Olivier Marchal Q&A

Chris Sullivan catches up with the director of French thriller '36'.

Jun  1 2006

Although better known as a TV actor than a writer-director, former police officer Olivier Marchal secured both Daniel Auteuil and Gérard Depardieu for '36', his incendiary tale of love, corruption and deceit based on the life of Dominique Loiseau, a senior member of the notorious BRI (Search and Action Squad) in the mid-'80s. The subject matter, along with the director's own history in the police force, might have been expected to raise a few Gallic eyebrows, but Marchal is more than blasé.

Has the film caused outrage in France?

No, not really. A few people who were on the job at the time have been on the TV and said that it wasn't like that at all. But the Minister of the Interior liked it a lot, showed it to all his ministers and to the police themselves, who liked it.

According to your experience as a former officer, is '36' an accurate depiction of life as a Parisian cop?

It is a realistic depiction of both the isolation and sadness that police feel in their relationships and also of the violence that I have witnessed myself.

In your film there seems to be little difference between the cops and the villains. Is that how it was?

Absolutely! We used to hang out at the same bars and take coke together and there was a lot of bartering going on, but I must stress that it is not like that today.

In the film the police are on alert 24 hours a day. Does that mean a lot of drugs were consumed?

Yes. There was a lot of adrenaline involved, but we did take drugs before a big deal to psych ourselves up.

The film is a big shoot-'em-up gun fest. Are guns that available in France?

In the suburbs you can quite easily get hold of ex-military weapons from Croatia or Bosnia and, as in the film, a lot of gangs have them. In fact the heavies in the film are based on a real gang that terrorised Paris for a number of years.

What was it like working with Auteil and Depardieu?

Once they had read the scripts both were very keen to do it and act opposite each other again, and because of my background in the police they both had some respect for me as a man first and then a director. The two are very demanding, so there is not much room for error.

Depardieu is certainly convincing.

I am not usually impressed by actors at all, but Gérard has this physical presence you cannot fake. He is an animal and is really dangerous. As a youth he was really wild. Gérard has this added thing, which is unquantifiable. From the moment he wakes he is in pain and is on the verge of tears. He is completely open – if he is unhappy, he is unhappy; if he is sad, you will know. One day he was like a wreck, trembling with nerves, and then the next day he was drunk because he didn't want to tremble. So I took him and told him that yesterday was great and that all was okay. I think having been a cop helped me with him.

It is only your second feature film. Were you intimidated working with two of France's biggest talents?

Absolutely. But being an ex-cop really helps as I've been in worse situations.

'36' is out tomorrow.

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