Frères Léotard, à la vie à la mort

Deux frères liés par un amour absolu, une admiration réciproque, et une douleur éternelle.
L’un, Philippe Léotard, comédien incandescent, poète écorché et chanteur habité.
L’autre, François Léotard, homme politique brillant, ministre, écrivain, et frère déchiré.
De l’enfance à Fréjus jusqu’aux sommets du pouvoir et de la gloire, leur histoire raconte la fraternité, la culpabilité et la quête de vérité.
Deux trajectoires parallèles — l’art et la politique — unies par la lumière et l’ombre d’un lien indestructible.
Entre génie, chute et rédemption, ce film explore le drame intime de deux destins français, jusqu’à l’adieu bouleversant de François à Philippe, son frère pour toujours.

Réalisateur : Ranwa Stephan

Her major support point, his great love, This is the case of his life. That’s his brother. He never got over it and he never will. of Philippe’s death, and who even accused himself of not having been attentive enough, for having protected him sufficiently. He couldn’t do anything. Writing was what allowed him to grieve. I’m not even sure it’s completely over yet. but good. His true idol, That’s his brother. And that was his true success. It’s Philippe Léotard’s. He considered him the genius of the family. They were inseparable. Each one was… the other’s share. Philippe adored François Léotard and François Léotard adored Philippe Léotard. He loved himself so much that at first, He couldn’t tell himself that. Their relationship was very close. sometimes complex, because Philippe was like François, someone very free. I heard him say the most beautiful things one could say about a brother and some absolutely unbearable horrors. There are, in essence, fairly parallel trajectories. I think, and much less jarring than one might imagine. We can clearly see everything that set them against each other, and at the same time, the essential point. that is to say, everything that united them. For over 20 years, Philippe and François Léotard took center stage. Everyone has their place. cultural for one, politics for the other. Two brothers, two public figures who have often been pitted against each other. The raw, vulnerable actor facing off against the ambitious young wolves of power. Yet, Philippe and François Léotard share above all this constant quest for themselves. of their truth. They share demanding career paths based on perpetual questioning. These are journeys that refused to be satisfied with what was given to them. To constantly question the meaning of their lives, of their actions, of their profession. Even if it means questioning everything. Leave… to put themselves in danger. Two destinies intimately linked and much closer than appearances suggested, as if each had seen in the other the person they could have been. the one he should have been or would have liked to be. Before meeting up with François Léotard later, Here is the first chapter of this story, that of two brothers in the midst of a large family, of seven children, who, from a very young age, shared special moments outside of the family unit, as was the case in the summer of 1949. In the large holiday home in Fréjus, that year, Philippe, the eldest of the boys, is suffering from a joint infection that threatens his heart. The doctors had given him a death sentence. and it had a lifespan that was logically quite short. Very young, He came close to death. In any case, He very quickly became aware of the fragility of life. He must have had very, very strong anxieties about death. anxieties related to the illness. When anxiety keeps her from sleeping, The 9-year-old boy uses his crutch to wake up his brother François. He was downstairs in the living room because he was closer to my grandmother and my mother, etc. So all he had to do was type for it to work. At that moment I was going downstairs. I do indeed remember approaching him on several occasions, with him, next to him and sometimes passing him the books he wanted. Because he was immobilized. He couldn’t move. He took the opportunity to read through his father’s library. Until the end of the night, François listens attentively to the readings of this older brother whom he admires and whose serious illness he is unaware of. He was a perfectly handsome boy, healthy, sturdy, etc. So me, I didn’t understand this story. In addition, It was very well hidden within the family. We didn’t talk about it. That was odd. That, That’s really just one aspect of the family that’s like that. We’re not talking about illnesses. Actually… The parents don’t talk much to the 7 children in the family. It was a traditional family, bourgeois, Catholic, but really with 19th-century values. On one side were the parents, which we saw rather infrequently, and on the other side, the seven of us, with the right one, very often, and very few meals together. At the head of this large family, the father, André Léotard, A senior civil servant firmly entrenched on the right. François’ father was quite a character, a scholar, very distinguished. He wasn’t very tall, but an imposing mask, a mask that’s almost Roman, like that and then dark suits, dark ties. We didn’t feel like patting him on the shoulder, What. The image of the commander, What, the father, omnipotent. Me, I still don’t know who it was. I’ve never seen him in a shirt. I always saw him in a three-piece suit. One of the rare moments that André Léotard devotes to his children is reviewing their report cards in his office. You didn’t get 20 out of 20 in mathematics, So you will never be a naval commander. army general, nor a shining castle. And there, we were having some kind of session. Sometimes, when we replied, which ended rather violently. There was a monkey skin snuffbox that Philippe got hit in the head with several times. He told us that it really hurt a lot. With their mother, Antoinette, a Corsican woman with a strong character, The children find no more comfort. My mother thought it was wonderful to have all those birds. It was fun, It was joyful, but that’s because she wasn’t taking care of it. I don’t remember much tenderness. Perhaps I’ve forgotten, but there was a harshness, She has a real toughness about her. And since they were a couple who adored each other, It was even more difficult to gain access to them. It’s wonderful to see parents who adore each other. But when there is no room for the child, It’s very painful. In contrast to her distant parents, the two brothers, François and Philippe, cling to each other. Philippe and François developed even closer ties because they were very close in age and they had this kind of complicity which was not so readily apparent elsewhere. After several months of convalescence, Philippe is now cured. But this long illness left its mark on his personality. It gave him a hunger for life and for movement. after this forced immobilization. Philippe was very quickly a young boy in show business. in laughter, in exuberance. He had a… A spirit of conquest Yes, especially with regard to girls. Whether it’s bicycle racing or flirting with girls, It was often Philippe who won and François who was behind. who tended to lose the game. Philippe therefore gains the upper hand over his brother. Philippe had a very strong personality. overwhelming. Bright and brilliant. François was very fast, conversely, in introversion, in reflection, even meditation. He was somewhat in Philippe’s shadow. But as they grew up, François is becoming independent and he is seeking to exist outside of his brother’s land. In the Scouts, He even displays a rebellious character. This was the one I had the most trouble with as the group leader. He never wanted to fall in line. Never fall in line, François Léotard will demonstrate this the day before his 13th birthday. In the family apartment in Vincennes, He woke up very early, without making a sound. I took a schoolbag in which there were several pairs of shoes. He took some coins from his mother’s coat pocket. Actually, The young boy decided to leave that morning. in the utmost secrecy. The only idea was the south. That was the idea of the sun. South, of the sea. I didn’t have a specific point in mind. Upon waking, a few hours later, François’ parents discover this note in the entryway. Don’t worry, I have shoes. It was a way for him to reassure his parents. But it didn’t work at all. Because they were very worried, quite quickly They saw that he had left. The only one who laughed at that, It was Philippe. Who said, Don’t worry, He will return. It’s a joke. The others were dismayed. And then they were scared, because they were convinced it was serious. I remember the police, There was a telephone in my parents’ room that rang all the time. The Corsicans had started searching for him at the Vincennes gang. with a pistol in hand. It was the grand ball fight, and then mobilization of the family. of the Léotard clan. They all joined forces to search for the missing person. There were appeals on the radio, My father had made appeals saying that he could not be found. The young runaway has already taken a commuter train and is now walking south. as he had predicted. I asked for money, I slept under a tree, things like that, anyway. It didn’t last very long. Maybe 12 or 24 hours of walking maximum, and then he started to get hungry. He turned around. He took a vegetable truck back to the capital. And it was police officers who drove past on either side. I found myself at a police station at maybe 3 or 4 in the morning. Little guys with their harnesses, their revolvers, etc. And my parents arrived in tears. Relieved by this happy ending, The Léotard family can finally celebrate François’ 13th birthday. His brothers and sisters had