Louane: “I love to play, but my job is music”

Meet the great lender – and twice! – her voice in Mamoru Hosoda’s sublime animated film, Belle.

This is not the first time that you have been found in the dubbing exercise, you had already lived this experience in Trolls, Sahara Y Incredibles 2. What prompted you to repeat it with Belle?

Louane: I got a simple email offering me. And spontaneously I was very excited about the idea of ​​working on the Japanese animation that I love as a viewer. Until they told me there were going to be songs. However, I had really decided to separate film and music and it is inevitably difficult, moreover, to come back with a soundtrack afterwards. The Aries family. So I admit I was wondering a lot until, even before I could discover the movie, I received the soundtrack. And there all my hesitations are gone. I said yes without hesitation. He had rarely heard that. With an insane rhythmic quality. So I accepted without having seen the slightest image, or really knowing the history of Belle

And how did you feel when you finally discovered the movie?

This story is a slap in the face! An exceptional rewrite of Beauty and the Beast, with references to both Cocteau’s and Disney’s versions, as sharp and popular in vocation. And this both in the image and in the music. I love the way this movie talks about the Internet without hiding the vigilance that comes with being on the Internet, but also celebrating how it can change lives. Not to mention the similarities between Suzu’s characters and her musical double Belle et moi that Mamoru Hosoda obviously couldn’t get to know. Starting with the drama Suzu experienced and the fact that she gets her way with the music! How can I not recognize myself? And since Mamoru gave me carte blanche to play these two characters, I was able to put a lot of myself into it.

How long did the recording last?

It is usually a day and a half maximum. But for Belle, as I play two characters and there are songs, it lasted a great week. And there was a need! We started with the dubbing, one character after another: first Suzu, then Belle, before moving on to the songs. It was a very technical exercise. But once again, the emotions, the feelings of these characters, I had them in me. Perhaps the most complex thing was the recording of the songs. Hands down the hardest I’ve had to do so far. Because it is not my usual record and the required range is too high for me. It was a real challenge and I’m not going to say there weren’t some cracks, but it worked out fine!

How do you see cinema in relation to music?

Cinema is clearly less important than music. And it probably won’t always be. Be careful, I really like to play, although I think I prefer dubbing because I feel more comfortable there, the absence of a camera gives me a more pleasant freedom to live, but my work is music. Because there I can develop my projects from A to Z and control things. This mastery allows me to always feel better in a recording studio than on a film set and, therefore, for the moment, to prosper more there. At the movies, I learned so much more when I took my first singing lessons at age 8! He was certainly clowning around at home at that age, but I’m not sure that matters! (laughs)

However, you play regularly …

Yes, last summer, I filmed the Visions series for TF1 and actually had a lot more fun than watching the movies. For one basic reason: I don’t like to wait! And the rhythm of a series is necessarily more sustained for reasons of restricted timing to put everything in one box. Nothing is innate to me in the game, so I always work a lot upwards, I saw the consequences when I couldn’t, and that’s what allows me to have fun on set. Besides, I would love to do theater one day, I admit it!

You continue to regularly see Eric Lartigau, who revealed to you in The Aries family ?

The bond has never been weakened! We spoke again at the end of last week. It is a pillar of my life! And if the movie had failed, I know that the relationship we have today would have been the same.