Movie Bicycling with Molière Philippe Le Guay (2013)

At the peak of his acting career, Serge Tanneur left the world of show business once and for all. Too much anger, too much weariness. The fatigue of a profession where everyone betrays everyone else. Three years later, Gauthier Valence, a television actor adored by the crowds, used to playing the role of a big-hearted hero, arrives on the island. He comes to find Serge to propose him to play “Le Misanthrope” by Molière. Hasn’t Serge become a pure incarnation of the character of Alceste? Serge refuses outright and confirms that he will never return to the stage. However, something in him is willing to give in. He proposes to Gauthier to rehearse the great scene 1 of Act 1, between Philinte and Alceste. After five days of rehearsal, he will know if he wants to do it or not. The rehearsals begin: the two actors measure themselves and challenge each other in turn, divided between the pleasure of playing together and the brutal desire to fight. Gauthier’s benevolence is often put to the test by Serge’s resentment. Around them, there is the microcosm of the Île de Ré, frozen in the off-season: a real estate agent, the owner of the local hotel, a divorced Italian woman who has come to sell a house. And we can believe that Serge will really go back on stage…