Alexandre Moix probes the soul of Patrick Dewaere in Patrick Dewaere, Mon Héros

How did the idea of this documentary come to mind ?

It's the result of the friendship I've had these past twenty years with his daughter, Lola Dewaere, who is also an actress. I made my first film about Patrick Dewaere in 2003, and a few years later, I envisaged another for Gaumont. I had always told myself that I neglected to convey three-quarters of his personality. There were things that couldn't be said at the time because members of his family were opposed to certain revelations.

Who was Patrick Dewaere ?

I always thought that nobody would be able to understand who he was, or his suicide, without this key knowledge: Patrick Dewaere was raped repeatedly throughout his early childhood and adolescence. He never recovered from this deep wound. There was also this father whose identity was always hidden from him. Patrick Dewaere never found out who he was. Also, his grave is not inscribed with a name.

What types of records and archives have you unearthed?

I've found new audio recordings made by journalists who had interviewed him. We've since digitized them. They are absolutely incredible off-the-record audio clips in which Dewaere talks about his mother as we've never heard before.

The documentary is edited in the form of a letter from a daughter to her father. Why ?

I had asked myself how I could make a film about Dewaere with all the material in my possession, and for me, Lola needed to talk about her father. She made this sublime statement to me, “Thanks to your film, maybe I'll be able to call him dad.” Lola was able to reclaim her father in this way. It is a beautiful declaration of love from a daughter to her father.

You haven't hidden any topic…

Lola said to me, "In my opinion, this is the definitive film about my father. " I wanted the people who saw my film to take him into their arms. For me, Dewaere is an eternal child. A sort of feline character with a child's head, and he'll be one always.

One of the prominent points you make in your film is his rivalry with Gérard Depardieu…

He suffered a lot from that since he replayed it through the rivalry that existed with his brothers when he was a child actor. They both really liked each other during filming, but they rarely saw each other off the set. Depardieu was sort of a glutton for life, whereas Dewaere was gloomy and depressed, a shadow.

Which film was a turning point?

I would say Série Noire (1979), by Alain Corneau, which is a pure masterpiece. There was a before and an after. The film was selected at Cannes, and he should have won the Best Actor Award. Everything indicated that he'd win it, but it didn't happen. It wounded him greatly. He had hoped that Série Noire would pave the way for a career in America. It was his big dream. After this disappointment, something broke inside him, and afterwards, he began his descent into hell.