teased him because… That was well noted. He received many gifts that day. of care and attention like he had probably never received before. Perhaps that was what he had been looking for. At François’s house, There’s a rumbling inside, then from time to time, There is an eruption, a head trembling, Then it continues. But it’s still burning underneath. Four years later, An event will truly mark the end of childhood for the Léotard children. The evening of December 2, 1959… An unusual commotion reigns in the family apartment in Vincennes. We hear, It was still very rare at the time. ring the phone something around 9am and a bit. All the lights in the apartment were on, so that woke us up. We can hear people walking in the corridor. And my mother was talking in all directions to everyone. We open the door, We go out. We say what’s happening, etc. And quite quickly, I don’t know, For us, it might have come from the radio. I don’t know. They said something happened in Fréjus. There would be deaths. For the Léotard children, Fréjus, This is the place of family roots. the holiday home, that of childhood memories, but it is also the city where their father became mayor a few months ago. In Fréjus, This is the other side of the disaster. the dead. How many are there? They say 350, But we don’t know exactly yet. We, we were there, like all children in the world, trying to find out what was happening, terrified at the same time. And then… My father obtains, I believe, a Caravelle or an aircraft belonging to the Ministry of the Interior, So he takes off at full speed. It was only the next day, while watching television, so that the children understand the scale of the disaster. What remains of the Malpassé dam, the cursed dam. On this side, nothing remains while on the other side, sections of the 61-meter-high wall that held back 50 million remain… cubic meters of water. For an unknown reason, The Malpassé dam has collapsed above Fréjus. Everything remains to be done. Everything has to start again. Everything needs to be started from scratch. on the passage of the enormous mass of water. Philippe and François then watched their father walk through the devastated city. Two days later, We left high school and we all went there. It’s true, it was abominable. Extremely violent, Extremely sad. I mostly remember the path that led to the family farm. which was our favorite cycling route. That was where we used to pass by. There were only vineyards, That’s where we fought. It’s the path of childhood. And I remember that path because… We couldn’t even, there was a ball, I don’t know, up to perhaps one meter, and then bodies. And them, obviously, They knew lots of people who had died, What. It was terrible. Philippe, then aged 19, joins the volunteers who are searching for possible survivors. He found his first love in a tree. He had been swept away by the waves and… She was in a tree with her bichie dress. She had, I believe, She was 17 years old and she had died in a tree. And probably, We lost our childhood at that moment. the whole family. The end of childhood, but also innocence. Because a controversy will very quickly arise with the payment of aid to the disaster victims. And the one who is targeted, He’s the mayor. André Léotard. I was considered to be… The one who was able to distribute all the incoming credit. There have been many of them. Effectively, aid, subsidies, of credits that have arrived. The public authorities found themselves in charge of a sum that was quite extravagant for the time. The city’s mayor is then suspected of dubious management of funds. There was a smear campaign claiming that my father had used this money to send us to colleges in Switzerland. He was accused of all the evils of the earth, the rumors. I was even told that he had set some aside for himself. There was a war, It was declared afterwards in Fréjus. The sons spoke of hatred. in any case of acrimony and aggression. I remember, They used to put toads in the mailbox and mice when we went to collect the mail at my grandparents’ house in Fréjus. And they would come with pitchforks to the front of the house to attack my parents, my father. That, It was violent. That was really below the belt. It was really disgusting. André Léotard will eventually be exonerated. but this episode will remain for the entire family clan a wound to their honor and pride. Philippe and François Léotard are now two young adults. very different from each other. Philippe is a confident and promising student, François is more serious. more tortured. And in the midst of the Algerian War, His political consciousness will be brutally awakened. He then 19 years old. One evening in October 1961, François Léotard wakes his two little sisters with a start. He came into our room, my sister and I, saying, “But wake up, girls, Wake up, girls! “Can you hear them being tortured?” François knows that a few hundred meters away, The fort of Vincennes served as a prison for Algerian independence fighters. There were Algerians who were brought there by bus, by truck. We had large windows. which overlooked the Château de Vincennes. He opened the windows wide and, unable to tell you if I heard cries of torture, but him, He claimed that we could hear the sounds of torture in the Bois de Vincennes. That it outraged them, That, That seems natural to me for any human being, and even more so for him. who had a very sensitive skin. A sensitivity that’s on the surface? which would trigger his militant commitment against the Algerian War. That year, François joins the Unified Socialist Party. This is a tense moment where François will oppose his father. He was not inclined towards very left-wing ideas, Father André Léotard. That’s an understatement. Go and register for the PSU, It was really about confronting his father in… the opposing camp, facing the camp of French Algeria, facing the camp of tradition, facing the camp of acquired values. With his fellow socialists, François Léotard… carries out actions against the Gaullist power in place. Leaflets were being distributed, We were putting up posters, And then we would go and tag the walls. The Bank of France had been in white and François had written “Father of Algeria” bright red. The young man rebels and challenges his father’s ideas. while at the same time… Philippe, Give me the high gears. His older brother, him, presents a very wise image. on television. Philippe is a dental assistant. But in truth, What is he doing? I am a literature student. You are a literature student, And why are you here? Because I think I’m 20 years old, So it’s normal that I work to pay for the things I need. It’s a joke to me because it must have lasted 15 days. He wanted to play the role of the nice, good, Catholic son who wants to please his parents. It’s an image like… Because he wanted to give some, an image to pretend. An image to pretend, and perhaps the beginnings of a vocation. Because at that time, The literature student will meet a woman from the theatre at the Sorbonne. Her name is Ariane Mouchkine. That’s when he started doing theatre like that. She was a mentor to quite a few actors. She taught us so much. Alongside her studies, Philippe Léotard discovers the scene. But his real desire lies elsewhere. His main concern was writing, He wanted to write. And to become a writer, first and foremost. He adapted the shows that Karjane wanted to put on. Philippe has therefore found a way. the theatre, while his brother is looking for his own. Immediately after the end of the Algerian War, François is ending his political involvement. He was a rather troubled young man, who was searching for himself, who had many questions. François was always filled with doubts. Doubts that lead to failure. The student failed his SPO exam and dropped out of law school. but in the summer of 1963, He believes he has found the answer to his quest for the absolute. From there, conveyed the will, which was almost a calling, almost sublime, to enter the monastery. Whoever chooses the monastery, That surprised me. Yes. Someone who does something out of the ordinary, No. Paradoxically, he who had fled from the authorities and his father’s orders, from his teachers, He was going to enter a religious order. And the Benedictine order, It’s something very strict. There are very specific rules, obviously chastity. They’re 3-8 year olds. 8 hours of prayer, 8 hours of work, 8 hours of sleep. On October 3, 1963, The one who has become Brother Francis has the exceptional right to invite his family to attend his taking of the habit at the monastery of the Kivir stone in the Morvan. Walking with your head down, with a shaved head, That was definitely when I was 13 years old. I found it both very beautiful, at the same time, I was saying to my little sister, He will remain silent for a year. It was frightening for me. I was happy, It’s visible in the photos. I was deeply happy. A smiling face that contrasts with his father’s face that day. It was the novitiate mass, Yes. And I was sitting next to my father and I saw him crying. The first time, the only time I saw him cry. The only sentence my father ever said, It’s “but it’s much too difficult for him”. He thought he was losing forever this son who represented the continuity of the Léotard tradition and the Léotard clan. That’s when I really understood that he had a soft spot for… For François in relation to Philippe. At the moment when Francis withdraws from the world, Philippe seems to be fully embracing it. Her first child was born a few days later, born from his union with Liliane, an actress from her troupe. And for some time now, He teaches literature at a college in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. The