The movie is a novel adaptation, so the viewers were primarily interested in why the director thought it important to adapt it on the screen. “It is most of all the atmosphere and the characters that were important to me and the decision that the main character, Simon is unable to make. The novel ends with him getting married to Debbie, in the frame of a flashback, however, I am much more intereste
in the moment of Simon’s incapability to make decisions and the catastrophe coming out of it.”
To the spectators’ question whether he considers Simon a coward, Achache responded with an immediate ‘yes’, although he added that it is far not a claim to be generalised: „it is a fact that there are many coward men but of course not all of them are.” According to the director the basic situation in the movie does not allow for universality either, so it is not true that an artist cannot be happy in an average family living a normal life. “However, in my view, the real stake in this story is not Suzanne, nor Debbie, but the piano itself.”
One of the main roles is therefore that of jazz. The songs heard in the film were written exclusively for the movie by Michel Bénita, and the band playing in the club also set up for the film’s sake – and has been playing together ever since. “The actor playing Simon,
Thierry Hancisse, learned how to play the pieces on the piano every day during the shooting from 7 am., but in most of the scenes it is a professional musician playing. The last accords at the end of the movie are performed by Thierry though.” – said
Achache.
When the question raised concerning the financial aspects of the career of the film, the director simply answered with one word: “Disaster.” And he added: “However, the evenings like this one recompensate me for any financial loss.”
The film is screened on Monday afternoon at 16.30 in
KINO.
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