Vincent Cassel is an exotic combination of gallantry and arrogance. Healthy cynicism and frank romanticism. Kassel is an exception to the rules known to us. His life has never followed the accepted route, and he is surrounded by solid exceptions. His new hero, the criminal Vidocq, also has an extremely adventurous character. In Russia, the film «Vidok: Emperor of Paris» will be released on July 11.
It took me a long time to arrange a meeting with him. And a few weeks in advance. But his press agent called two days before her and rescheduled the interview a day earlier. And when I made my way to Paris from Cannes, it was announced to me that «Monsieur Cassel, alas, will have only 24 minutes for you.» “But how is it…” I began. To which the press agent, in the voice of an unshakable optimist, assured me that I should not worry: «Monsieur Cassel speaks quickly.»
Monsieur Cassel speaks quickly. But thoughtfully. Monsieur Cassel does not speak platitudes. Monsieur Cassel is ready, albeit rather caustically, to answer uncomfortable questions. Monsieur Cassel speaks English like a native, albeit with a French accent. There are no taboo topics for Monsieur Cassel, and Monsieur Cassel, at the age of 52, easily defines his current state as “terribly in love and I hope to make more children in this relationship.” This is about his passionate marriage to 22-year-old model Tina Kunaki, who became the mother of his third child, again a daughter, after Deva and Leoni from actress Monica Bellucci.
I think that only a very confident person, a narcissist like his hero from “My King”, where he played a beautiful and dangerous man, seducer and exploiter, can declare himself like that. But then the star of the new film Vidocq: Emperor of Paris answers my question about his clothes, and he in different shades of gray — sweater, cargo pants, shirt, soft suede moccasins — answers with modest disdain for his own person … Our conversation constantly takes a turn . This is Monsieur Cassel, his life, his thoughts, the pace of his speech are rushing at full speed. 24 minutes might be enough.
Vincent Kassel: Gray? Well, gray hair. Well, gray. And a beard. There is a rhyme here, don’t you think? Ha, I just now thought about it — I see myself in the reflection behind your back. In fact, I just love the gray color … Probably, something unconscious makes itself felt here … I remember myself up to 30 years old — I was pretty serious about how I looked. And now, perhaps, really unconsciously, I try to merge with the background and not draw attention to myself.
The word «play» in the appendix to our profession is not used by chance
When you are young, you insist on your existence, you strive to show yourself. This is one way to prove yourself. You want to be noticed, and to be noticed what you do, what you are capable of. But at the very moment when I proved myself, when they began to recognize me — and recognize me, I lost interest in questions of style, I completely relaxed on this score.
Psychologies: Sorry, but disregard for your appearance did not prevent you from dating a woman three decades younger than you … A tactless question, do not answer if it is very tactless, but how did you decide?
Here is a strange thing: you would not ask such a question to a friend. And it turns out I can.
You are a public person and reported your relationship on Instagram (an extremist organization banned in Russia). Very impressive at the same time: they published a morning photo with their beloved with the hashtag “my only one” and a romantic postscript and received a comment from her: “And mine” …
In fact, friends, having learned about our relationship, just shouted in my ear: “Don’t do this!” The closest friend, who I have had since my youth, from the circus school, begged me to think about the male existential crisis that attracts us to girls of the age of our daughters, and choked with statistics — how the relationship of couples with a serious age gap ends.
But the trick is that I don’t care how it ends. Now we love each other and want to be together always. How long «always» will last, no one knows. For me, only this feeling is important, this “we are forever”. In addition, Tina, despite her really young age, is not prone to impulsive decisions, she is a practical person and already has life experience. After all, at the age of 15 she left her parents, began her modeling career, did not succumb to their persuasion to return — like many parents, her mother and father considered the world too dangerous a place for their child …
I realized at the age of 15 that life is short and finite. It was a terrible and exciting discovery.
To be honest, I myself think so when I think about my daughters — the eldest is now almost 15. And then … Although her parents are of different origins and different cultures — her father is half French, half Togolese, and her mother is half Italian, half Spanish, — they have been together for 25 years. Isn’t such family loyalty and devotion a promise of perspective?.. Don’t look like that, I’m joking… But I’m not joking when I say that I never think about the ending.
Life is a process. It has only yesterday and today. The future is an artificial construct. There is only ongoing today. My personal grammar only has the present tense. And if our relationship is possible today, nothing will stop me. Certainly not a rational argument.
Is your personal grammar the result of experience?
Not at all. I realized at the age of 15 that life is short and finite. It was a terrible and exciting discovery. And it made me act quickly, do a lot, not focus on anyone, keep my route in my head, not waste time and catch pleasant sensations always, from everything. I say «discovery», but there was nothing rational in it, you can’t say «I understood» here. Felt. I generally feel the world, life physically. Monica (Monica Bellucci, actress, Kassel’s first wife. — Approx. ed.) said: «You love what you like to touch or taste.»
Vincent Cassel: «Monica and I had an open marriage»
I, the son of one of the most famous actors of my generation, a hero-lover and an absolute star, went to a circus school to become an actor. Although I always knew that I wanted to be an actor. And not at all because my father was some kind of oppressive figure or I wanted to find my own name, separate from him. Although this, of course, took place. It’s just that for me this profession then was, and now remains something more connected with the idea, with movement, with the state of the body, than with the spirit, mind.