first lesson is quite surprising. He warned us, Good, We’re going to do the program. and then… We will also be interested in authors that I like. It’s a very loose interpretation of his mission. About once a month, He invited us to lunch. That’s where Philippe Léotard gave me my first pastis. We weren’t talking about class. We were talking about life, We were talking about lots of things. It was very, very nice. For us, He was like a big brother. An iconoclastic professor who has not abandoned theatre with his former comrades from the Sorbonne. In 1967, Philippe Léotard has been commissioned by the Théâtre du Soleil to adapt a British play, the kitchen. At the start, He was the one who did the translation. So he worked beforehand, him, with Ariane. But just days before the premiere, the main role can no longer be played. The director immediately thought of Philippe to replace him. It was easier for him. to take over the character since he was the one who had written the translation. So yes, He took over almost immediately. With this show, Philippe Léotard reveals his acting talent in a leading role. There was, as with him, an impulse. the pleasure of going on stage, it was obvious. He brought an energy, a dynamism, and beyond the text, It gave the play an incredible energy. There was an extraordinary presence, charisma, It was already a big deal. That’s where I first met Philip. Afterwards I went to see him, after the play, by saying listen, I found that you exude a new aura, and perhaps one day I will think of you for a film. There. And his family will also discover Philippe’s first steps on stage. We went to the theatre to see Philippe in the kitchen and my father didn’t open his mouth. He was getting wet. He was staring into space. But that’s the only play he saw. Because I remember that afterwards there was A Midsummer Night’s Dream, My father didn’t come. So they practically never spoke to each other again. And finally, at 28 years old, Philippe Léotard gives up teaching to become an actor. This was not the only upheaval in his life, as at the same time he separated from his wife Liliane, with whom he had two children. For his part, François left the monk’s habit after ten months of monastic life and resumed it without conviction. Law studies. At 25, He shares his life with a woman, France, 10 years old, his eldest son, and already a mother of 3 children. And as he continues to search for meaning in his existence, An event will soon trigger a change in him. In the Latin Quarter, It was the longest day. On the evening of May 10, 1968, François Léotard listens to the radio in his room at the hotel school in Paris. where he supervises the boarding school. That evening, The radio station is only talking about the student revolt in the heart of the Latin Quarter. He said to himself, “I’m going.” I’m not going. I’m going. I wasn’t going, and in the end he decided to abandon his supervisory duties in the middle of the night to go and experience the events firsthand. see them. I’m leaving. 8th arrondissement, No problem, all these bourgeois districts, There is no problem. calm, Nothing, at night, the end of the night. And I arrive, It starts at the bottom of Boulevard Saint-Michel, It smelled like tear gas. etc. And I’m coming. in a war-torn landscape. Awakened by the fervent protest, François finds himself at the heart of the protests. These were the first times the police used what were called “bidules” (devices). which were long wooden handles, with which he beat the protesters. Me, I took some hits from that thingamajig, I still feel the effects of it. And François took some too. I was arrested once. I remember it very well. Like an idiot, I shouted Gestapo. There were two in front, two behind And there you go! They took me away. It looked just like him. He was a libertarian. He has always been a libertarian. An arrest that will not prevent him from continuing to follow the movement, as evidenced by his presence four days later in a parade. But once the fever of May has passed, François Lothar feels he needs to build himself up. A future. I had taken some from there, though. I said to myself, You’re kidding. if you don’t work, You’re going to be… No, I really felt the wind of the bullet. That’s what’s been said there. I need to stop procrastinating. And perhaps this is the end of recess. 68 from that point of view. And there, I worked like crazy. The young man, perpetually dissatisfied, in search of himself, decides to embark on a more ambitious path. He had simultaneously applied for the entrance exam to the ENA and a competition at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He succeeded at both at the same time. And he ultimately chose the prestigious National School of Administration. When we entered ENA, We stood out in this very civilized class. First, we both arrived on a motorcycle in the courtyard of the ENA, which was an event, They had never seen anything like it. The three-piece suit worn by students at the ENA (National School of Administration), It was a bit of a shock in terms of clothing. Despite its rebellious appearance, François, the rebellious teenager, So he finally fell back into line. Philippe, For his part, continues his acting career. In 1973, He landed the lead role in “Yola” by Pierre Andello. Completely flabby, completely softened at the touch of a finger, It retains its imprint. The unique feature of the piece, That’s because there are nine women and two men. This is something that is absolutely rare in the theatre, Nine women on a stage for two men. including Philippe. Yola is a nomadic and poetic character, a free man, a role that reflects his personality. Actually, He seduces all the women in the room. It’s a village rooster, It’s a pastoral Donjouan. I believe there are many men who would have dreamed of being in his place. Offstage, The actor continues to play the role of the Donjouan. After the rehearsal or after the show, We liked to go eat first, And then afterwards we would go and drink some berries. We never left his side. because spending the evening listening to him, to joke with him, It was delicious. It usually ended at 4 a.m. not very fresh with each other. We were all more or less captivated by this man. We’ve all flirted with this man. He was 32. 33 years old at the time, He was in his prime, in his youth. Philippe was someone who lived in the moment. that is to say, who was enjoying the present. Hence all the crazy things he did, which allowed him to perhaps savor the present even more than others. It’s fun. First, pleasure, always a pleasure. The pleasure continues. Philippe Léotard charmed all the actresses in the play. But he will truly fall in love with his main partner. a young actress of 25 years old. It can be said that reality catches up with, and sometimes even surpasses, fiction. And there you have it, That’s what happened between Nathalie Baye and Philippe Lothar. They were a couple who radiated a lot of energy. A lot of authenticity. With this woman, this actress, He nevertheless lived through a very intense period of his life as an artist and as a man. She was the woman of his new life. In the mid-1970s, Philippe and François Léotard rarely see each other. separated by lives that were ultimately very different. Philippe seems elusive, too preoccupied with a festive and artistic life between theatre and cinema, while François is now a senior civil servant, young sub-prefect stationed in Périgueux. But in January 1975, a painful event. will reunite the siblings. The residents of Fréjus pay a final tribute to their former mayor of 12 years. André Léotard. And at the request of his family, One person was excluded from the funeral. The successor to André Léotard, the mayor of Fréjus, wanted to lead the funeral procession. This was considered an affront, particularly by the mother. François and Philippe. Because his succession, 4 years earlier, It was painful. To win the sea chair, His competitor revived memories of the Malpassé disaster and the slander. François, in particular, said that it was the lingering hatred from that affair that killed their father. politically speaking, and then physically speaking. I’m sure that’s what killed him. I’m sure of that. So on that day, when the procession passes in front of the town hall, The family is standing together against the person they hold responsible. And that’s when my mother told me, François, You know what needs to be done. She said nothing else. And I said, Yes, Mom, you can count on me, I will do it. What François Léotard must do, It’s about avenging his father’s honor by trying to regain the mayor’s office. The election, We knew she was in ’77. We knew that this guy, which we were passing by, He still had two years ahead of him. and that I needed to start the campaign quickly. Like his father, 16 years earlier, François then set out to conquer Fréjus. Everyone tried to dissuade me. First, because I risked being beaten. Everyone was telling me, You shouldn’t do that. You have a brilliant administrative career ahead of you. You’re not going to introduce yourself, etc. I said, I’ll do it anyway. At 33 years old, François Lautard is no longer the left-wing sympathizer of his student years. He is a centre-right candidate and his name is not necessarily an asset. At that moment, There were still some people from Fréjus who did not want the Léotard family. So it wasn’t a sure thing at all. People were suspicious. The political establishment was suspicious. I aroused a lot of jealousy because I was young. You should never be young in politics. All the barons are coming down on you. And besides, being a graduate of the École Nationale d’Administration (ENA) is not necessarily an advantage in electoral matters. It is therefore with his own resources that François Lothar is conducting his first political campaign. I said to myself, This is how war will be waged. I gathered a few friends, not much. There wasn’t much money, We did everything ourselves. So, with my mother-in-law and friends, we were making the leaflets, leaflets were being distributed. There were the colors of the posters that were coming, It was quite a spectacle. For two years, The candidate will methodically canvass the city streets to meet with citizens. The department was socialist. but at 80%. So it wasn’t easy. The battle was close until the very last moment. until the very last day of the election. On March 20, 1977, against all odds, François Léotard wins the municipal election with 52% voices. He achieved the goal he had set for himself. I put away his memory and I demolished what he had demolished. And that, for me, is a great source of pride. I will never go back on that. Beyond this victory, for honor, It’s a political and media recognition, in a disastrous context for the right wing. You are what one might call a young wolf of the Republic. Do your political ambitions stop at the Fréjus town hall? Quite. Quite, I am very happy here. I have a lot of work to do here, and believe me, for now, I’m not thinking about anything else. The new mayor says he’s not thinking about anything else. But his ambition will soon be reawakened. no doubt sharpened by the interest shown in him by the powers that be. Eventually, We took a close look at this young man, somewhat unknown at the time, who won this mayoral election, and the Giscardian government made an example of him. We need to receive this one wholesome message from you. Salvation will come from the field. Salvation will come from within yourself. The party elders said, there, we have a small potential, even though he already had some 35 years old. We’re going to make it climb. François Léotard soon surpassed his father’s career. He becomes a member of parliament for the Var department. And four years later, in 1982, The press hails him as politician of the year among the new generation. There was the trio Léotard, Longuet, Madelin. They were young, They were enthusiastic. In the aftermath of the 1981 failure, We say, well, now it’s our generation’s turn. We must take responsibility for the political family to which we belong. We were all members of the Republican party. But there is only one position available at the head of the Republican party. And very quickly, Alain Madelin and myself, We said no, There is one who has charisma and media authority, This is François. We will support him. He had a talent for communication. a freshness, a novelty that caught the light. It is not we who need to change, That’s power. And since he won’t do it himself, Well, we’re going to force him to. He was, in effect, the media leader of this cheerful team. A team that he will lead. Five years after his entry into politics, François Léotard becomes the leader of the Republican Party. In the early 1980s, The careers of Philippe and François Léotard took off in parallel, each in their own field. Both brothers have a presence in the media. François made a successful entry into politics, surpassing his father’s ambitions. And Philippe has already appeared in nearly 40 films. He is now in demand by the biggest French directors. François Truffaut, Claude Lelouch, Bertrand Tavernier. In 1982, a new proposal is submitted. an opportunity to reconnect with a partner. which is dear to her. For his film La Balance, Director Bob Swain immediately wanted Philippe Léotard for the lead role. It was a passionate affair between a couple, a love story. And to form this couple, The director spontaneously thought of Nathalie Baye. They were a couple, And I say it’s perfect for the film. Perfect for the film? Only when it came time to film it, The situation between the two actors has changed considerably. Nathalie, She brought in a game. She found Philippe on the ground. She was extremely shocked by his alcohol consumption. He has always been excessive. He had something very Mediterranean about him. both in its sunny side and in its tragic side. No longer able to tolerate his excesses, Nathalie Baye left Philippe Léotard shortly before filming. The producer and others were saying, “Ah yes, but wait, They are no longer together. etc. ” SO, It could be catastrophic. And it’s true that it’s always a risk. because when people hear them pass by, it’s an emotional and sentimental experience, That’s always a risk in a film. But I say, Yes, It’s true, But it can be great too. Take him for a fool. eh ! Do you think I’m doomed? Do you think I’m doomed? That’s it, You’re going to let me down! No, No, i love you ! I love you, please. He was still in love with her, though. I had the feeling that he wanted to prove something to her. It was important. This film is for him. vis-à-vis her. I had the impression that he wanted to recreate Nathalie. The script includes a delicate scene given the situation between the two actors. A sequence that worries the director. It was the love scene at the end of the film. In fact, I waited until the end of the film to do it because I thought if I do it at the beginning it goes badly, so the rest of the film is likely to be compromised. I don’t know how they managed to do that. But do they play? Don’t they play? I know nothing. But the magic is there. It worked. Philippe Léotard was a guy who went absolutely to the very end of himself. He was one of those actors where at some point… The mixture of what they interpret and what they feel arrives at the same place. That is to say, at some point, we say to ourselves, “hey, I’m no longer at the cinema. “I am in life.” A few months after the release of La Balance, The two main actors are nominated for a César award. The event took place on February 23, 1983. at the Grand Rex, in Paris. I was happy. And what was wonderful, It’s because it’s a film that appealed to the public. And this is the first time I’ve had such a big public success. So I thank Bob Swem, I thank all the actors in the film. Nathalie Baye thanks all the actors in the film, but she has no particular words for Philippe Léotard. The actor who, a few minutes earlier, was himself nominated. The four nominations for best actor are… Gérard Depardieu as Danton. I said it’s Depardieu. I said it’s definitely him. Gerard, He was getting up to go and collect his prize. The winner is Philippe Léotard. But nobody was waiting, It was extraordinary. Detained at the theatre that evening, Philippe Léotard learned he had won his César award as he was leaving the stage. For him, It’s more of a revenge against a lot of people. lots of things. His painful breakup with Nathalie Baye, For example. He took it more or less like that, rather than as a kind of grand reward. The actor finally joined the César Awards dinner. And for him… The evening will take a bitter turn when Nathalie Baye is seen on Johnny Hallyday’s arm. his new companion. He had a deep contempt for Johnny Hallyday. It was unbearable that she had chosen that guy. whereas I have a teaching qualification in grammar or something like that, And for him, it was a slap in the face. And so he took it very, very badly. The day after, Philippe Léotard is a guest on the 8 PM news to share his thoughts on his award. He arrived… In a state that was a little sad because deep down he was recovering from his injuries. I arrived at Foucault, and everyone seemed happy to see me. So it makes marbles, you know. It’s not so much about having the César, It’s when people tell you they love you. So in the end, we’re not asking much more of them. And I cried. Because I say, Philippe, What are you doing here? But perhaps that’s his way of saying, screw you, Oh, fuck it. I don’t know. He has just gone through a breakup. that he hurt a lot, So a trophy won’t be enough to make him forget that. Following this artistic recognition, linked to a personal rift, The actor falls into a deep depression. For days and nights, He lived in his car. He parked his car outside Nathalie Baye’s house and it was killing him. And he’s one of his friends, Coluche, who will then come to his aid. When he saw the despair in which Philip was, He offered to put her up. So that says a lot about the state Philippe was in at that time. He was at rock bottom. At that time… Coluche’s house is a place of permanent celebration and Philippe Léotard takes refuge in artificial paradises. He was sweating there. He was someone who wasn’t at all, completely reasonable, and as long as there was some, He took some. I believe that’s where he did the most drugs. Sometimes I worried, I was thinking, He is going to die. It’s not possible. Often, The actor isolates himself in a corner of the house to write. It was a place where there was light, at one time. very quiet Nobody came to cause trouble. So he was there, And he always had his notebooks, its loose leaves, etc. There was a kind of pencil-like object that was sometimes placed behind the ear. Then he would write things. And he hung his writings on the clotheslines with clothespins. And in the morning, I was actually going to see the fruit of his thinking and his agitations. And in fact, He didn’t like what he wrote at all. And it was absolutely fantastic. As he constantly wrote, Well, almost. and especially while standing He also wrote on the walls. And then on the white walls, It was very beautiful. but eventually. The walls, it was… I don’t know, They were the pages of a calligraphed book. Philippe Léotard eventually left Coluche’s house. He then wandered from hotel to