Norocosul jurnalist care a intervievat-o pe Mylene dupa 10 ani de tacere a fost Thierry Demaizière.
Interviul s-a difuzat in cadrul emisiunii "Sept à huit", difuzata duminca seara la 7, in duminca dinaintea inceperii concertelor, pe canalul TF1.

Mylène Farmer: Well, I think this will be my last interview.
This profession has been my means of survival, otherwise I wouldn't have any meaning to my life!
I've always told myself I would never be governed by my own fears.
I know the risk of silence.
The thing I require the most is my freedom.
I don't think I belong to any family.
I'm like those people who are a little obsessed with death...
I think to do this profession, you have to have guts, because there are mortal enemies out there...

Off: She loves angels but she has devlish beauty. For 20 years she's attracted the love of her fans, captivated their hearts, and fed their fantasies. She has a diva's aura, an iconic status, and her silence has made her a legend. Mylène Farmer is so rare that her words are precious. She doesn't like to say out loud what she sings in whispers. Let's listen to her; it may be the last time she speaks.

Thierry Demaizière: 10 years without hearing from you, no interviews, 6 years without hearing you sing, 6 years without seeing you onstage: do you like being away from the spotlight?!

MF: I have...it's a necessity, it's out of shyness, believe me...

TD: You almost have an intimidating shyness?

MF: That's what people have often said to me, yes, I know that being bothersome really bothers me as well, so I...I admit it's an extremely difficult task.

TD: Your shyness isn't the only explanation. Why do you hide for so long before reappearing?

MF: I don't know if it's my only explanation, I have trouble anyway...I think it goes beyond that, even, than talking about me...It's something that's almost insurmountable for me. I owe you a week and a half of insomnia, and a near ulcer.

TD: Excuse me!

MF: It's OK.

TD: That bad?

MF: Yes, really, yes. Is it because I don't feel interesting or important enough, or self-centered enough? Probably...probably...But it doesn't stop me from going onstage.

(Live à Bercy)

Off: Bercy, the site of her excesses. She's rehearsing her next show there, in secret, like usual.

TD: You're going to begin on Friday the 13th, for 13 shows, there will be 13,000 people each night at Bercy, do you like the number 13?

MF: I like the number 13. I'm not superstitious.

TD: The seats have been sold for almost a year, they're all waiting like crazy, it looks like it's going to be huge, non-transportable...Can you tell us anything more about it, or is that also going to be a secret?

MF: Well, I'm going to keep the secretive aspect...and also tell you that I regret not being able to go elsewhere in France--this show is really not transportable. So I've asked the public to come to me, which might seem like a lack of humility, but it's really because of, I was going to say, I hope, of the grandeur of this show and its exceptional, extraordinary aspect.

TD: We know it's in the shape of a cross, we know that, and that there will be a wall of water...

MF: Yes, that too, those are the leaks on the Internet, right?

TD: Yes. And to appear so infrequently and so rarely, during these years you've disappeared, does the public miss you?

MF: Yes! We always have the...me in particular, because I think, deep down, nothing is for sure, you're always afraid of abandonment. I think the feeling of abandonment is something that haunts me.

TD: You could say like Barbara, "My most beautiful love story is you", to the public?

MF: Oh, I say it, yes, it's, yes yes, it's my confession.

Off: Because she's been quiet for years at a time, Mylène Farmer has possibly risked displeasing her public. As if her silence ended up hurting her, provoking spite in certain fans and feeding the rumor.

MF: People say a lot of things about me, they say a lot of totally erroneous things, they invent, I imagine, my life, they invent my emotions. Now I know, I'm aware of it, I know the risk of silence. There are certainly some people who hold it against me because this silence, who think that it's of a haughy nature, when it's only discretion on my part, that I have a really hard time talking about myself.

TD: Some wonder if this isn't also a communication strategy? Just like Garbo kept quiet, the more you keep quiet, the more you attract mystery and the more mystery and the more people invent and invent and the more they want to know...which kind of provokes this type of devotion...

