Swann Arlaud and Sandrine Blancke tell Our salvation

They are husband and wife under the direction of Emmanuel Marre in this chronicle of an ordinary collaborator under Vichy, inspired by the story of his great grandparents. They tell Première about the director’s unique working method.

Our salvation takes us back to September 1940, at the time when the Pétain regime was being established. Henri Marre arrives in Vichy penniless, without contact and sees in the new administration the opportunity to finally find the place he deems he deserves, while his relationship begins to struggle. Inspired by the story of his great-grandparents, Emmanuel Marre tells the chronicle of ordinary collaboration through the prism of a couple living these disastrous years in the antipodes. The more Henri becomes blind, the more his wife Paulette gains clairvoyance. For his first solo feature, the co-director of Nothing to give a damn (discovered at Cannes Critics’ Week in 2021) interweaves French history and the story of a couple falling apart. Swann Arlaud and Sandrine Blancke (“born” in Cannes in 1990 with Toto the heroCaméra d’Or that year) – who play the main roles – return for Première to their arrival on the film and the unique working method of their director.

FIRST: Swann, Emmanuel Marre says that you started by refusing this role of Henri. It’s true ?
SWANN ARLAUD: In fact, it’s a somewhat recurring thing for me: I regularly start by refusing the films that I accept! (laughs) In the case of Our salvation……