hotel, living only at night, as if suspended in its own existence. Great artists follow one another, each with their own personal emotions. They try them out. They become the guinea pigs. They’re testing how far we can go. We were taking it one day at a time. We never thought about tomorrow. Today is a beautiful day to die. That was our motto. and so we never made plans for the future. He experienced it as a form of emancipation. like a search for absolute happiness, total, This total happiness was death. It’s really the insect that goes towards the candle flame. François Léotard helplessly witnesses his brother’s shipwreck. François was very worried about his brother’s physical and psychological decline. He was watching him, He had taken the place of the older brother. I was completely disarmed, This has, in fact, caused us to drift apart on several occasions. Because when you don’t know how to do it, We’re always afraid of doing it wrong. And so, There are times when you give up. It’s very painful. In May 1984, The actor is filming a new movie. Not with you, nor without you This time he plays the role of a man whose wife has left him for another man. Not with you, “Ni sans toi” inevitably reminded him of his own past experiences. their breakup, the way he felt betrayed by Nathalie. The memories were still very vivid. It’s like a wound. And like Philippe Léotard, Rock, his character, sinks into alcoholism. It was something extremely profound, pathetic. The character had hit rock bottom. the depths of despair. You’re always pulling on me, So don’t come looking for me. it’s over. Do you understand? Don’t you understand? You don’t understand. Don’t you understand that you’re hurting me? Wrong ! My family, It’s them. So. SO, Get out of here. Throughout the filming, Philippe Léotard has an elusive demeanor. He regularly disappears. For a significant portion of the film, He returns to Paris in the evening. I learned about it very late, that he goes to Cœur Samba and that he returns in the morning. He needed to disconnect from the atmosphere of the film shoot. There was a wave of panic because we didn’t know if… We were going to find him. if we were going to be able to film the next day. He returned the next morning. He told me no. No, I am in good shape. I am in good shape. I’m a little sleepy. I am in good shape. I’m in good shape. Come on, here we go, here we go. Yeah, here we go. It was during one of his outings that an encounter would pull him out of despair. And that’s where he met Emmanuel. And it was a light on the set, that girl from that time. It was impossible not to notice Emmanuel, and she was all anyone could see. The experience of meeting this young girl who, as he recounted, He put a gun in his mouth. He was given back his self-confidence. I think. In any case, It rekindled his desire to live. It’s amazing to see how love can save men. Philippe Léotard. gradually emerges from the darkness into which he has sunk for several months, his younger brother pursued a flawless career in politics. One man in particular has realized that he has become indispensable and is preparing to make him an offer. November 12, 1985, The leader of the Republican party is invited to a secret dinner in Paris. It was Chirac who approached and invited all the Mandaléos to come to dinner. We are very surprised. This meeting, There is Alain Madelin, François Léotard and myself, and Jacques Chirac on the other side. The number 1 of the RPR, first and foremost, he met François Léotard. became a rising star on the right. He was completely fascinated by this young man who stood out from the classic political discourse. For It had not escaped notice that Chirac’s popularity rating exceeded hers in opinion polls. Four months before the parliamentary elections… Jacques Chirac needs an alliance to make the right win and have a chance of entering Matignon. We’re going to win all by ourselves. That’s completely impossible. We are a completely indispensable force. Chirac needs the delays, inevitably. And he cannot escape it. The agreement that Jacques Chirac proposed that evening proved to be full of promise. There is a sort of agreement. Chirac, ok. You take Matignon, if the right wing wins, But you give us the right ministries. For them, who were still relatively young in politics, It was a historic moment. impressive, exciting, it’s certain. For us, It’s about working for ourselves. We are building the government. That evening, The agreement is concluded. From then on, François Letart will campaign alongside Jacques Chirac. For my part, I wish that all opposition leaders would set themselves this as their sole objective. First of all, to be elected on the evening of March 16th. When the right wing won the Assembly on March 16, 1986, and that Jacques Chirac became Prime Minister four days later, François Léotard is awaiting the appointment he negotiated. Léotard wanted, from that time onwards, a sovereign ministry and the Ministry of Defence. And then, It didn’t happen. I suspect Chirac of having told a big lie. Jacques Chirac told François, I assure you, I pleaded your case with Mitterrand, But really, He refused. That’s absolutely the opposite of you being Minister of Defence. And when I discussed it again afterwards with Mitterrand’s chief of staff, He told me, But Jacques Chirac never asked François Mitterrand that question. Driven by a very different motivation, the president of the Republican Party obtains another portfolio. François Léotard chose the culture that is most important. It was his second choice. And when he takes culture, He’s thinking about Philippe. I am convinced of it. Me, for my part. A way for the new Minister of Culture to get closer to his brother after a period of estrangement. First of all, he told me, I will never ask you for anything. And I said to him, He has no intention of giving you anything. And he said, On the other hand, I can help you. I can help you because I know the field well. etc. And it’s true that it helped me. Besides. The cultural sector, particularly Parisian is a priori hostile to a right-wing minister. I had told Philippe, listen, We’re going to have a party at the ministry. You invite all your friends. François, moreover, was another charming man. He was simultaneously asking some questions to each other, We had some suggestions, That was very kind of him. A sign of this reaffirmed link? François and Philippe agree to participate for the first time. together, to a television program. The date is October 12, 1986. They were confident. I got along well with both of them. Good, François was a politician. Philippe was more difficult to tame, He was a mad horse. So it was important that they feel comfortable and confident. François Léotard, Is it easy to heal the wounds of a man as scarred as your brother? It’s easy at first because I recognize myself so much in certain moments when he speaks, But it’s true that I followed a very different path. I think it’s good that there are still people like Philippe in France. There will be a company apartment. The ministers will always find some. Politics was something that used to be funny. Philippe, but at the same time he was intrigued to see that his brother, whom he knew well… might be interested in it, so that, That intrigued him. No, but they were both cute when you saw them. You don’t look much like him. Well, anyway… No, first of all, it would be up to him to do it. And you still love each other very much? Yes, He is my oldest companion, It’s still the one I hit first when I discovered my muscles. Would you have been a Minister of Culture? Between us, Yes, We’re going to create a magnificent Minister of Culture. You’ll see. There are trajectories, basically, fairly parallel, I think, and much less jarring than one might imagine. We can clearly see everything that set them against each other, and at the same time, the essential, that is to say, everything that united them. And deep down, I think we can talk about mutual admiration. That is to say, François sometimes underestimated the admiration that Philippe had for him. He talks a lot about the admiration he himself has for his brother Philippe. and Philippe. Venerate Francis. The Minister of Culture’s ambition is becoming clear. And on June 1, 1987, He takes the liberty of openly criticizing Jacques Chirac in an interview. I was referring to the soldier-monks of the RPR. That’s a somewhat excessive statement. But I had said it. The soldier monks, It’s solid. But it’s not particularly democratic. And obviously, It’s going very badly. Jacques Chirac did not let his minister’s provocation go unchallenged and summoned him immediately. So I go to Matignon and I see Chirac, legs like this, lying down, saying to me how much you look like me, You have long legs. It starts like this, That’s Chirac in his purest form. And secondly, You know what kind of nonsense I said about it? Me then, oh my, But you can’t know. After a while he said, Okay, so… You said something stupid. And where do you stay in the government? And you either shut your mouth or you leave the government. And there, You can talk as much as you want. If the Prime Minister is so radical, He wants to protect himself in view of the next presidential election. Chirac realized that Léotard was becoming an obstacle for him. a danger. He saw him as a potential rival in ’88 for the presidential election. And as soon as the interview was over, Matignon is quick to release the information. There is a statement from the Prime Minister saying that he asked François Léthard to make a clear choice. All the journalists flocked there, and I said, “Listen, I won’t answer now.” I will reply in a week. There is a meeting