MF: I don't know about that, once again I'm aware of the nature of this mystery and what it can engender. Now is it a strategy, I'm going to tell you no, of course it's not, it's my inner nature. I don't belong to this system in this sense that it's true that I do very little TV, I hardly do any interviews. But once again, I retreat back to my inner nature, and when you don't belong to a system, the system tries to destroy you. Also, I'm lucky to have had people who have followed me for twenty years, who have...

TD: Who are faithful to you, but faithful almost in the religious sense of the term.

(Innamoramento extracts)

TD: You've brought about a sort of devotion and you almost have a diva's aura...There are lots of books coming out right now, a fan who waited for you for two years, well, it's almost incredible! Is this something violent...sometimes?

MF: It's not violent, it's disturbing, certainly. As long as these people don't waste their life for me, I'm at peace. But if I do indeed feel that they are missing out on something because I've become the absolutely essential element in their lives, that does disturb me a lot.

TD: There's even a fan, one of the most dramatic stories that's happened to you, who went and killed the receptionist from your record label, a few years ago. So, somewhere your absence pushes them to madness.

MF: I don't know...To talk about this person, maybe this person was disturbed even before going...It's always a little dangerous to...to have these kinds of intentions, and believe me, it's painful enough for me to experience these kinds of things.

TD: And do you understand today's trend of committing oneself to confession, where the stars no longer have much of a private life and like to talk about their childhood and their life story?

MF: I try not to judge. But it's true that I find it a bit of a pity this--to paraphrase you--this lack of mystery on the part of most of these artists. I don't want to know what they eat for dinner, I don't want to know with whom they...uh, I won't say the word (laughs). I believe you have to preserve yourself a little bit.

TD: I think right there we've just had a little bit of your mystery, actually, that you laugh! You've always been fixed in this slightly morbid image, where you only like nostalgia, melancholy, suffering...

MF: No, that's a part of me as well and it's a part of a lot of us. I'm saying you can be made of hopelessness, joy, I mean, many things that clash and contradict each other. So, I'm someone, I belong to these people that are indeed a little obsessed with death, the idea of death. Quite simply, the fact that we're mortal is something unbearable, so I have this burden with me; now, to say that I'm someone morbid, that I sleep in a coffin and I feed on spiders, NO! I like Tagada strawberries.

TD: And is it true, though, that your grandmother took you to visit cemeteries when you were little?

MF: That is actually one of the rare souvenirs that I have. They're places that aren't, for me, sorry, morbid at all. For me a cemetery is a place of peace, a place of rest. I'm able to completely reorient myself in a cemetery...

Off: From the melancholy of cemeteries to the inaccessible dreams of androgyny, Mylène won't hesitate to stuff handkerchiefs in her pants to look, without imitation, like a boy.

MF: It's true, I had a person who often told me when I was little that "Mylène was really pretty for a boy," because in fact I had a rather deep voice, that I've forced to change with time.

TD: You've always had this dream of being a boy?

MF: No. (laughs).

TD: The other rumor is saying that you have a lot of mirrors in your house. So do you like mirrors or do you hate mirrors?

MF: Well I admit, I don't have a lot of mirrors in my house, in fact, I don't think I have any. Today, people feel the need to look at themselves constantly, but it's more out of worrying about not being pretty enough, not good enough, not ready...I think it's more of a fretful nature than inner narcissism.

TD: Could you say that the mirror is your worst enemy?

MF: I'll admit that it's not nice to me.

TD: I was told once that you had monkeys, I think you only have one monkey now?

MF: I have a monkey, yes, and I've lived with her for almost 20 years now...She's a little Capuchin monkey, she's pretty small, and she's an intelligent animal.

TD: Is she a friend for you?

MF: Oh she's a companion, yes. A little girl.

TD: So obviously, since you speak so little, people talk about you in your place. The biographies are numerous, but sometimes unbelievable...I'm going to take the most unbelievable one, the biography where the story is told of a skunk that urinated on you when you were little, and you were greatly tramautized by it, and in order to wash you of this humiliation, your mother put you in a tomato bath. Can you confirm this?

MF: Well, I've been told that this story was untrue, so I think it's a very nice story, a little dramatic, a little saucy, but it's not the truth, no.

TD: Do you suffer from all that or do you tell yourself, "It's the price I have to pay because I keep quiet"?

