Interview with Philippe Lefebre, Director

How was this project born?
The film developed naturally out of my work with Simon Michaël over the past few years. We have the same taste for film noir and stories with double or triple plot reversals. Since we were looking for a strong original story with a psychologically motivated plot about men fighting one another, Simon had the idea of calling on Philippe Isard. A screenwriter himself, Philippe was also a cop in a previous life; for over fifteen years he was in charge of the “cabarets” of the “Brigade Mondaine,” which are what they call the late-night establishments of Paris. So we agreed to the idea of inventing a story based on that reality of Paris at night. What we actually wanted to talk about were the people who “make” the night happen, not those who live in it. We wanted to get behind the scenes, behind the counters, not on the dance floors. Between Simon Michaël’s sense for dramatic structure and incisive, realistic dialogue, and Philippe Isard’s talent for real stories filled with dramatic invention and the science of human relationship, I was in good hands. That’s how we got started on PARIS BY NIGHT, a night in the life of Simon Weiss, the character played by Roschdy Zem.

It’s no accident that the film is entitled PARIS BY NIGHT (UNE NUIT).
That’s true. We respected the rule of three, limiting the time of the story to only one night and the place to Paris, with the action being the trap set up for the story’s hero. It was a real joy to put this script together. Right from the beginning I wanted to make the film as realistic as possible. And Philippe Isard’s experiences and stories, which are undeniably authentic, a landmine of edifying anecdotes and mind-blowing encounters, totally helped me work towards that goal.

So the character played by Roschdy Zem actually existed.
Yes, and he still exists. Several times while we were writing the script, I went on the rounds with the cop in charge of the “cabarets” of the “Brigade Mondaine,” one of Philippe Isard’s successors to the job; he was one of the people who helped me build the character of Simon Weiss. Everything was just like it is in the film: he rides around with a driver, he is kind to the “small players” of the night, the valets and the working girls, and authoritarian with the hoodlums and the wannabe gangsters, who fear and respect him. Everyone knows him and calls him by name. They listen to him, and he is a little like a judge or godfather of the night. But as Philippe Isard and his successor explained to me, these days the policemen who come to work at the “Brigade Mondaine” are kids who haven’t taken the time to really get a feeling for the world of the nightlife. So we have really illustrated the end of an era. PARIS BY NIGHT reflects the evolution of society, and at the same time expresses a bit of nostalgia. Through the protagonist, we feel the page is about to turn, that the world of the night will never be the same again.

There is a feeling of freedom in the way you made the film and told the story.
In my very first meetings with the producer Manuel Munz, I told him I wanted the film to be what the Americans call an “independent production.” I wanted the audience to share in the feeling of urgency we were trying to convey, while putting the expressive capacities of film to use as well. Actually, from the very start I felt that we had to shoot the film in High Definition instead of 35 mm; when you shoot at night, HD is so sensitive that you can film without lighting and still obtain amazing contrast, especially in the black areas of the image. The typical example of this is the scene when Roschdy walks through the VIP and we can clearly see people dancing, though we didn’t light the scene at all. The medium was a perfect match for the subject of the film, for diving into the night on the shoulder of the main character, discovering along the way a whole gallery of characters around him. That dive into the night naturally went with a visual style of dark images and hand-held shooting; everything is seen from Roschdy’s point of view.

The film is a sort of road movie through an unexpected vision of nocturnal Paris.
I thought it was interesting to shoot his rounds in the city like a road movie through places we are not used to seeing, from a prostitute bar with three barstools to a chic nightclub for up to 3500 people.

Did you shoot in real locations?
Thanks to the HD camera and its extraordinary capabilities, Director of Photography Jérôme Alméras and I decided to shoot in real locations. We actually shot in almost all the locations we scouted, including the big nightclub under construction, which really exists. We strove for the same realism in the locations as we did for the acting and the camerawork.
As chance had it, it rained on the first day of shooting. Far from being an unpleasant surprise, the sudden downpour delighted Jérôme Alméras and I. Actually what it meant was we would have to wet down every bit of dry pavement throughout the shoot, which is what we did. So in the end, the streets glisten, the city lights are reflected in every little puddle, and the brilliance that this adds to the night is fantastic. It’s cold, it’s night...
Also, Paris itself is one of the main characters of the film. Paris with its tiny backstreets and its grand avenues, its legendary squares and monuments, immediately recognizable the world over.

Was Roschdy Zem the obvious first choice for the main role?
In the 1990’s I made a series called “Le Juge Rives” for Canal Plus. Roschdy Zem was a young actor who played the lead role in one of the episodes. He was already recognizable for who he is today: straightforward and reserved, with incredible charisma. So I was really happy, twenty years later, to be able to offer him the lead role of this film and proud that he accepted. In the end I feel he broadened the character, which is largely due to the natural authority he exudes. I was assistant on two films with Jean Gabin and I have to say I feel there is something in common between that incredible legend and Roschdy, in their understated acting style as well as how absolutely they incarnate a character. For me, the minute Roschdy appears in PARIS BY NIGHT, Simon Weiss is there – it’s him and no other!

What about Sara Forestier?
She is absolutely magnificent. She is an actress who is very accessible and unbelievably mature for her age. She fed her character with a multitude of intelligent ideas. Every day she played her character with meticulous care. She had only one thing in mind: how to get into the character of a young female cop assigned to being a night driver.

Samuel Le Bihan is a completely different kind of actor.
Samuel accepted the role of Garcia generously, without hesitating a second. I like working with him. He’s a worried type, who thinks out what he does. In the end, he was superb in the part. He gave his character, a longtime buddy of Weiss, the feeling of friendship and the ability to listen that I was hoping for, and then some.

The music punctuates the story in a subtle way.
I didn’t know Olivier Florio. He had composed the music of Tiger Brigades for Manuel Munz, and he did that so well I couldn’t really see how it could work for my film. When I met him, he made me listen to interesting music, disturbing, troubling and strong. He had even written the song at the end, which he himself performs. Like Hitchcock recommended, the music is omnipresent, but you have to forget the theme. It fed the dramatic development of the film wonderfully.

"With Point Blank, Paris by Night (Une Nuit) is the best crime drama we've seen in a long time"
"Feels like Michael Mann"
"An astonishingly realistic dive into the world of night"
Première

"A masterful thriller"
*** Marie-Claire

"Breathless trip into the heart of Parisian nightlife with charismatic Roschdy Zem"
“Paris by Night delivers everything you could possibly ask of an excellent crime drama”
*** Le Point

“An authentic film noir”
“A tightly laced and intense psychological plot”
“Realistic, straightforward directing, excellent dialogue and spot-on acting”
Figaro Magazine

“It’s been a long time since French cinema has made such a great crime drama”
“Very, very engaging suspense”
“Ultra-realistic, tight directing”
“Sara Forestier is impeccable and Roschdy Zem magnetic”
Journal du Dimanche

"Dark and elegant"
Telerama

“One magnificent night, a single unit of time that packs in a succession of powerful scenes on nocturnal fauna, enhancing this crime drama with a striking poetic dimension”
Studio Cinelive

Available in :

Italian