planned in Fréjusque. I will respond publicly at that time and not a word until then. For one week, The Minister of Culture will maintain this position. just like his political colleagues. Are you smiling or are you pretending? It’s the sign of Pisces, The fish are mute. But the family photo or the plan photo already revealed part of Mr.’s decision. Leotard. In a way. For us, observers. June 6, 1987, François Léotard will demonstrate his sense of staging that evening at a meeting. It was a speech given at midnight under the stars of Fréjus. therefore with major political tension. It’s quite an amazing evening because the people who are there don’t know what François Léotard is going to say. And that’s where all his fame came from. His charm must work. The upcoming presidential election is on everyone’s mind. It even seems, according to him, within reach. He muddied the waters by suggesting that if he left the government, He himself would be put forward as a candidate for the presidential election. He can say both “I want to save the Republic and the majority” and immediately afterward, “I am a candidate, downright ” . Some journalists say “but let François Léotard go”. And at one point, We think he can go. The crowd is large, The activists came from all over the country. And among them, a faithful follower came to support his brother. Philippe was present. He knew it was a very important moment in his brother’s political history. This shows the strength of their bond. At midnight, The leader of the Republican party finally takes the podium to end the suspense. I am the secretary general. from a political party within the majority, I remain so. I am a government minister. I remain so. I have my freedom of speech, I’m keeping it. I am fighting to make the government succeed. to win a majority and help the French. The answer is clear, François Léotard will not be a candidate in the presidential election against Jacques Chirac. That day, if extending these words, I had said, Listen to Léa, Let’s go. Because that’s not acceptable. And that’s where I perhaps lacked willpower. We might not have won. I might not have won. But I certainly missed the point of the period. And there, He lacked the audacity. Perhaps one of his faults. Perhaps he could have forced fate and gone beyond the suspense of a few days. After a week of uncertainty, François Léotard has just withdrawn from the presidential race. And a few months later, The victory of the left forces him to leave the government and return to the benches of the National Assembly. At the same time, his brother, him, also experienced a setback in his career. He must therefore reinvent his destiny. In the mid-1980s, Philippe Léotard is making far fewer films. Producers and directors seem to be avoiding this tormented actor. He was a little frightening because of his unpredictable nature. His life was complicated and his lifestyle was complicated. And so he wasn’t someone who was easy to deal with. His various addictions sometimes prevented him from working. There were days when he wasn’t in good shape… But in fact, his problem with cinema, That was his problem with the insurance company. which were indeed done through gossip. refused to provide insurance for the films. The actor will then attempt a new challenge, to become a singer. When he told me he was going to sing, I thought it was a shame because he’s such an extraordinary actor. Will he be able to be as extraordinary in singing? It’s not because his name was Philippe Léotard, He’s an actor… I realized that everyone was going to rush to buy his album at the time. Philippe Léotard writes numerous texts, but the project struggled to convince record companies until a meeting with young producers from Lille. A project like that, It’s an immediately rare project, strong. We felt that an adventure was beginning. It was a huge Paris. It was as exciting as it was nerve-wracking. The financial resources had to be found. A team needed to be organized. When you start a production, You never know if you’ll finish it. We know that sometimes we might not finish it. And in 1989, Philippe Léotard records his first songs. To be foolish in order to be wise, i love you, Because it’s you. The texts all told stories about things that were important to him. for us. It was the opposite of what was called a variety show project. I love you, You know what? Philippe was very demanding. Sometimes it pushed the boundaries of my tolerance. He could do a voiceover 25 times, And not for reasons of accuracy, once again. for reasons of feeling. It was obviously necessary that the resonance of these words be as profound as the care he took in writing and choosing them. He could arrive at the studio in a state of apparent fatigue and barely behind the microphone, He was pulling himself together. It was something. And this studio vibrated intensely. If Philippe Léotard is so combative… It’s also because of his partner, Emmanuelle, support for him. Whenever he needed her, She was there all the time. Whatever he did, she was there. And so, It gave him strength. It also gave him confidence when he lacked it. He was very much in love with Emmanuelle. She was truly his rare gem, his Emmanuelle. They understood each other without needing to use words or gestures. So, It was something very beautiful. It’s a beautiful love. The artist is starting a second life. with the secret hope that this album will please the public. When he played me his first songs, I fell under its spell. I said to myself, shit, The bastard! Fuck, how ? Are we not allowed to have two donations like that? A donation, That’s already pretty good. but two, so there… Claude Lelouch is not mistaken. The album sold out very quickly. with nearly 70,000 copies sold, and went gold. The actor succeeded in his gamble. For his part, The fate of his brother François is about to take an unexpected turn. June 29, 1992, Agence France-Presse announces his indictment in a real estate case concerning his property in Fréjus. There was a wall adjoining this house and he was accused of having the town hall intervene for the work concerning this wall of this house and therefore of having used and over-abused local power. François Léotard is accused of interference. influence peddling and corruption. As always, François Léotard experiences things with great intensity. with reactions that are sometimes very raw. His self-image and the way others saw him mattered a lot, and he couldn’t stand being suspected like that. He called his colleague at the town hall to ask him to come to the house. I remember, He took a small notebook and wrote his resignation letter from his… This is the first time a politician has reacted to being charged by immediately resigning from all his positions. Phone call from Chirac You’re completely crazy. You are giving the judge a right, You are not guilty. You are not condemned. You’re making a huge mistake. “You’re going to throw us all into the sea.” He even yells at me. He basically told her, “But here, You’re doing something stupid. You mustn’t get involved in the game again. because otherwise, This will set a precedent. And it didn’t do anything. Léotard remained above the stubborn mule on the subject. And he resigned. Like the Malpassé dam scandal, This affair occupied the media for several months. And it casts a new shadow over the name of the Léotards in Fréjus. It was reminiscent of what his father had… He was able to live on his own. And this father-son transposition to 30 years apart, with the onslaught of what he considered to be slander, rumors, the unbearable nature of injustice, It touched a very sensitive nerve in the history of the Léotards, father and son. In these turbulent times, François Léotard can count on unwavering support. Philippe was very attentive and very present. wanting to defend… His brother’s honor and wanting to answer for his probity and total integrity. He stated, and he deeply believed it, that his brother was an honest person. He was an honest man. In February 1993, eight months after the start of the case, The mayor of Fréjus is cleared by a dismissal of charges. He regained all his mandates in the spring and became a minister under Edouard Balladur. is offered to François Lothar, the ministry he had dreamed of since 1986 namely the Ministry of Defence. Philippe, It’s true that he found he was a brother. The Minister of Defence, Frankly, It hurt him. That messed him up badly. So he programmed himself to be Minister of Defence. And he knew something about that field. That’s his thing. his way of taking a certain distance, to maintain his level of humor while also maintaining his level of love for his brother. This made Philippe laugh a lot. that’s because, in any case, in general, François received Philippe at the ministry at night. He was shouting at the police officers who were in the courtyard, At attention, The gendarmes stood at attention. On the surface… The fates of the two brothers seem to set them against each other. It’s difficult when you’re the Minister of Defence to take responsibility for a brother like Philippe. It’s very, very difficult. That’s the way we need to look at things. I received the police reports every morning. Your brother was found at such and such a place, etc. I naturally had that detail. He was very well looked after, So when we learned that he was completely adrift, We were trying to help him. When you’re a brother in the line of duty and you get pulled over on the road because you just did 30 km in reverse with a 4×4 on the motorway at 4am heading towards Fréjus, It’s certain that the police, There, They tend to be a little lenient. Oh, but there are countless stories, There