gives another perspective of the public's perception.

This is when we find out ifa film's story...

holds up and impacts the audience.

My only regret is that Alice, Elodie, and Arthur couldn't be here with us...

because they were either not available or they were filming.

lhope they will be here for future festivals.

First, I would like to thank Richard...

and the whole Unifrance team...

for organizing these meetings for French cinema.

And for me it is very important...

to see the public's reaction and to compare...

New York reactions to French reactions.

It is my pleasure to introduce Grégori, who did a wonderfuljob on this film.

In his portrayal, because he had a difficult role, you'll see.

Thank you, my friend.

I'm very proud to be here, because it's my first time in New York.

And, as you're gonna see, the color of my hair is a bit changed...

since the shooting of the movie.

I'm the little blond guy in the back.

See you.

Let me introduce to you the writer of the play...

Jean-Marie Besset.

Thank you.

Yes, it's true that I wrote this play...

back in the early 1990s in New York.

It was done at the Ubu Repertory theater...

translated by Marc O'Donnell as The Best of Schools

And for years I've been living in New York.

And it was....

At the time I had very high hopes, I was reading the New York Times every day.

And finally, that review came out, my first review in the New York Times...

it was a bad review. So Istill haven't recovered from it.

So I was sort of vindicated last Friday...

when actually Stephen Alden wrote a very nice paragraph...

in this same newspaper about the movie. Thank you.

The movie is about the circulation of desire.

Ijust wanted to show that desire had no sex.

I found that it was more interesting to show...

that the character was not, in fact, homosexual...

but that his journey.... There would be a kind of learning process...

that hadn't been planned on.

Without inquiring too deeply into you, the actor...

your own personal sexual preferences.

I want to know how it was for you to play, so convincingly...

love scenes with men and women.

I'm an actor.

-That's it? -I'm sorry.

With Robert, what we wanted to do with Louis-ArsenauIt's character...

was to do something....

To not create an either black or white character.

We wanted to allow the audience the possibility cut through...

to form their own opinion when watching the film.

As you may have seen, the film does not deal too much...

with the actual school. There is no documentary feel to it.

What interested me was to use that subject...

to illustrate a simple metaphor.

That is, for me, real school...

is that oflife and love...

and that the most important things...

are not necessarily learned in school.

I love this film. Really.

I am so pleased with the reaction in New York to Grande Ecolel

Because it's an important and deeply moving film.

Thank you!

After, it's knowing....

Whether or not he is attracted sexually by him, I don't know.

I think that Louis-Arnault, like all people from large families...

who are destined from childhood...

to become future heads of important enterprises...

these are people who are like politicians.

There is a strong tie to seduction in their daily lives...

which affects all the people in their environment.

Whether they be men or women.

I tried to show this through Louis-Arsenault.

Someone who always wears a mask.

Next stop is Ueno.

Exit on the left-hand side.

Change here for the Shinkansen line, the Utsunomiya line...

the Takasaki line, the Jouban line, the Ginza metro line...

and the Hibiya metro line.

Do you know why I looked like a fag earlier?

We are in France. In France, in Japan!

We are at the French embassy in Japan.

There you are.

I am going to present the film in three days, is that right?

This isn't a microphone, actually. It's a champagne glass.

Take two.

This is the July 14 reception at the French embassy in Japan.

You are funny.

It's because of the Japanese, I'm going to have him talk.

She takes care of us while we are in Japan.

And she takes really good care of us! No, seriously...

we are at the French embassy.

For those who have tickets to Grande Ecole, Iapologize for this...

but could you exit the lobby...

and wait in line next to the stairs?

I repeat.

For those who have tickets to Grande Eco|e....

No, it's really a pleasure.

That's good. It's good when there are a lot of people. It's nice.

They are even more stressed than we are.

-Why? -I don't know.

That's what the host said. They are all stressed.

We will say two or three words in Japanese.

Do you know how to say "Good evening" or not?

Do you know how to say "Good evening"?

And...

That means "Enjoy So, that's what we'll say!

This is going to be great! The room is totally full, eh?

We are the event of the festival. We are the crazy people of the festival.

We are happy, we are already there. Let's see how they react...

in Tokyo.