When asked, «Was it difficult to play the role of X?» I always have nothing to say. There is nothing difficult in our business, I do not tolerate his glorification at all. I never took him too seriously. Nobody’s life depends on it — neither yours nor mine. And when you find yourself at the level of the game, you can give more.
It’s like with children, I went through it with my girls — when you don’t force, don’t educate, don’t fulfill your parental duty, dragging you to school or swimming, but playing with them, they get more than you, most of you are now with them. And it will remain forever … The word «play» in the appendix to our profession is not used by chance. It’s just a game, even if there’s a lot of money involved.
I sometimes admire male lightness. And I envy. P-time — and huge love at 51. R-time — and again the father, when you are over 50 …
You are right to be jealous. There really is a difference between us. Women are not inclined to drastically change life. They put down roots or, there, make nests. They equip their comfort, even more internal than external. And a man at almost any moment of his life is ready to turn off the well-trodden track, from the approved route. Throw yourself into the furthest forest, if the game leads him there.
And who is the game?
Rather, what. The chance of a different life, different feelings, a different self. This is how I moved to Brazil — I fell in love with this country, with Rio, with the sunsets, the colors there … Two years ago I played Paul Gauguin in «The Savage» … This is his act — to escape from Paris to Haiti, from gray to colorful — this is for me Very close. He left his children, his family, I could not, and I would not need all these colors without my children … But I understand this impulse.
That’s how I ended up living in Rio. Air, ocean, plants whose names you don’t know… It’s like you need to re-learn the simplest things, to be in elementary school again… And for the sake of all this, for the sake of a new me, I left. Which, in fact, ended my marriage with Monica …
In our politically correct time, talking about the psychological differences between a man and a woman is quite bold …
And I speak as a feminist. I’m really a committed feminist. I am definitely for our equal rights. But I hate this vulgarity: «To achieve something, a woman needs to have balls.» So the woman is sentenced to give up herself. And she must be saved! I really believe in it. It’s strange, I stayed with my father at the age of 10 — my parents divorced, my mother went to New York to make a career, she was a journalist.
There was no constant female role figure in my childhood life. But in a way I was shaped by women. Mom — by her own departure. My Corsican grandmother and aunt with their sad songs — they sang when they cleaned our huge house in Corsica — and melodramatic statements like «I’d rather die» when I asked for a trip with a friend to Sicily, or «Don’t come to my grave» is if I, an 11-year-old, behaved badly.
Then again my mother, when I began to visit her in New York … And my father’s sister, Cecile, she is 16 years younger than me. Her very existence was for me something like a paternity rehearsal, I took care of her very much and still worry about her, although everything with Cecile, she is also an actress, is more than successful. Monica. We were together for 18 years, and this is more than a third of my life …
I strive to bring everything to the end, complete and feel the completeness of what has been done.
She taught me not to attach special importance to my own person, not to waste time fighting, but to live life to the fullest in Italian. And don’t think about what they say about you. She has been in public since the age of 16 — a top model, then an actress-star. At some point, there was too much press in our lives with her — tabloids, rumors, reports … I was seething. I wanted to control everything. And she was calm and relaxed, and by her very appearance made me overcome this mania of control over absolutely everything that was part of our and my life.
And then there were daughters. They gave me a unique feeling — a sense of their mediocrity. With their appearance, I became an ordinary, normal person with children. I, like everyone else, had children from now on … Why, all the best actors are actresses! Didn’t you notice? Women have flexibility and natural pretense. A man should become an actor. And women … just are.
So you probably support the #MeToo movement against sexual violence that arose after the Harvey Weinstein case…
Yes, it is a kind of natural phenomenon. What difference does it make how we feel about it if it’s a storm? Storm. Or a revolution. Yes, rather, the revolution is the overthrow of the foundations, which has matured and is ripe. It was inevitable, it had to happen. But, like any revolution, it cannot do without fatal side effects, injustices, hasty and incorrect decisions of someone’s destinies. The question is about power, not about the relationship between the sexes. Indeed, the positions of the authorities must be reviewed. Sex was just a pretext or a trigger, I’m sure.
This slogan of yours haunts me: life is a process, there is no future. But surely you are thinking about the future of your children?
Do you think fate is not character? Doesn’t it shape our lives? It’s just that I often feel grateful for my circus education. For some reason, not to the Lee Strasberg school, which gave me not to say how much. Namely, to the circus school.
I’m basically an aerialist. Now, there are some tricks that cannot be interrupted halfway through. They must be completed — or you will be crippled. We were also taught classical dance. In working with a partner, it is also impossible not to complete the ballet figure — otherwise she will be crippled.
It seems to me now that I owe my character to these trainings. I strive to bring everything to the end, complete and feel the completeness of what has been done. So it was with my marriage, with a divorce, with a new family, with children. I think if they have a character sufficient for life, there will be life … By the way, the girls are staying with us this week, and it is planned to study the trapeze circus tricks that they caught on Youtube. So everyone, sorry. I need to finish mounting the trapezoid.