Dites-lui que je l’aime (Tell Her I Love Her), Romane Bohringer Revisits her Past

What is the background for your film?

I met Clémentine Autain while shooting L’Amour flou (In the Move for Love), my first film. She was acting in a small role, playing herself. She tackled this role with much grace and generosity. That is where she told me that she was writing a book about her mother. In that moment, I never would have imagined that reading it would reveal an obvious truth, and that it would become the subject of my second feature film.
I was overwhelmed by the similarity of our stories, which is the same for all children who suffered from a father’s or a mother’s absence or failures. She described everything that I wanted to share about a wounded childhood, a topic that has affected me for a long time. I wanted to talk about this hurt child who, as a grown adult, embarks on a difficult journey to reconciliation.

What role did Clémentine Autain play once you decided to adapt her book?

I am still filled with emotion, as working with an author can prove to be challenging. However, from the get-go, Clémentine, who loved L’Amour flou (In the Move for Love), told me: “I am giving you the rights to the book, do whatever you please.”
The script progressively became an entanglement of our four stories: those of our mothers and of ours. That is when I asked her to play herself in the film. She willingly participated with true calm and great generosity. And yet, I claimed her memories as my own and rewrote entire sections of her life.

Didn’t reflecting on your past stir up too many emotions?

In general, it is life itself that stirs up emotions. The fact that it can be transformed into a subject—in my case, into films, into celebrations, into teams. We went on the hunt for photos, for answers, for things that I never would have searched for had I not made this film. Directing one’s own story, as for L’Amour flou (In the Move for Love), that transformed a painful separation into a happy and peaceful memory, puts things at such a happy distance that you are able to move mountains.

Could you say a little something about Eva Yelmani who plays Dominique Laffin?

From the start, there was this idea that we would see Dominique Laffin as a young mother in a few scenes. The matter of physical resemblance was quickly raised, and the idea set in to choose someone who was unknown. I discovered her while walking out of the theatre one day. I suddenly saw a willowy silhouette, very dark, with punk vibes go by: it was her. In fact, she resembled my own mother more than Clémentine Autain’s mother. She was both Dominique and Marguerite, she swept up everything in her path.