Nicole Garcia in a "alone on stage" written for her

The theater allows him "with happiness" to pass each evening "from the shadows of the wings to the dazzling light of the stage". In "Royan, the French teacher", Nicole Garcia, Caesarized in 1980 for "Le Cavaleur" by Philippe de Broca, with Jean Rochefort, delivers a performance in the role of Gabrielle, a high school teacher who, one evening, understands that a student's parents are waiting for her on her landing. Petrified in the pale hall of her building, the only decor of the room with the atmosphere of a thriller, the professor does not dare to take the elevator. Out loud, she wonders, in a dizzying professional and personal introspection.

The viewer gradually realizes the extent of the drama that has unfolded and which could continue: the student in question, harassed by classmates, committed suicide a few days earlier... The parents, that the teacher has tried to avoid so far, await an explanation. What can be the teacher's share of responsibility? Why didn't she understand in time?

Directed by his son Frédéric

"Royan, the French teacher", on view at the Théâtre de la Ville, in Paris (until February 3), was created during the last Festival d'Avignon, a year late due to the pandemic . “This role is above all the encounter with a powerful text. It's a turning point in my career. I am very honored that Marie NDiaye is trying her hand at writing for me,” says Nicole Garcia, 75.

“This text evokes this mass of brutality, hatred and savagery that we carry within us and that we must padlock to live with each other. My character is like in police custody, trying to convince herself that she has nothing to do with what she is accused of, "adds the actress and director, starring in some of the greatest French films. since the end of the 1960s (“The Body of my Enemy”, “Let the Party Begin”, “A Butterfly on the Shoulder”, “My Uncle from America”…).

“The play speaks of the fear that teachers today may have of parents or even students. A high school can be a very violent society with harassers and scapegoats...”, emphasizes Nicole Garcia, directed by her son, Frédéric Bélier-Garcia, who has already staged several works by Marie NDiaye (Goncourt Prize 2009 for her novel “Three Powerful Women”).

A new film in the works

Arrived from Algeria in France as a teenager, Nicole Garcia began on the boards, then on the big screen as an actress, before moving on to directing. “Amants”, his ninth film behind the camera, “a romantic thriller”, was released in November.

Nicole Garcia confides that she particularly likes the stage "for the crucible that is the rehearsals which do not exist or hardly exist in the cinema, this long and precious time when the role comes little by little...". “I feel a lot of excitement to be alone on stage. We wear an entire show alone. The public becomes a real partner. I rely on the silences suspended over the course of the story, ”adds the actress. "In the end, what is rendered by the audience is even stronger."

She also says "always live in ''project mode''", as teenagers say: after the theater, she intends to return to the cinema with the production of a portrait of a woman, whose child has grown up far from her.