[WATCH] ‘A Faithful Man’ Director On Working With Filmmaking Idol

A celebrated French actor known for The Dreamers and Godard Mon Amour, Louis Garrel recently realized a longtime dream, coming together to write a film with venerated French writer Jean-Claude Carrière. That film, A Faithful Man, examines a couple’s complicated relationship from the time she leaves him for his best friend to her eventual return, after her new lover dies.

“It’s about sex and death, and broken friendship—in general, it’s a French movie,” Garrel joked yesterday, sitting down with Deadline ahead of the film’s Toronto premiere. Working closely with the now-87-year-old Carrière—known for collaborations with Milos Forman and Luis Buñuel, among others—Garrel began with a plot by French dramatist Marivaux, eventually starring in his own film, as he has with each of his features.

For Garrel, balancing his responsibilities as director and star wasn’t difficult at all, instead making the entire process easier. “Sometimes when I get bored to be the director, I’m the actor—and then when I get bored to be the actor, I’m the director,” he explained. “So it’s much more [fun] for me because I can switch every day.”

Appearing with Garrel in studio to discuss the film were co-stars Laetitia Casta and Lily-Rose Depp, the latter of which he had met as an actor on Rebecca Zlotowski’s Venice and TIFF title Planetarium. For Depp, A Faithful Man presented an enjoyable new creative experience, working with a director who stars in his own films. “It was really interesting,” Depp said. “We rehearsed for several months before and everything, so I think that by the time we got on set, we all had a really clear idea of what the scene should look like, and what the characters’ intentions were.”

To hear more from the film’s stars—including Garrel, who will appear in Greta Gerwig’s anticipated Little Women, as Deadline exclusively reported—take a look above.

Deadline Studio at TIFF 2018 presented by eOne. Special thanks to sponsor Watford Group, and partners Calii Love, Love Child Social, and Barocco Coffee.