Emmanuelle Destremeau

Born: Paris, France —1975 / Living: Montreuil, France

Interview by Speciwomen — June 2016

Speciwomen: Tell us about yourself

Emmanuelle Destremeau: I am in the theater industry as an actress, a writer and a performer, working with different directors as well as with a company called L’Organisation that I co-lead with the director Elodie Segui, who created it. I am also an associate artist with the Am Stram Gram Theater in Geneva, Switzerland. Moreover, I sometimes work as a screenwriter and an actress for cinema and television. Since 2001, I have been directing documentaries for TV, in Gaza, in Paris, and all around France as well as in New York City. I create soundtracks for shows. I am also a singer. I created my singer character named RUPPERT PUPKIN with whom I collaborated in the cinema, theater and fashion industries. I toured all around France and a little bit abroad too. My first record just came out this month, on June 10th.

Let's shortcut and say that I am the mother of two magic children and that I potter about. 

S: Have you always known what you wanted to pursue?

ED: I understood something when I was 7 and I saw that show at the Théâtre des Célestins in Lyon, France, in which kids were singing (The Little Sweep). I was deeply moved by that other possible reality: children playing and singing on stage. I wanted to be part of it. I wanted to be there. I got out of this show and was all shook up. Then, I took a drama class in middle and high school while being locked into an immense shyness. There was a dichotomy between me and myself. However, I was happy on stage. It took me a bunch of years to understand the exact place where I needed to be. I did Hypokhâgne et Khâgne (superior literature studies), and a master in literature. I tried Art History too. I was looking for myself, acting in small shows here and there and I was working in a bar at night. The day I signed up for a real drama class, I finally understood… How obvious! The funny thing is there is a huge gap of time between this sensation of obviousness and the moment where you can effectively create your place in the industry. Everything is always moving around. You always have to conquer, to rediscover things, to reinvent. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, and I like it.

S: How has art shaped your life?

ED: I think I could never resolve to be convinced that I was shaped for something in particular. I mostly ran on instinct, sometimes even carried away by chance. I am still unfinished. My relationship with art keeps shaping itself, step by step.

I was trained as an actress in theater. But one day, I read in Le Monde (np. French newspaper) some letters that had been written by Algerians who were living at the heart of terrorism in the late 1990's, and I suddenly decided to adapt and direct these letters in theater, as a play, although I had never thought of doing anything like that before. Then, I followed a boy in Palestine and I found a job as a director there in one of Gaza’s operas, financed by the French consulate. It was a big project for me, who was so young at that time. After almost one year there, I wanted to come back. The only thing I could do about my experience was a documentary because it would have been impossible to finance a short film of fiction or even a play in that background, just before the second intifada. 

This is how I decided to direct my first film: by chance and by default! I was in Gaza, in 2001, I had no knowledge nor training, and I hadn't seen any other film on the subject. I was driven by my desire to give the floor to people I had met there. The film was a way to discover others. An attempt to understand the world. I had not foreseen that I would so much enjoy that experience: making films to tell people's lives. Then I directed one documentary film every year during ten years, while working in the theater at the same time. All my films were financed and broadcasted by television or in festivals. They fulfilled my social aspirations and satisfied my curiosity for others, in a way drama could not have done — at that time, my practice as an actress was very ego-oriented.

As for my musical career, it started quite late, when I was 31. I used to play three chords in my living room for my lover and I didn't feel legitimate because I had not studied music. He encouraged me, and I owe him a lot because he allowed me to be self-confident.

It was an unembarrassed passion. I always wanted to sing. Today, music is one of my professions. For six years I have been creating songs for shows, and my songs appear also in cinema and fashion. I performed in unusual places: theaters, garages, even in a bunker (with the company Le Théâtre de Chambre). My next show will be created in Geneva in the fall. I will sing on stage. It will be a mix of concert and musical, directed by Fabrice Melquiot, a strange form I will invent with the band of musicians and an amazing crew.

S: How do you reconcile art as a purely creative outlet with the need to make a living? 

ED: I consider my life as an artist a very global experience of the world; but with two children, you have to be concrete! I think creativity and precariousness go hand in hand. Even if there is a wonderful system in France for artists, it is regularly called into question and it does not prevent hazards and instability of income. For example, I was not eligible for maternity leave when I got my second child because I was a writer and an actress at the same time, and I did not fit into any box although I had paid many contributions. It might seem a bit technical, but usually maternity leave is a right in France. I was angry but I had no choice but to go back to work. Back on stage. Women artists are vulnerable. French theater is beginning to open its mind to male-female parity but we are still far short of the target. There are much more men directing theaters, plays, and much more male writers programmed in theaters too. As for music, well… Sexism is embedded in rock ‘n' roll and that is not a legend!

S: How do you get over a creative block? 

ED: As for singing, I work with coaches. My voice is my most fragile point. I have a hard time taking care of myself because I don't have time to and my free time is devoted to my family. However, I guess "taking care of oneself" is part of the job. We work hard with our body. And years pass. I think it is wonderful though. First I thought time would be my enemy, but it brings you all the answers to your questions. You get stronger and stronger. You dig deeper. You have important encounters. Time and acquired technique give you self-assurance when you face big challenges.

S: What brings you inspiration?

ED: The world I live in. Politics belong to my creation. This is why I have directed documentaries for ten years. I think cinema and theater are political as well, which does not mean you have to give your poetic dream up. Performances are a good way to deal with topical subjects too. At the moment, we feel very angry at the situation of the Syrian war refugees who arrive in Europe and are not welcomed. In Paris, camps are improvised and the government does not do anything. We cannot not react.

S: What's the best advice you've ever received, and what advice do you wish someone gave you when you were starting out? 

ED: No one ever gave me a lot of advice, or maybe I just did not hear them. I don’t think that when I was 20 I felt in need of advice. The first advice I could give is: you feel a creation desire? Go for it! It is important to listen to yourself and to go for it even if you do not know anything. Make your own road. Invent your own shape, style. If you want to change directions, do so. Try. Fall, Get up. It is okay. Dig. Do it yourself. You will build your artist identity with your choices. 

In France, we are still truly trapped in boxes and people find it weird if you have multiple jobs, if you are blossoming in completely different industries. It took me more than 10 years of artistic schizophrenia before people started to find my route interesting and a little complete. That said, it is changing. However, I would say that it is important not to confine ourselves with the others’ boxes, you have to create your own boxes…

Another small advice: Art is not a warrant to act like a dick. Lots of artists think that it is important to take ourselves very seriously and to act like a dick with others (in theater, or music etc.) Being a young actress or a young singer exposes us to some pretty cliché behaviors, even today. And a lot of young artists/actresses/actors think that it is a must to bear all of the dick behavior.