More than thirty years after his death, Romy Schneider continues to fascinate. Three days in Quiberon, released this Wednesday in theaters, is a new example. From an interview given by the actress in 1981, the French-Iranian filmmaker Emily Atef paints the portrait of a free woman but unhappy and prey to his demons. On the occasion of the release of this film, in competition at the last Berlin Film Festival, the journalist Bernard Pascuito, author of Romy Schneider's The Last Life (Ed de du Rocher), explains why so many years after his death , this cinema icon is always talking about her.

Why are you interested in Romy Schneider?
The director of Trois jours à Quiberon did in three days what I did in ten months, but the two works contain the same sensitivity, the same admiration and the same respect of Romy Schneider. For my part, I took the last ten months of his life, between the death of his son and his own death, with this question in the background: "How do we continue to live when we have lost a child? And as I could not just concentrate on this period, there are flashbacks that go back to moments of his existence as his childhood, Alain Delon, Sissi, The Pool, his first husband ... The abandonment of the father when she is 5 years old corresponds to the abandonment of the son when she has 40, Delon's betrayal refers to the betrayal of her mother ...

Why Romy Schneider still fascinates?
It's the magic of his image. There are characters, like her, who release something. We also think of Audrey Hepburn. Romy Schneider remains very modern in its beauty. There is also a shocking, pathetic destiny. But I think that the modernity of its beauty, its indestructible side, makes many young women of today interested in it. Claude Sautet's films keep Romy Schneider alive, beyond death. We always want to see Caesar and Rosalie again, The Things of Life, Max and the scrap metal ... I hope that people who read my book then want to see a movie with Romy Schneider.



What did she bring to the cinema, according to you?
One tends to forget that she is a prodigious actress, so much the character has surpassed the actress because of the dramas, the death of her son. It can turn anything: The important thing is to love and Caesar and Rosalie are poles apart. She brings a truth, she has an extraordinary voice, she just speaks. When I saw Sissi again, I realized that when she was 16, she was already a great actress. She brought a presence that lasts.

What do you think of the criticism of his daughter Sarah Biasini about Three days in Quiberon?
I do not understand because it's a bit absurd to say "my mother never drank". All filmmakers and actors who have shot with her can testify. Just open my book to find out. And at the same time, I understand. First because it's his daughter. She does not want to be told that about her mother and, above all, she was 4 and a half years old when her mother died. All she knows about her mother's life, she learned it from her father, and her father is in that perspective. I heard Daniel Biasini at Laurent Delahousse's, a fortnight ago, he is making the same speech. 


I also talk about alcohol and drugs in my book, because that's part of Romy Schneider's life, but I do not think it's the cause. It is the consequence of a life that was quite unfortunate with a lot of betrayals and abandonments. We have to talk about it because it exists, but it is not part of Romy Schneider's personality.