“Justine is completely obsessive.” Laurent Sénéchal, the editor behind the success of Anatomy of a Fall, told AFP behind the scenes of this film with an extraordinary destiny. After winning two Golden Globes in January and a Bafta on Sunday February 18, Anatomy of a Fall is tackling the Césars, where it is nominated in 11 categories, including best editing.
The prize honors a shadowy profession but which remains no less essential. The producers of Anatomy of a Fall have also agreed to devote 38 weeks to editing the film. An exceptionally long time by industry standards. “It’s a luxury to be able to make a film where editing is so important,” recognizes Laurent Sénéchal. Justine is completely obsessive, editing is one of the most essential places for the staging of her film, he smiles.
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Eight months of filming during which the director and her editor, both aged 45, exchange ideas, work together and above all, complement each other. “This is the third film we’ve made together. The more we practice, the more we know ourselves, the more certain things become obvious,” continues Laurent Sénéchal, who also worked on all the films of the director’s companion and co-writer, Arthur Harari. From the 130 hours of rushes of a project initially conceived as a series, what will ultimately remain is a feature film lasting 2h32, cleverly constructed around a trial and flashbacks of the life of a couple who explode.
During editing, “some directors work on a first draft”, a sort of draft which allows you to form an initial idea. With Justine Triet, on the contrary, “everything goes through acting. She starts from the shots, and the material, to see where that takes her.” “It completely derails her when she sees something played badly,” he jokes. So we go all the way together, which takes a lot of time.” “We go to the market to watch the rushes and we cook from this market,” explains Laurent Sénéchal. It was a lot of work, a lot of action, but we were never lost. It was joyful.”
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As complex as it is fine, the film examines the relationships of domination within the couple, gender issues, the workings of justice, the view of society, that of children… But to realize is also to give up . “We had a lot of extra material,” he confides. It was planned that the press would be like an additional character, with journalists filming. We really reduced that because it became too complex.”
Happy to see his profession highlighted, Laurent Sénéchal nevertheless thinks that the editor should not leave “his signature” on the film. “It’s a job of adaptation, we are story tellers, midwives who accompany” the filmmaker. Is he afraid of one day being replaced by artificial intelligence? He admits to having been amazed by the small sequences automatically generated by his smartphone from his videos and thinks that the tool will be used as an assistant within ten years without us being “anymore surprised”. But nothing will replace humans, he hopes: “If we entrust the Anatomy rushes to a computer, we won’t have the same film!”
