Laetitia Colombani wrote and directed her third feature film La tresse, adapting her first novel of the same name. The film arrives this Friday after a very good run in France. Story of an adventure that keeps going.
Published at 1:46 am. Updated at 7:00 a.m.
If Laetitia Colombani had to accept that her successful novel “The Braid” was being adapted for the cinema, she had to be the one to sign the script. When we talk to her about it, we immediately understand that it was not out of selfishness that she felt the need to be the one who would bring to the screen this book that millions of people around the world read. In fact, she still seems surprised at how far this novel, published in 2017, has come: the five million copies sold, the translations into several dozen languages, the adaptation into a children's book, the adaptation into a play soon) and today the resulting feature film , which she directed herself. If the story of the three women in The Braid had to be told on screen by Colombani herself, it was because she cared too much about the story to leave it to one filmmaker or another.
“I was contacted by the producers as soon as the novel was published and I wanted to take a moment to think about it,” admits Laetitia Colombani, whom she met this week in Montreal during her visit to the metropolis, where she is elsewhere His film shot a third of it.
PHOTO TAHA AHMAD, PROVIDED BY SPHERE FILMS
Mia Maelzer (Smita) and Sajda Pathan (her daughter Lalita)
“I was a little afraid of the scale of the project: an ambitious film shot on three continents, in three languages, two of which I didn't speak. I had many questions. And when I asked myself whether I would like to entrust this very personal story that I have been cultivating for two years to another director, the answer was no. »
The story of La Tresse is closely linked to the life of Laetitia Colombani, although it touches on cultures that are not the author's, although it tells of everyday lives that she did not experience. Firstly, because the character Sarah is inspired by her best friend, who is also a lawyer and also suffered from cancer a few years ago. Also because India is a country that she has visited often and that fascinates her. Finally and above all, because the filmmaker has always been inspired by women. “I wanted to talk about her,” she said.
I realized that I wanted to tell female characters who were not henchmen, female objects or victims, but strong, courageous women who took their fate into their own hands.
Laetitia Colombani
This is how Smita, Giulia and Sarah were born under his pen, three women who live respectively in India, Italy and Canada and who a priori have nothing in common, but who actually share an increased resilience and a piece of their history. “I wanted to address different cultures and different continents to create a parallel and show very different women, while at the same time highlighting how much courage we need as women to move forward in society,” says Laetitia Colombani.
PHOTO LAURENT GUERIN, PROVIDED BY SPHERE FILMS
Kim Raver (Sarah)
Three stories to tell
In transitioning from a novel to writing a screenplay, one of the big challenges for Laetitia Colombani was maintaining the fluidity of the story, which allows one to navigate between three stories without getting lost. A plus point of his novel that encourages this exercise: its cinematic side. “I have a background in film school, I think a lot in images and that influenced the way I wrote the novel, I was already visualizing it in scenes,” explains the filmmaker.
The adjustment work wasn't the easiest. It took a year to achieve the final result, with the help of author and screenwriter Sarah Kaminsky, with whom she collaborates on all of her scripts. “I let her read my novels and all my screenplays, and I really needed a perspective from her,” says Laetitia Colombani. It gave me the opportunity to deviate a little from the book, especially in the Italian part, in order to be able to delve deeper into the themes of the story in the scenario. I was able to return to my work, deepen it and improve it. »
To play her Smita, her Sarah and her Giulia, Laetitia Colombani went through an “extremely simple” casting process. “I didn’t vote [les actrices]“I recognized her,” she says with a smile on her lips.
Filming then lasted six months, an intense marathon, first two months in India, then in Montreal and finally in Italy. She and her team had to “always be one step ahead,” meaning they planned the next shoot at the same time they were shooting footage in a specific country.
PHOTO SARA SABATINO, PROVIDED BY SPHERE FILMS
Fotinì Peluso (Giulia) and Avi Nash (Kamal)
Without being easy, La Tresse was an extraordinary experience for Laetitia Colombani. This story always gives them access to moments that they never thought they would experience when writing the book. Since her daughter was still a child at the time the novel was published, she came up with the idea of turning it into an illustrated book for younger children. Thanks to the novel, she won prizes and traveled. Now “The Braid” is hitting the big screen. The film is a great success in France and is now also arriving on our side of the Atlantic. The story of the filming is also recorded in a book published by Grasset, in which the filmmaker recounts the months leading up to the film.
“Nothing was planned, everything was a happy sequence of events,” Laetitia Colombani tells us. The Braid, a universal series of stories, has reached the public in all its forms. For the filmmaker and author, it is the result of a “little magic” that goes beyond what she could have dreamed of.
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