It is a regret that the filmmaker risks keeping forever. Emily Atef, director of the last film in which Gaspard Ulliel will appear More than ever, told our colleagues at JDD that he missed the actor’s last call on the day of his death. “I did not hear my phone ring…”, she indeed explained to the journalists. “The day of the accident, I left him a message on WhatsApp to say that the first feedback on the film was great,” she told JDD. As a reminder, the actor died in a skiing accident in Savoie on January 19.
Gaspard Ulliel read the message and tried to call back the director, who did not hear her phone and missed her call. In this film released on November 16 which tells the end of life as part of a loving couple, Gaspard Ulliel embodies a husband who accompanies the woman he loves in her last moments. A luminous film despite the seriousness of the subject and which resonates painfully because of the tragic death of the actor who should have celebrated his 38th birthday this Friday, November 25.
Emily Atef, director of her latest film “More than ever”.
Emily Atef remains happy that the actor was able to rejoice in the good reception of the film before his death. “Some time before his disappearance, I had sent him a message to tell him that the film was almost ready and he was very happy. His death was so violent, and it still is,” she confided to GQ. Despite everything, ensuring the promotion of the film remains an emotionally difficult ordeal to manage. “I toured cinemas in France and I realize how difficult it is to move forward. We can’t accept it and yet it’s part of life. We say to ourselves that it’s unfair. Gaspard was a wonderful person, it’s painful to think that we will no longer see him elsewhere, “said the filmmaker.
Emily Atef also told reporters that the actor was touched by the script for this drama, which gently and lovingly tells the story of a close-knit couple facing death. “What interested me was the fact that we don’t treat the dying person we love as if they were alive. We talk about them as if they were no longer there. We stop telling them the beautiful things that we live, supposedly not to hurt him. It’s fundamentally humiliating for someone who lives something difficult, even if it starts with a good intention, “explains the director.
When we know that the last image of the film is that of Gaspard Ulliel on a boat as a farewell, Emily Atef specifies that nothing has been modified in the film due to the tragic death of its main actor. “We don’t want to use this tragedy to release this film either. We want to have done it for the reasons that led to its birth,” she says. The actor now rests in the Père Lachaise cemetery.