There. I think it's going to start now.

I am a little stressed, in fact. Just a little.

No, but it's good....

I'm going to get it wrong. I'll say two words in Japanese but I'll get them wrong.

Guaranteed!

Good evening, everybody.

Enj0.V'

Hello.

-Louis-Arnault Real. -Paul Tabord.

Nice to meet you. Ma'am?

I can send you a carton.

-It's true, that is done in your circles. -What do you know?

I'm going to introduce two directors.

PRESS CONFERENCE

On my right-hand side, on your left-hand side, that is....

Could you please tell me about the social background....

The main question of the film, is the idea of choice.

Do we have to choose our sexuality in such a defined way?

So he wants to live many different experiences at once.

Besides, Paul is the original fiance.

It's like this....

It is true, on the Arabic side...

it's a little more taboo than for the French...

because there is a more macho side. Family, religion...

all those kinds of obstacles which makes it a little more hidden...

and taboo than for the French.

For me, it was the first time Iplayed a homosexual role...

it's true that we feel things that we don't recognize.

That I didn't recognize.

It definitely changes your view...

regarding homosexuality and all that.

The fact that you really feel these emotions, even if you are just acting...

you still have to feel them, and in the moment...

you realize that this boy's feelings are possible.

Actually, it's quite troubling.

It creates a troubling feeling inside.

It has pretty much changed...

my view of love.

It was a great experience for me.

Actually, it allowed me to confront many things regarding myself

To play the character, to make the movie, and then to promote it...

in reference to me, with all the questions...

that we can ask ourselves, or repress, confront...

is not a bad thing, because after we know exactly how we....

We don't position ourselves, because we are never positioned in life, we search.

But at least, it frees us from something.

We are less blocked and our thinking is bigger, more open.

That is something that I lived in this film.

This a character who portends hope.

Next stop is Ueno.

Exit on your left-hand side.

It is revealed in Plato's Symposium...

that, in the beginning, human nature was composed of three sexes.’

men, women, and androgynous.

To punish them for wanting to reach heaven and defy the gods...

the primary god, Zeus, modifed the three sexes by splitting them in two.

Thus condemning them to search endlessly for their missing haIf..

to recompose their original unit.

The search for the other was only the frantic search for one's double.

And so, men attracted by women were, in fact, the androgynous.

Those who, in the beginning, had been both men and women at once.

The only purpose of this attraction of opposites was to reunite one being...

since the sexes were not opposites.

Seen like this, it makes us think twice...

about the accepted idea that heterosexuals are the real guarantors of virility.

But tell them that their attraction to women is only a search for their lost femininity...

and their reaction would be one ofalarm at this abuse of their certainties.

Returning to the ancients, their sense of love was a desire for immortality...

which they wanted to attain by leaving behind traces of themselves.

These traces could be made by either a carnal union...

or by a union ofsouls.

For them, neither of these unions were sterile...

because having descendents...

was just as important as transmitting knowledge and experiences...

to initiate, through love, their beloved to knowledge.

Thus, each would survive...

in the soul of the other, as well as in the flesh.

It's pretty here, no? It doesn't seem like Paris.

It's pretty here, no? It doesn't seem like Paris, and yet....

You know, I don't know Paris that well. I'm provincial.

Let's go to the Cabaret!

The film has already traveled a lot.

First, we went to Holland, to Rotterdam.

We showed it to a room ofabout 800 people.

It went well, it was well-received.

You went with the other actors to show it in New York...

there, too, I heard good feedback. Everyone said it was good...

that the film was well-received, it was bought...

and it'll be distributed, how nice!

It's a sign that the Americans liked the film.

Then we went to Turin. There was a lot ofpeople there, too!

There were 1,000 people in the room...

people were waiting, we showed the film...

things went well in Turin, and now, Tokyo!

When a film travels like that, different kinds ofpeople get to see it...

and our work gets to be seen across the world.

And it lets us see their reaction...

how they see the movie, to see that there are many possible reactions...

that people like seeing movies like this.

Hey, Captain! Captain Sa|is!

Captain Sa|is!

Captain of the Grande Ecole.

Enough with your boat.