"The idea of this short film came a long time ago." "For a very long time. I've thought about Ravel's Bolero." "a piece of music that I truly dislike and find excruciatingly boring." "Too bad for the Bolero's lovers." "I do apologise." "The reason why I started considering Ravel's Bolero is because I couldn't help thinking" "about the drummer - a modern time hero to me - and what he has to go through." "A person who during 20 to 22 minutes - the duration of the Bolero - is standing in front of his side drum and must content himself with doing..." "And that rhythm is guiding the whole orchestra through." "which means that if the drummer feels low." "gets distracted." "and gets out of rhythm." "the whole Bolero collapses." "And then I thought. if one evening." "he is not feeling well or his mind is somewhere else." "how will he cope?" "That's where the idea came from." "it's as simple as that." "a single shot on Ravel's Bolero drummer." "I worked with a real orchestra." "we redid a short version of the Bolero. 8 to 10 minutes and I asked Jacques Villeret." "who you can see here." "an actor I adore." "to be the drummer of the Bolero." "With a professional drummer." "I could have filmed with a larger angle as I could have kept the side drum and the sticks on screen." "But as we weren't playing live and it is actually really difficult to beat the drum." "I had to reduce the shot angle of the camera to insure that the side drum and the sticks were off-screen." "This is because Jacques Villeret was not always in synch." "What's really funny is when the camera is on him. really close." "and we realise that this man doesn't pay attention to what surrounds him." "He doesn't pay attention to the Bolero which annoys him. too and does his job like a good musical civil servant but has his own thoughts and worries in mind." "And I also like that bit where the drummer suddenly." "and very discreetly as if this was a TV programme." "looks quickly on the side and realises he is being filmed." "And he acts in connivance with us." "with complicity." "The Bolero goes on and on." "it's excruciating." "he thinks the same as I do about Ravel and his Bolero." "his back hurts." "he fidgets on his chair." "he has his own thoughts. etc." "And I was very keen on filming a single shot on a good actor who is not actually playing the Bolero." "but is subjected to the Bolero." "And that feeling increases with the passing minutes." "At the beginning." "the music is calm and as the Bolero goes on." "the music becomes louder and louder." "Imagine that this man has a bad headache;" "he must pass through that ordeal." "I've had the idea of filming the Bolero drummer for years." "I had already made a few feature films." "and somewhere in the corner of my mind I've had the idea of one day maybe making that film." "a bit of a simple idea but I found it really funny." "But I didn't find the time." "the courage." "I was wondering if it was really worth it." "then I shared this idea with Gilles Jacob." "the Cannes Festival's director." "He thought it was a fantastic idea." "He told me to shoot it and he would show it at Cannes." "So I shot the Bolero's drummer thanks to Gilles Jacob's instigation." "impulsiveness and enthusiasm." "He asked me to shoot it for Cannes." "He did not produce it." "he incited it." "I like that bit where the Bolero is becoming noisier and noisier and the drummer is surrounded by all the drums." "kettledrums. bass drum and I can't remember the name..." "And when things get louder and louder." "he is more and more overwhelmed by the noise." "He looks at us thinking that the Bolero is definitely too noisy." "And this is only the beginning..." "What's funny is that we needed a full orchestra to shoot that shot." "but apart from the beginning." "you don't see it again." "The film focuses on only three people." "the ones in the frame." "I adore Jacques Villeret." "I don't know how famous he is outside France but he manages to express so much with his funny faces. his acting." "h s faaoco, h s oyos, too" "Now his back hurts." "he sits up a bit." "And when the repetitive Bolero becomes really loud." "he is totally overwhelmed;" "he looks to the side at the girls who beat louder and louder." "He is about to really lose it..." "We thought with Jacques Villeret." "the man must have late bills." "kids with problems at school." "a wife who is not nice all of the time." "Maybe his life is hell." "and when he plays on stage." "it is even more hellish." "It is as simple as that." "a close-up on the drummer." "And when the Bolero ends and the public gives a standing ovation." "everybody gets up and that is the end of the film." "This is the end of his struggle." "of his suffering." "Maybe it is a bit too simple." "but I really enjoyed making this film because I love this actor and when you've had an idea in your mind for several years it is nice to put it on screen." "Now he is about to die." "it is pathetic but also quite funny." "It is moving and pathetic." "He is trying to hold on... like a cyclist in the Tour de France who must pedal until the finishing line." "Hold on. one has to hold on!" "The funny faces he pulls at the end when the Bolero is so loud is something that I simply love." "He can allow himself to speak;" "nobody can hear him in the noise of the Bolero." "Here we go." "banging more and more." "He can't stand it anymore." "It is a real struggle." "He expresses a lot of feelings." "Because the film was a single shot." "we only rehearsed once or twice as I didn't want Jacques Villeret to give too much" "before we shot the real thing." "I seem to recall that we did four takes and in the editing we chose the best of the four takes." "This is the end." "he stands up. salutes and the film is over." "That's all. folks!"