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- The story of a man who wanted to forget his life and to
whom another man comes to recount it...
Virgil
Iancu, a young Rumanian film maker, arrives in Paris
with his little camera. He has come to follow the trail
left by his fellow countryman, the famous writer Constantin
Dolinescu, who, after numerous books and several
years in prison, has exiled himself in France with the
idea of making a film. But this project had turned into a
fiasco ; the script was revised endlessly, one producer
replaced another, and Dolinescu himself, incapable of
directing the actors, completely fell apart.
Virgil uncovers all these escapades little by little, via
interviews with the Parisian intelligentsia: Pierre
Arditi, Erik Orsenna, Jean-Michel Jarre, all of whom were
involved in the affair. But as to the fate of Dolinescu,
nobody can - or will - say anything. And Virgil adds a
strange sort of fervor to the quest - implying strongly
personal reasons for his actions.
It is finally Sonia, the leading lady of the unfinished
film, who enables him to track down the writer. But from
then on, the search and its filming are revealed as
nothing more than pretexts, obscuring family dramas,
complex romantic attachments, not to mention several
broken lives. Virgil, having come to make a film about
someone else, has succeeded in telling his own story.
Why was this movie made? Does it have some obscure
connection and will there be more of this? We asked it at
Benoît Peeters, the director
of the movie.
The Light: Why have you made this movie?
Benoît Peeters: Forty-two years
old… It's a bit late, isn't it, for a first
full length movie. Still, it is not because I did
not think, or dreamed, about it. It is as if, for
twenty-five years, I never stopped preparing myself for
the opportunity, through a multitude of preliminary
works. The first, vaguely experimental, attempts
were in Super-8, then in 16 mm. The novels, the
biographies, the radio plays. The scripts for the
graphic novels, the photo novels (with Marie-Françoise
Plissart), even movies (for Raoul Ruiz). The
texts on cinema. The making of short movies and
documentaries. Then this long and tortuous
elaboration of a full length movie script. Almost
ten years worth of fumbling and scratching. As if a
first movie called for a special solemn, almost sacred,
moment.
All those years before finding again, in a full length
movie, the freedom of the written word, the lightness of
the documentary, and a certain form of obviousness.
Very little money (still quite a lot compared to bande
dessinée). An entirely Belgian production. A
crew reduced at the most basic level. Greatly
varied supports, from Super-8 to 35 mm, with DV-Cam and
Numeric Beta in-between. A desire to find
aestheticism in the middle of economical
constraints. And, more than anything else, to tell
about things that were a little fragile and held a
special place in my heart.
The Light: Where and when did you get the idea
of this movie?
Peeters: It is difficult to say exactly when
the idea appeared, for I began groping a long time
ago. And there is still something left of those
days, in the movies within the movie LE DERNIER PLAN (the
first nested movie is directly inspired from the
storyboard prepared with François under the title
"La Cité des Ombres"; the second, "La
Ride" is based on the script that we developed a bit
later, in collaboration with Pierre
Drouot). Then, there was the long adventure of
"Taxandria",
to which I was associated only indirectly, but that
fascinated me a lot.
The Light: How does it feel to make your own
movie?
Peeters: A bit frightened, of course, by the
size of the responsibilities. Especially since I
was at the same time co-writer, director and
producer. But I felt good, relaxed and in the
proper place.
And this strange movie that - maybe to exorcise them
– puts on the scene a few of the illusions peculiar
to cinema, as well as the difficulties that makes it
stumble and the dramas born in it, has been shot and
edited in a constant state of happiness, generating new
creative desires. As if it wanted to belie its own
title: THE LAST SHOT.
The Light: Are you happy with the results?
Peeters: I would say yes. Of course,
when I look at everything that I have been able to do
– books, exhibits or movies – self-criticism
quickly develops itself. There are always things
that one would not do again exactly in the same way,
details that could be redone. But I will say
this: amongst all that I have done, LE DERNIER PLAN
is one of those I am the most happy with.
The Light: Schuiten helped with the original
idea and played a part in the movie, is this movie
related anyhow with the Obscure world?
Peeters: François attended the birth of the
project, and has been there at many of the stages of its
elaboration. It should however be clear enough that
the movie is not an "Obscure City". But
there must be at least some common traits in our common
work. More noticeably, one can find this uncertain
delimitation between the real and the unreal, which is at
the heart of "Le
Dossier B" or the "Guide
des Cités".
The Light: Would you do such project again? Any
plans?
Peeters: Cinema remains a rather heavy
machine: you have to gather the money, convince
many contacts, then attempt to give the movie a life in
festivals, in theater and on television. It is not
an easy thing to do. I am not yet at the end of the
process with LE DERNIER PLAN. (Strangely enough,
today this seems to be easier in the United States than
in Europe...)
But, of course, I have a great desire to put myself
again in the director's seat, of making documentaries
(something based on the Mundaneum
is currently being considered with the Belgian Françoise
Levie), but also of fiction (it is a bit too soon to talk
about it).
This does not mean that I want to devote myself
entirely to cinema: I've always had a taste for
running several projects at the same time, and I do not
think that this is going to change...
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THE LAST SHOT
(le denier plan)
full length film (90 min) 35 mm color
original idea
FRANÇOIS SCHUITEN
BENOÎT PEETERS
screenplay
BENOÎT PEETERS
SANDRINE WILLEMS
PIERRE DROUOT
director
BENOÎT PEETERS
cast
| Virgil Iancu |
FLORIN PIERSIC JR |
| Sonia Delange / Vera |
MANUELA SERVAIS |
| Constantin Dolinescu |
MIHAI DINVALE |
| Ludovic |
PIERRE ARDITI |
| Toma |
CONSTANTIN FLORESCU |
| Zamiatine |
BERNARD MARBAIX |
| Judith Marchal |
VALÉRIE VAN NITSEN |
| Jean Dumaurier |
JEAN-MICHEL VOVK |
| Pavel |
BERNARD GRACZYK |
| Virgil (as a child) |
ANTOINE BERGER |
| Claude Rulisse |
ROBERT BODSON |
and as themselves
| PIERRE ARDITI |
JEAN-MICHEL JARRE |
| PIERRE
ASSOULINE |
FRANÇOIS SCHUITEN |
| ERIK ORSENNA |
PIERRE DROUOT |
| BERNARD PIVOT |
PAUL GERMAIN |
photography
ELLA VAN DEN HOVE
sound
JEAN-JACQUES QUINET
set decoration
ANDRÉ FONSNY
editing
SUSANA ROSSBERG
original music score
IVAN GEORGIEV
production manager
JACQUELINE LOUIS
assisted by
PATRICIA KILESSE
producer
LES PIÉRIDES (BRUSSELS)
with
LE CENTRE DU CINÉMA ET DE L'AUDIOVISUEL
DE LA COMMUNAUTÉ FRANÇAISE DE BELGIQUE
LA LOTERIE NATIONALE
LES TÉLÉDISTRIBUTEURS WALLONS
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