In Ma Frère, a film by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret in theaters on January 7, Amel Bent is Sabrina, a director of a summer camp in the working-class neighborhood around Place des Fêtes, in Paris’s 19th arrondissement. On the occasion of a premiere at the Arras Film Festival, têtu· spoke with the singer and actress to discuss the film and its connection to the LGBT community since her beginnings more than 20 years ago in Nouvelle Star.
Here you are in front of the camera! What are your tastes in cinema?
Amel Bent: I am a big film buff, and I really like anything that is very dark, but not gory: Fincher’s films, such as Seven, or Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs. I am also a big fan of Korean and Nordic cinema. I like everything that is very raw, not sugar-coated. It’s funny because I’m someone who tends to be sunny, but I think there’s a bit of darkness inside me that I need to satisfy. And cinema does that well. But even in music, what I listen to is rather dark.
How did you react to Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret’s proposal to make this film, Ma Frère?
I first read the script and understood that it was an exceptional proposition. I had seen Les Pires, their first film, but not their series Tu préfères, which inspired Ma Frère. So I watched it and immediately said to myself that I really wanted to do it! When I met them, they explained why they wanted it to be me, what they saw in me… For them, it wasn’t about taking Amel Bent the singer, they were looking for what I am when I’m not a singer. In fact, Sabrina resembles me more than Amel Bent, the singer.
Amel Bent the singer, is it already a character?
It’s not a character but it’s a mood, a projection. It’s a look, makeup, a hairstyle… It’s someone rooted, strong, who carries messages, and who in return is applauded and sees love in the eyes of people. Whereas this Sabrina character is just a normal person in a normal life, and it’s me in life. It’s me when I’m with my children, a cool mom! I also told the directors: “You’re giving me the opportunity to be myself.”
Was it complicated to be the adult of the group?
I am indeed older than the directors, so I naturally was an authority figure in this project; I was really the head of my group of campers. I’m the one who calmed everyone down, and people came to ask me for career advice like “you were 18 when you started, how did you manage?”. They asked me lots of questions about fame or handling money.
It’s true that a singing career seems complex…
What’s complex is that it’s a rather extraordinary and thus marginal profession. You can’t easily find advice because not everyone knows; you have to be in it to understand exactly the ins and outs. When you’re someone deeply rooted in life, who doesn’t necessarily want to chase glamorous parties and only mingle with famous people, you quickly end up isolating yourself.
You had already done some film and television acting…
That’s how Leïla Bekhti became my friend: we had shot together in Contes de la frustration, a very beautiful musical film directed by Akhenaton for France 2. It was at the very beginning of Leïla’s career, and a bit at the start of mine. I also acted in the series Les Sandales blanches, a project for which I had actually asked Leïla for advice. But for Ma Frère, I think I didn’t tell anyone. When the offer arrived, I wasn’t in the best period of my life, my grandmother was nearing the end of her life… So when I arrived on set, the summer in the Drôme, I wasn’t well, I didn’t want to. And in fact, it was the filming of the movie, the humanity I found there, the authenticity and the liveliness of the kids, their intelligence, the hope they inspire without meaning to, that gave me back my life. I went to the studio two days after returning from filming! There are at least three or four songs from my last album that are directly inspired by what I had just lived.
Among the campers in the film, there is Naël’s non-binary character, played by Yuming Hey. Their relationship with the children gives a lot of hope for inclusion…
At first, you might think the questions asked of them are a bit violent: are you with girls or boys, what do you like, etc. And in the end, you realize they have the same place as the others. All that matters is that these kids love them. I like the idea of not censoring the children’s questions, because when you don’t censor them, you understand that they are naturally inclusive. That’s what I found beautiful. Children have, in the end, the real intelligence of living together. A truth, a love of others, a gaze at others that sets an example. We realize how much, as we age, we all become a little crazy!
Are you aware that you have a LGBT audience that actively follows you? How do you explain it?
From the start, and more! Difference, rejection, and loneliness are topics that move me and that I sing about a lot; it’s something very present in me for reasons beyond my sexuality. This need to say: “I have the right to live, to be who I am, I have the right to hope to have a place in this society without masking myself, without pretending to be someone else…” I receive a lot of messages from the LGBT community, and it touches me deeply. You know, in Arabic my name means “hope.” I think that, unintentionally, by naming me that, my mother gave me a mission. I need to share this light. When I have in front of me, in my audience, people who suffer, who go through something difficult, I see it in their eyes. And depending on the songs, I can imagine what they may be going through. It pleases me that a song, or a moment spent in a concert hall, can sometimes give a second wind to people who don’t feel loved or who are rejected.