are countless stories because Philippe had a boundless imagination. He was certainly also amused to be even freer. From the moment he knew that sometimes it would cause one or two small problems for his brother. It’s like a child doing stupid things, What. He was a naughty kid who got into trouble. Philippe Léotard was then going through an unstable period. Separated from his partner Emmanuelle, and monitored by the police for his excessive drug use. October 4, 1994… The Minister of Defence has been informed that a search will take place at his brother’s home. It was common knowledge that when going to Philippe’s, We were going to find something. He consumed things that were illegal. And to keep his brother out of prison, François decides to intervene. He warned Philippe Léotard of the search. Good, obviously, Philippe’s friends cleaned up. When the police and the gendarmerie arrived, Obviously there was nothing there. Philippe could think of nothing better than to tell the police officer “Obviously, I’m not stupid.” My brother had warned me, We cleaned up. And the police officer recorded that in his report. Obviously, that was quite unfortunate. for François Léotard. Unfortunate and even considered a crime. This will be reported in the press and put François Léotard in a difficult position. It was sacred to him. It was, I was going to say, A family duty, and that came before any other consideration. I couldn’t care less. So that, I can tell you that from yesterday, today and tomorrow. I couldn’t care less. So. Because brotherly love, It plays well before that. much more, far stronger than any law. And me, My brother, He can do anything. This is my brother, I will defend him. whatever he did. But the Minister of Defence can no longer do much for the one who has proclaimed himself Minister of Defence. Philippe Léotard is inevitably sinking and his brother’s help is no longer enough. The artist is becoming increasingly fragile. The fear of an incident hangs over each of his public appearances. On September 19, 1996, Philippe Léotard is a guest on Paul Amart’s show. So we’re going to show a declaration of love from a brother to his brother. If you had a few words to say to him, What would you say to him? That I admire him and that I wish he could remain free. He chose his life. It’s up to him to lead it, and above all, for him to continue to have the talent he possesses. as he has had and as he will continue to have. This is my brother, the bastard, eh ! Those bastards! This is my brother. But it’s beautiful. But that’s life. I’ve loved him for 50 years. So now, I choose the Gainsbourg solution. Speed up the process. That’s to say, If I can drink two bottles of whisky instead of one during the day, It will be faster. When we were talking about Devers, for example, by Coluche, his friends, He is being treated as… I said, but why are you attacking them? Because they left before me. They played this dirty trick on me. If I can drink 4 packs, smoking 4 packs of Gitanes cigarettes instead of 2, It will be faster. So. When you take it during the day, That must be the case. 1 liter of vodka, plus half a liter of rum, plus some other stuff, I don’t know what. No, no. It was 3 or 4 alcohols per liter. So what do I do? Long live. What is this? Throughout the interview, he kept talking about death. For someone who lived life as intensely as he did, This decade, from 50 to 60 years old, was surely quite physically demanding. Philippe Léotard has given up the fight. His brother will then try once again to bring him back to life. He could no longer stay at home. He was going to die. He needed to be hospitalized. François and I decided to do it, and with a doctor. Detox treatments somewhat limit its consumption. but they never succeeded in curing him of his addictions. He was arriving, It’s an extraordinary mystery. I observed this on several occasions, to bring bottles of wine and alcohol into a hospital. and when we looked under his bed, There were nurses, though. There were still people who did the cleaning, though. There were lots of bottles. His cocaine was brought to him secretly. They brought him wine in secret, The hospital room was black with smoke. We suffered more than he did. It’s strange to say that, That sounds selfish. But that’s not true. because sinking like that, in a way that we have chosen, that he chose, That’s what he wanted, so that’s how it is. it was coming We, We didn’t choose this. including, Once again, all the more so for someone you love. So we were unhappy. much more than perhaps it was. Like a lifebuoy, His accordionist and producer will encourage him to write and record a fourth album. We managed to make these songs together. When you listen to the album, He regained his voice from 12 years ago. But the songs are great. To prepare for the release of his next album, Philippe Lyotard is flying to Morocco for a tour. He was happy to leave. There was no problem. Besides, It started very well. We started in Oujda. After Oujda, Casablanca and Tangier Then comes the final scene. that of Agadir. The date is February 9, 2000. The first two songs… It’s going so-so. And then I don’t know anymore if it’s the third or the fourth. He moved too far forward and then he fell. He didn’t see the end of the scene. he fell. I couldn’t have imagined that. that this accident was going to happen at that moment. We were taken to the hospital in a kind of van. He was lying on a cot. I was nearby and then all the chaos of the road, He took it all in stride. He was suffering terribly. Philippe Léotard is being urgently repatriated to France. But imported treatments will not be able to repair a body too damaged by excesses. Morally, intellectually, I think he gave up at some point. Finally, He gave up in the sense that he no longer wanted to. The last time I saw him, It was at the hospital. I knew he was doing very, very badly. I knew his days were numbered. And I had asked him what he wanted. He told me he would like some wine and cigarettes. So I brought it to him secretly, hidden inside things. And that was the last thing that pleased him. He was overjoyed. I saw a thousand thanks in her eyes. August 25, 2001, after more than a year of hospitalization, Philippe Léotard died of respiratory failure. It is… My wife is coming into the room, I remember, I was resting, who told me, There, Philippe is dead. And then I immediately closed the door and said, “Leave me alone.” I locked myself in and cried like a child. like a baby. I felt like I was losing a part of myself. from my childhood of my life. Very, very difficult. And I understood at that moment that he was right. not me. That in fact I was misled. that her life itself was much more beautiful than mine. Four months after Philippe’s death, François Léotard radically changed his life. He definitively abandoned politics and decided to write novels. It’s as if he wanted to send me something as he died. By telling me “get lost, “Get out of here.” And that was truly a word from him. “Get out of here, “Don’t stay in there.” Complementarity, That’s what makes a couple strong. even if it’s at the level of siblings. They were two characters who needed each other. and then who were so modest that they couldn’t say what they wanted to say to each other. And so you are going to make the choice to leave the political scene permanently. Good evening François Lothar. Good evening. Thank you for being with us tonight. What a story this brother story is. Do we lose a little bit of our own life in the life of the other? Yes, But I believe it’s necessary. I think that a human being, It is always made of two pieces. Whether it’s a woman, whether it’s a husband, a father, a lover. I mean, We need two people to truly be a human being. it seems to me. YOU, Was it him? And me, It was him. I mean, He helped me a lot to be perhaps a little more human than I naturally was. What did you find appealing about him? What couldn’t you find at home? Or what you would have liked to find at home? There was both insolence, And I’ve never really been insolent, In fact, And I really liked that. It’s a form of freedom. There was laughter. I laugh with difficulty, I tell a funny story, Nobody’s laughing. There was also the show, he was putting on a show for himself. And it was beautiful. because it was the essence of himself. There are many things I didn’t have. He was right and you were wrong. You even go so far as to say that his life, the life of Philippe Léotard, was, despite the injuries, the pains, more beautiful than yours? Yes, no doubt. Because he really did what he wanted to do. Me, not always. First of all, And that’s beautiful, to go all the way to the end of your own dream. And then at the same time, because he created more than I created him. I mean, If at the end of one’s life one can say to oneself, “What have I created?” What have I done? then he wrote, He sang, He played, He has portrayed various characters, He has appeared in magnificent roles in the cinema. I believe he has a record, so to speak, at the end of his life. We wonder, What remains of me? I believe he can be proud of what remains of him. Didn’t the roles reverse at some point? Initially, you’re the rebel. He’s the one who said, who actually writes it, between 1963 and 1968, YOU. He spent his time playing guitar in bars, I was preparing for difficult exams. Philippe, I had set out to become a teacher, father of a family, tidy, voter type, paying his taxes. And him, crazy lunatic. Were you the crazy one back then? Yes, That’s somewhat true. No, No, That’s somewhat true. But at several points in our lives, Things have reversed. That is to say, when I chose, if I dare say, to be a minister, or to