This comedy in line with Cursed grassrecounts with accuracy and without mockery the trans coming out of the wife of a conservative mayor of a small provincial town.
It is one of the most anticipated French comedies of the start of 2023. A happy man, in theaters on Wednesday, Catherine Frot plays Eddy, who comes out as trans to her husband Jean (Fabrice Luchini), the conservative mayor of a small town in Brittany. In the middle of the campaign for his re-election, the candidate asks him to postpone his transition to the day after the election, but the rumor begins to run…
The announcement of the project, as well as the first teasers, could scare the people concerned, scalded by If I was a man, a 2017 comedy where a woman wakes up one morning with a penis. But according to the first feedback from the public, A happy man avoid the pitfalls of the genre.
Presented before its shooting as a comedy between La Cage aux Folles And What the hell have we done?, A happy man is more in line with Discord with Louis de Funès and Cursed grass by Josiane Balasko. A happy man also revisits a typically American genre, that of remarriage comedies, where married couples separate, then reunite.
“What is important in this film is that we learn to love the other as he is and not as we want him to be”, sums up the film’s producer Matthieu Tarot.
For Luchini and Frot
The screenplay was co-written by Isabelle Lazard (An intimate conviction) and Guy Laurent (What else have we done to God?). “I read it with the prism of Good God, thinking of Christian Clavier and Chantal Lauby”, concedes the producer. “At first, I said to myself that it was not for me. Then I thought about it and I said to myself that it was for me on the condition of having Catherine Frot and Fabrice Luchini.
The two stars, among the most bankable in French cinema, had dreamed of working together for years. “All the producers in France had been trying for fifteen years to bring them together, but no one had found the subject”, specifies Matthieu Tarot. “Fabrice was convinced that there was a subject for both of them.”
To stage this story, he called on Tristan Séguéla, director of Doctor? (2019), a bittersweet comedy with Michel Blanc. For A happy man, Séguéla adopted the staging “as classic as possible” to best respect its subject, “in the hope that it does not hinder the comic energy of the situations”. Lasting 1h29 (eight minutes have been cut since its presentation at Alpe d’Huez), the film was praised for the effectiveness of its rhythm and its gags.
“A real comedy duo”
Despite its frenzied pace, A happy man never forgets to offer moments of tenderness. Over the course of the film, the laughter of the public evolves to rally to the character embodied by Catherine Frot. And his coming out causes more emotion than laughter in the sessions, much to the relief of Tristan Séguéla:
“That’s what I’m most proud of. People, at that moment, don’t laugh. That’s what I immediately liked when I read the script: the film pushes the viewer to ‘interrogate.’
The director made an effort never to laugh with Luchini’s character about what happens to Catherine Frot’s: “If there is one thing I have taken care of, it is this: that the film does not don’t be a silly mockery of what’s happening to Eddy. I tried to direct the laughter, to make sure that we don’t make fun of it and that it remains funny.”
“The spectator feels it very quickly”, he insists again. “To laugh with the character of Fabrice is to make fun of the character of Catherine. I hope – and this is what happens at each screening – that the public will laugh at Jean’s conservatism and frightened outbursts. If that character wasn’t a reac, it wouldn’t be as funny.”
Catherine Frot and Fabrice Luchini “agree very well” and form “a real comedy duo”, enthuses the director. The actress was also very involved in the creation of her character and learned from trans people. “There is no distance between her and her role”, assures Tristan Séguéla. “She approached the role with the most sincerity in the world. She was all about it.”
“I was freaked out to show it”
Some scenes from the screenplayA happy man – especially those that take place in the trans discussion group – have been re-read by the people concerned. One of the trans actresses in the film “took a look at the script, which I took into account”, further specifies Tristan Séguéla.
In the context of this film, which is partly aimed at a senior audience, the scenes with the discussion group have pedagogical virtues: “It is aimed at this audience. It takes time to make certain things understood . These are complex notions. The film is aware of this while trying to make people laugh,” insists the director.
Tristan Séguéla showed the final result to the trans actors and actresses of the film: “Some came with friends [pour voir le film]. I was freaked out to show it. Since I hadn’t read the entire script, I was convinced that someone was going to leave at the fifth minute. I think I can say that these twenty left delighted. Obviously, some people won’t like it.”
In the coming months, Tristan Séguéla will tackle another subject that should be talked about as much: a biopic by Bernard Tapie for Netflix, wonder-man. A series of seven one-hour episodes, with Laurent Lafitte in the lead role. “It comes out in June or October,” announces the director. “I’m happy. I can’t wait to show it off.”