MF: The people who give themselves the authority to violate the territory of another person to obtain or to invent things, I think that's extremely uncalled-for. I think to do this profession you have to have guts, because there are mortal enemies out there.

TD: We know there are no big stars without big secrets. We've guessed that you're harboring a big secret. We know that Johnny Hallyday was abandoned as a child, we know that Barbara was raped as a child...Do you know your big secret? Do you know your mystery, your secret? You have the right not to tell it to us but do you know it?

MF: Yes, of course.

(Avant que l'ombre)

TD: If we had to use the lyrics to your songs as your only official biography, you say, "I'm afraid of the hour that takes me to dreams carried away, to worlds forgotten, to sleepless nights, to unfinished memories." It seems like this shadow is, well, death, that before dying, you're afraid that nightmares will come back, that these terrible memories will come back.

MF: Well, I'm trying more and more, and I admit it's not easy to step back from my life and forever, from the feeling...Now to tell you that we have burdens to carry, obviously, that these open wounds don't heal easily, yes; now to tell you the nature of my wounds...Sometimes they're precise in my mind, sometimes they're very hazy, I don't know. I think it's also the fact that I have very few memories of my childhood, and I admit it's troubling for me, not having sought to analyze it...

TD: So you're saying that from age 12, before the age of 12, you remember hardly anything?

MF: No, nothing, not even afterwards.

TD: Do you think that your memories will come back to you one day, that you're going to get back your past, your history?

MF: No, no, certainly not. I think the pages have been erased and once again, maybe I don't really need to know the why and how of it...let's leave that in the dark.

(Redonne-Moi)

TD: Because you haven't spoken for 10 years, what's happened in your life in the past 10 years that you can tell us? About your state of mind, about your openness to other cultures, about your health, about...?

MF: (laughs)...

TD: You're feeling better and better?

MF: Oh no, I don't think so. Still as much anger.

TD: From what?

MF: I don't know, I was born angry (laughs). I began with "I hate" and afterward, I learned to like.

TD: Would you say that you're now all grown up?

MF: No!!!

TD: Still a child?

MF: Heavens no. Yes.

TD: You still don't want to grow up?

MF: No, that doesn't interest me in the least. No.

TD: Really?

MF: Growing old, I accept, because it's fate, but growing up, no.

TD: You accept growing old?

MF: Yes, yes. I tell you it's painful, probably, but well, I don't have a choice.

(Mylenium tour)

Off: Mylène Farmer's big flaws can't prevent a flawless work ethic. A great performer, a show-woman, a businesswoman, she needs to control everything onstage, from the lights to the slightest buttonhole.

TD: It comes down to an image, a photo that you don't like...You say, "It's my job, it's my image, I want to control it, it's my person."

MF: That's an even more painful area, it's true that when you don't like yourself or don't accept yourself, you're more critical of yourself, so there are things that you hate and when you hate, you're torn up.

(California)

TD: Do you prefer the word "sex" or the word "desire," or "pleasure"?

MF: "Desire" is a beautiful word.

TD: You could say it's one of your major themes.

MF: Yes, the desire to...

TD: To provoke?

MF: Desire? Yes, that too, of course. Of course.

TD: And from where does this incredible liberty that you have come to you, even from a sexual point of view, where you have no taboos, every desire is respectable, and...?

MF: Maybe from my reading, maybe I've read Sade a bit too much, maybe I devoured it, so there you go. There are some people who are going to tell you, tell you willingly, it's easier for me, maybe, to talk about sexual desires and outpourings...

TD: A few years ago you said that it would be mortifying for you to not realize all your fantasies. Have you realized them?

MF: Yes I have.

TD: Does one get bored afterward?

MF: One does get bored. (laughs). One will find other fantasies.

TD: What's wonderful and troubling in you is that you know how to be shy and daring at the same time...

MF: It's the paradox that I have to live with every day.

TD: Are you afraid of tedium?

MF: I hate tedium.

TD: Do you have the idea somwhere that everything is permissible, well, that everything is permissible to you at least?

MF: I don't prohibit myself from anything, if it's...I call on my memory...But I remember when I wrote "C'est une belle journée," in the refrain I had put "It's a beautiful day, I'm going to kill myself" instead of how it is now, "It's a beautiful day, I'm going to go to bed". And I think that could be a call to suicide for certain people who are a bit fragile, so I changed that expression for another one, because it might have been something too strong all of a sudden, something too decisive. I think anything is possible when, once again, you don't hurt anyone.