be the ideal son-in-law, or to be the good boy, He was the madman. But the madman who was saying to the other, You are nothing at all. And conversely, when I wanted to be… Myself, that is to say, when I was writing, for example, the one who told me no, Those are not the right words. That’s not how you should do it. Was there some form of permanent child’s play? even into adulthood, of the cowboy and the Indian shooting arrows at each other, who are chasing each other? We’ve always played, from the sands of Fréjus to the end, We’ve always played. But playing multiple roles at the same time, but at the same time, playing at moving towards a form of personal truth. respondent. However, this is not a role you play when you enter the seminary. What happens at that moment? This is not a similar one. if you allow me, It’s a monastery. And monastery, In my opinion, It was an absolute. It was a place of contemplation, of loneliness of silence of peace. And so, In my opinion, It wasn’t a game at all. It was an important interlude. Yes, very, very important. And I had a hard time leaving that. For months, years, I experienced my departure from the monastery as a betrayal. And what is making you want to leave? It’s very difficult to answer. Probably the idea of staying there… For so long, with a future, I can tell you exactly what they are doing while he is. With a future that is also timed. And perhaps that’s what women desire. Maybe that’s it. That’s it, It’s this loneliness in relation to women. I have always loved women very much, that’s how it is. Watching them, It doesn’t necessarily mean being fickle. but the presence of women, women’s spirituality, their game, their game of seduction. You needed a monastery, (in quotation marks) to understand all of this. Yes, To understand all of this, That’s a bit strange. So you, Ultimately, the monastery, Tell me, a woman, him… He’s almost becoming an actor. (in quotation marks) by chance. Eventually, That’s not what was originally written. It’s true, It’s true. And how to put it, I don’t know how it came about. He was already an actor at a very young age. In the living room of the house, He told stories. That’s how we were. We were fascinated. I remember, His description of Rio Bravo was extraordinary. With Dean Martin suspended in mid-air, It was extraordinary. And so, That, It was very beautiful. I heard stories about Coluche. Everyone was doubled over with laughter. And there you have it, So those were some great moments. He knew how to make people laugh. What is it that at some point, will this fragility lead to? Success? It is, I believe, which follows… Or she had been there for a long time. This fragility? I believe she has always been there. particularly after his childhood illness. But above all, the fact that when you take on a series of different roles, where each time you go all the way in this role, after a while, under the cameras. in front of everyone. An important film. Libra, For example. Libra, You kiss a woman, And it has to be true. And what’s more, it was true. And who is no longer the woman of his life at that precise moment, neither, Nathalie Baye, in this case. There, There is a moment that is truly tragic. Does he talk to you about it? Yes. He spoke to me mainly about it because of the vexation it had been that she had been with Johnny Lee. Johnny Lee at the time. That, for him, who was deeply imbued with intellectual values, It was a slap in the face. And he’s wrong about it. Besides, because Johnny is also a very great actor. Success? Success is complicated. glory, How is it addressed informally? Yes, But he said, “I am the greatest actor of my time.” But at the same time he was laughing as he said that. He didn’t really believe it. But I believe that was true insofar as he was not pursuing a career. You have many artists, of actors who are pursuing a career, with levels similar to those in the civil service, I’m a little more well-known than before. That was never the case for him. Never. But he needed that. He needed that danger. Eventually, Was simple, ordinary life a source of suffering? I believe, I believe. I think he liked being recognized. He went into a bistro, He started talking to the waiters. At the end, They would finish at the piano. or they would climb onto a table, And people were fascinated. To escape reality, Ultimately. To escape reality, In any case, to create one’s own reality. When you become Minister of Defence and you have a brother like Philippe Eautard, Effectively, You know there will be difficult times, difficult. I tried to get him out of there, with my other brother and with everyone else. We’ve all tried. It doesn’t work. And we suffered a lot because of that. But, how to say, this very rigorous environment within the Defense sector, which is very hierarchical, etc., It was so the opposite. of what he was, that there was also a fascination. And an impossibility of curing it, you say it. Yes, Really, We tried everything. I spoke with addiction specialists, people who deal with drug addiction, etc. They told me, at one point, My other brother and I wanted to kidnap him. to forcibly remove him and lock him up. All the doctors told us, Don’t do that. He will have a very mild case of delirium. He’s either going to die or he’s going to destroy everything. We see this at the end of his life, It’s close. There is a life to bear, we will say, what he is demanding from them. Including in the hospital. Including in the hospital. Under the bed, The nurses were discovering a whole series of things. So when there’s this kind of crazy passion, Nothing can withstand it. He used to say that for a long time, It’s actually a good day to die. It’s a beautiful day to die. It’s a phrase he often uttered. It’s true, but we could use Blondin’s version. You know, I am not a drunkard who writes, I am a writer who drinks. He derived a kind of pride from it. He said to himself, I’m not like everyone else. that’s how it is. There was also that touch of panache. When you were Minister of Defence, He also liked the idea that it could, a little bit, Go on, shake things up. Let’s just go over a small anecdote. This is the day when, We’re warning you, There will indeed be a search of his home. The police will be going to his house. YOU, It was impossible to do anything other than warn him. You say to yourself, Good, It’s going to be fine. The problem, It’s only when the police arrive, what does he say? He says, You are most welcome. I’m going to make you a coffee. I’m going to make you a coffee, and I’ve been warned. And I was warned. It wasn’t me directly. But hey, In any case, I was warned. Was it impossible otherwise? I loved him too much. I loved him too much. I would have crossed the entire world if necessary. I would have fought with the whole world to protect him. So really, There was too much love. We’re going to talk about your political future. He had anticipated that one day, in 1987, Are you familiar with this text? Another moon, Of course. I haven’t forgotten that it’s… The kind of man who wakes up one morning and decides, “I’m not going.” People don’t know what he’s capable of getting himself into in Caracas and hello. He was talking about you. That’s absolutely true. He understood that at some point, politics would no longer be possible. In any case, that would no longer be possible. You know, there are political meetings where the language is so vulgar, The attitudes are so low, so mediocre, You ask, what am I doing there? So Philippe Leotard was right after all. You’ve got the wrong horse. Probably, Imagine her at 25 or 30 years old. If I had devoted them to reading or writing, I would probably have for myself, probably was happier. Probably. Is it, ultimately, over time, Is there any form of consolation? Is there any consolation after your brother’s passing? The question is death. You know, And I’m not saying this without excessive pathos. without a morbid spirit, I mean, To philosophize is to learn how to die. Do you still talk to him from time to time? It is, In a way, yes. when I read it, especially when I listen to his songs. That was so him, that hoarse voice, this kind of sadness that is still there, at the same time as seduction, He loved life too much. Contrary to what some people say, It’s not suicide. no way, He burned himself out on life. He loved life too much, He did not want to commit suicide. He went towards the candle flame, He went towards the light. And that’s what killed him. You, My brother, who is not dead, What did you write? Because I believe that an artist never dies. Me, when I go to the theatre, when I go to the cinema, I see people who don’t die. I see people who never die. And I would very much like to be one of them. that is to say, essentially, to leave behind me, not an assessment, but words, attitudes. provocation of creation, of pride, of risk. And that’s him all over. That. He took enormous risks. And it’s beautiful. There are things left behind him. There are still wonderful things left. Me, NOW, I’m going to go, like, on the subway. etc. He said to me, YOU, it’s something else. But then him, He was a guy. It wasn’t difficult. That ? It’s a bit tough, sometimes. But it doesn’t matter, Because the French don’t like their politicians. And I understand that I was in that category. I understand, that’s how it is. But they don’t like it. And well, We must allow them this freedom. And perhaps we deserve it. And yours today? And in any case, It was my freedom to leave. And that, I’m glad I did it. Thank you François Léotard for this interview about you. about him, about two brothers. Thank you so much. End of this issue of One Day. a destiny. See you very soon. THANKS.