By KATHRYN SHATTUCK JUNE 9, 2015 10:45 AM | ArtsBeat/The New York Times
In what world does a police officer run after a suspect, weapon drawn, in kitten heels? Why, in France, of course — at least in the France of Hervé Hadmar, the director and creator, with Marc Herpoux, of the Gallic thriller “Witnesses.” The six-part crime drama is available for streaming on iTunes, Amazon and Netflix. “It’s eerie with a hint of the supernatural, wrote Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times. “And paced just right.”
“I confess that this is my idea, and that it is a little absurd,” Mr. Hadmar said of the heels in a phone interview from Paris. “I wanted to write something about this character who wants to be a cop, but she also wants to be a woman — a Parisian, a French woman — so she wants to still wear those stupid boots.”
Marie Dompnier as the detective Sandra Winckler in “Witnesses.” Newen Distribution. © The New York Times, 2015
Then again, “Witnesses” is nothing if not a Cinderella story for Marie Dompnier, who was plucked by Mr. Hadmar from an acting class he was teaching to portray his heroine, Sandra Winckler. An emotionally tormented police officer in inclement coastal Normandy, she finds herself partnered with Paul Maisonneuve (Thierry Lhermitte), a retired law-enforcement legend — and her former nemesis — on a perplexing case. A series of macabre tableaux have been artfully arranged in model homes, each featuring a family composed from exhumed corpses.
“I suppose the story is coming from my childhood, because I remember visiting model houses with my parents, and I always found them to be very strange places,” Mr. Hadmar said. “Because you are supposed to be in real houses, but everything is false. They’re supposed to be alive but are, in fact, dead.”
A stage actress who moved to Paris from Toulouse at 20, Ms. Dompnier, now 34, had scarcely set foot on a film or television set before the show. In separate conversations Mr. Hadmar and Ms. Dompnier, practicing her English, spoke about the serendipitous meeting that resulted in their collaboration on “Witnesses.” These are edited excerpts.
Marie Dompnier: I think I corresponded to the picture of Sandra that he had in mind. I had shot in front of a camera for maybe 10 days before getting this role, so we had to convince the producer and broadcaster. I auditioned two times. It was sort of a fairy tale.
Dompnier: Sandra is a paradox. A very anxious person, always afraid she’s going to lose the people she loves. I was very excited about that character because she’s passionate about her job, and I think she’s a cop before everything else. And as we see in the series, that’s why it’s so complicated for her to combine her job with her family life. If there’s a link between Sandra and me, it’s that I can’t go slow. I’ve got a lot of energy.
Dompnier: The boots were a big anecdote in the story. But it was horrible because my feet were freezing during the shooting and finally I couldn’t bear them — just like my character. Sandra realizes at the end that it’s a silly thing. She doesn’t need to wear heels to be a woman.
Reference: ArtsBeat/The New York Times By KATHRYN SHATTUCK JUNE 9, 2015 10:45 AM
Leave a reply