TD: Where did you get this liberty from? Your parents?

MF: I don't know.

TD: Were you a rebel all the time from the start?

MF: Yes, but more hidden, more in its autistic form--can you say that word? Yes? This profession has been my means of survival, I say that without any dramatic meaning, it's really been vital for me, otherwise, I wouldn't have any meaning to my life. The desire, once again, to give, and especially to receive as well.

TD: Since you used the word autistic, let me talk about it. You are fascinated and you often go see, off camera--it's a credit to you--sick children.

MF: Yes, it's true that I make a lot of hospital visits, to see sick children, but I especially, I'm going to maybe give you a little key into my life because in any case, it's a souvenir, something extremely significant in my life, I think I was about 11 years old, I was taking catechism courses, and every Sunday we would go to the Garches hospital, to go see quadriplegic children, and our task was to play with them, take care of them...It's unbearable. It's unbearable for someone who can walk, for someone who suffers, for someone who lives...There you go. Anyway, these things have been like an electroshock in my life, and it's quite difficult to bear this injustice afterward.

Off: This world so tormented, created from erased memories, from crucifixion, from fishnets and guardian angels, is fascinating because it never stops singing its mystery without ever revealing its secret.

TD: Do you ever imagine from time to time that one day you're going to disappear completely, from the media and the stage, from singing?

MF: Well, I feel like this is going to be my last interview.

TD: This one here, right now?

MF: Yes, this one. But...

TD: Would it shock you if I said that being so sure of one's desire, doing what you feel like doing and leading your career like you do, not caring about the gossip, and doing what you want, is also borne out of an enormous pride?

MF: I don't think it's pride or being sure of oneself. I think it's actually an aversion to compromise. I've always said that I would never be governed by my own fears, because these fears can cause terrible things, but I've never given in to my fears.

TD: So you've overcome your fears?

MF: Yes, I've overcome my fears. Sometimes they come back in force, with a roar, but I'll never do anything that's guided by fear. Never.

TD: At the end of this interview we realize that people have fantasized about you, that they've imagined that all of that was calculated, these appearances, these disappearances, and that...Is this really just your own rhythm?

MF: Exactly.

TD: Do you like silence?

MF: Actually I think silence likes me.

TD: So maybe we'll leave each other in silence then?

MF: In silence then. Thank you.

 

Iata ce a spus Thierry Demaizière dupa interviul cu Mylene

The Mylène Farmer mystery

How did you accomplish the impossible mission of interviewing Mylène Farmer?
I met her agent, Thierry Suck [sic], a year ago, and I just simply asked him. He didn't say no; he just said it wasn't the right time. Then he contacted me again two weeks ago to tell me that Mylène accepted the interview on one condition: that her private life wouldn't be discussed. She had nothing to sell anyway because her thirteen Bercy concerts were already sold out.

From what angle did you tackle this interview?
What interested me was the mystery that surrounds Mylène Farmer, even though the real reason was her show at Bercy. You have to realize it's the first interview she granted to one of the major TV channels in her entire career! The last time was ten years ago when she answered questions from Paul Amar on Paris Première. Also, just before we began the interview, she affirmed to me that this would undoubtedly be the last time in her life that she would be doing this.

Did she seem nervous to you?
She admitted that she hadn't slept for a week and that she was almost getting a stomach ulcer from it. I could tell that she was stressed and it was only under duress that she was going through with the interview. Even though I was going to discover quickly that she's someone that you can't compel or force to do anything. Roughly speaking, interviews are the things she abhors the most in the world because she hates talking about herself. What's more, she even has trouble talking about herself with her friends because she's afraid of not finding the right words. She thinks that everything she has to say can be found in her lyrics and that's enough for her.

Mylène Farmer is a huge star. Did she have any particular demands?
She has the habit of leaving nothing to chance. She wanted a very bright, very clear, open-air setting. Contrary to the slightly somber image that we had of her in the 80s, she wanted a setting more solar than lunar. So we did it in an art gallery with very soft light and mirrors as the only decor. She even agreed to sit down on a big black chair that was very uncomfortable but very beautiful.

