Join WhatsApp Channel
Join Telegram ChannelMember of the Comédie-Française, the actor reached a new milestone in the cinema where, after his irresistible supporting roles in The Sense of the Party and My Unknown, he brilliantly held the top billing in Laurent Tirard's Discourse. A look back at the journey of a mad lover of comedy.
The Speecha great critical success of summer 2021 at the cinema, will return this Tuesday evening on C8. On this occasion, we are republishing our portrait of its main actor, Benjamin Lavernhe.
A pure kamikaze move. Embark on a big number mixing comedy and magic on the 2020 César stage (see video below). While we have in front of us the audience known to be the coldest and we ourselves are nominated. This gesture, Benjamin Lavernhe that we find at the cinema in The Speech by Laurent Tirard did it. Brilliantly done. Treating themselves to the highlight of an evening that would implode in mid-air a few minutes later. “I had the jitters of my life“, he admitted to us a few months later. “My legs were trembling. If I hadn't done theater, I wouldn't have been able to do it!“
Theater and Benjamin Lavernhe, it's a love story that took a long time to take shape for this kid from Poitiers who was fed up with popular cinema – from Louis de Funès to Star Wars passing through Titanic. A teenager who regularly develops a passion for actresses. “I had successive obsessions. For two weeks, after seeing their films, I only thought of them.” The first was Geena Davies in Hero in spite of himself. Then there was Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in Robin HoodGwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in LoveJulia Roberts in Love at first sight in Notting HillAudrey Tautou in The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain… The young man with an artichoke heart gets his first taste of theater in 4th grade, thanks to a teacher who is on the rise The Jealousy of the Barbouille by Molière.
“I found the theater austere, but going on stage appealed to me. I saw that the teacher was interested in me. And I especially remember my pride afterwards, when people came to congratulate me while I was walking through the corridors of the school“, he says, smiling. So, the following year, he signed up for a theater course, but without having the intention of becoming a professional. Until he came across a documentary series dedicated to during Florent on Canal+.This intrigues me and really interests me.” However, he stops classes. Funny paradox. “In fact, I wanted to see if I wanted to do this job for the right reasons. But the months passed and I didn't miss it. When people assure you that you can only become an actor if it's vital, it inevitably cools you down.“
Nothing to lose
The hesitation-waltz will last for a little while. The year of his baccalaureate, he took a theater course in Paris. But at the same time, he returned to Poitiers to do a literary preparation then a history university. One step forward, two steps back. And when, finally, he decided to enroll in the Florent course, he did the same at the French Press Institute to study journalism. One step forward, one step aside. But not for long. “During the Florent course, I felt good. I met people from the free class, the stars of the school. I never imagined for a moment that I would be able to enter there one day.“Here again, the look of his teachers changes the situation.”It is thanks to them that I built my self-confidence. There are so many of us in this profession that when someone tells you that you are unique, you feel like you are growing wings. I was in disbelief, but I wanted to live up to it.“
This momentum will propel him from the free class of Florent to the Conservatory, then to cinema and the Comédie-Française. His enthusiasm in remembering this period of learning has not faded. “At the Conservatoire, I learned to have a point of view on a text. The thousand and one ways to play it. To step out of my comfort zones. It is an infinite luxury to work – intellectually as well as physically – on the actor that you are. Afterwards, we don't have time anymore. » The field of possibilities opens up. At the cinema, Radio Stars and his scapegoat character, as hilarious as it is creepy, catch the eye of the profession which pre-nominated him for the César. “It was a huge chance to start with a compositional role at the heart of such a joyful band.“
Luck, from then on, will never leave him. The luck of the enthusiast, that of the gifted student who transcends his natural gifts by ignoring the chapels. Including by joining the Comédie-Française, after an interview with the then director, Muriel Mayette, alerted to her case by her friend Loïc Corbery: “She had never seen me play. We just talked for a long time. She tried to scare me a little by explaining to me that joining the Comédie-Française is a bit like entering a convent: I will no longer have time to see my friends. If Tarantino calls me for a film, it will be nothing. I could tell she was exaggerating. But in doing so, she explained to me above all that the Comédie-Française is not an extra line on a CV, but an extremely demanding way of doing this job, by performing several plays at the same time. Which doesn't suit everyone. But I had nothing to lose.”
The Discourse: Benjamin Lavernhe astounding with virtuosity [critique]
Comic genius
From 2012, Benjamin Lavernhe developed his passion for theater there, but without cutting himself off from cinema. In dramatic registers (The Taste of Wonders by Éric Besnard where he portrays an autistic Asperger) or lighter (Like a plane by Bruno Podalydès). The Frenchman is obviously not a prison. “You just have to be smart and not overdo it. But it also allows you to refine your choices. So, I had to give up the last attempt to Goodbye up there. At that time I was playing The Straw Hat of Italy And Britannicus. Albert [Dupontel] didn't understand my decision. 'If you prefer to play dead authors, too bad for you', he replied, explaining to me that Laurent Lafitte was getting there. That's the game with him. You're either 100% or you're not. I hope we meet again, but these are really rich people's problems!'
In recent years, with The meaning of the party And My strangereverything accelerated for the actor. Two César nominations for two great comedy numbers. The genre he is most passionate about. “I think I've always made people laugh. It has often played tricks on me in more dramatic roles where I did not appear credible.“For the Conservatory competition, he was advised to go to Feydeau.”I don't want to lock myself into one genre, but I love making people laugh. It's a science of musicality and rhythm that I love practicing as much as dissecting..”
With The SpeechBenjamin Lavernhe takes a new step. That of the first truly major role in cinema. In this adaptation of Fabrice Caro's novel, he plays Adrien, suffering martyrdom in the heart of a family dinner where his mind keeps wandering between the desperate wait for a text message from his girlfriend who wanted “a break” in their relationship and the stress of soon having to give a speech at his sister's wedding. He is both the interpreter and the narrator in front of the camera of this plot based on a logic of permanent rupture. “When Laurent [Tirard] offered me the film, he was only halfway through the adaptation. But, from the outset, I liked the singularity of the narration and the responsibility implied by this role. Quite immodestly, I told myself that it was for me.” Which will not prevent anxiety on the set in this permanent balance to be found. “This scenario is full of moments where you want to be a clown. Except that if we go too far into comedy, the emotion never returns.”
Being wise and crazy, that's the secret of a role where, more than ever, Lavernhe's generosity shines through the screen. Never demonstrative and yet astonishingly comically genius. A talent that he has since put to the service of Wes Anderson (The French Dispatch), Eric Besnard (Delicious), Yvan Attal (Human Things) or the first film by Émilie Frèche (In an ideal world). The young man who loved actresses has come a long way. Very smart is he who can guess where this will take him.