No eccentricities? No strange demands?
None at all. All she asked for was strawberry candy and a quiet corner to relax and smoke a cigarette. She already had her makeup and hair done before arriving. We were therfore able to start the interview right away.

What's the first impression that comes off of her?
Mylène Farmer is someone very paradoxal. You seem to have in front of you someone very vulnerable, sensitive, afraid of being attacked. But at the same time, you feel very impressive strength and charisma. As soon as you see her, you realize that her scarcity is neither fabricated nor pretentious.

Her mystery is therefore something she doesn't cultivate volontarily?
She is fundamentally and intrinsically secretive! It's her true nature. She needs to protect herself in order to concentrate and feel good about herself. She's managed to impose her own law on this profession because she sells almost a million albums each time without doing any promotion. In France, she's the only person who can allow herself to do that, to disappear for several months without giving a single interview or without doing the slightest promotion. And she still fills up all the concert arenas.

Her secrecy doesn't work against her in the end?
It's obvious that her mystery feeds the rumors, the gossip, the biographies, and makes a lot of ink flow. Recently an article in Paris-Match hurt her. I know she's very aware of the fact that her silence creates a sort of jealousy and agitation in the artistic community. If she agreed to this interview, it was only because she was fed up with people talking about her in her place. She herself confessed that she's managed to master her fears and doesn't want anything imposed on her by anyone. It's her freedom that's non-negotiable.

Does she talk about her fans from time to time?
I talked with her about the sometimes obsessive and excessive attitude of some of her fans who camp out at her doorstep night and day. She understands them but as soon as she sees that someone is suffering because of her, it makes her very uncomfortable.

Did she talk about her upcoming Bercy show?
Very little, because her concerts are shrowded in great mystery. All we know is that the stage will be in the shape of a cross, there will be a curtain of water, and she'll be in the middle of the public. But out of respect for her team that has worked for months and to let her public be the first to see it, she didn't want to say any more about it.

Did you get a feeling of trust from her at any time in the interview?
She was reassured by the way that I worked. But at the beginning of the interview, she noticed a coat rack in her line of sight and asked that it be moved. Same thing for the sound man whom she wanted to avoid looking in the eyes. This all just shows you how tense she was. But she was really touching, even shy, and we understood perfectly how hard it was for her to go through with this endeavor. In fact, her shyness is very intimidating for the person face-to-face with her. Difficult to imagine that starting tomorrow, she could find herself onstage in front of 13,000 people and relax completely.

Is she someone really anguished?
It seems to me she has overcome her fears, but death still obsesses her. She's remained very fragile and she's surprised to still be standing today. She says she owes her survival to her profession. We're dealing with an artist who's strong and willful but full of doubts. Moreover, she prefers silence above all.

The end of the interview must have been a relief for her...
She thanked me affectionately several times and showed herself to be extremely delicate and simple with the entire crew, nothing artificial. Nevertheless, I know she won't watch the interview on TV, because she doesn't like to see or hear herself.

Is she the biggest celebrity you've met up to now?
Aside from Madonna, with whom I did an interview last month, but Mylène Farmer is extremely rarely interviewed. Because of that, her lyrics are precious and you quickly realize that she is devoid of any political expressions or formatted responses. She's not used to the media because she avoids them, and so her speech hasn't been distorted by habit or by the daily questions from the journalists. It's all the more interesting that she takes each question to heart, to the point of not always protecting herself. I sincerely think that in all fairness, she ranks among the big ones, such as Johnny or Barbara, that I've had the chance to interview. It's not only an interview, it's a real meeting. A rare and precious moment.

Finally, does Mylène Farmer have some things to say?
Obviously! You understand right away that she has an abundant interior richness. She's very cultivated, she reads a lot and she's interested in a lot of things other than music. I think she's managed to master her demons and become more sereine. She feels free and claims this liberty of manners and thought in a very strong way. That's what seems the most important in her eyes. She told me she doesn't have any memories of her childhood before the age of 12, that she the thinks of death every day and a lot of other things. But you'll have to watch the interview in Sept à huit to know more...

Pagini realizate de Geta Grama

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