An ovation of almost two minutes and, in the center of the stage, a costume of Robert Redford, moved, elegant and an elegant smile, although a little ashamed, which tries to thank the crowd (the gratina of tricolor cinema). In 2019, the actor and the director, who died on Tuesday at the age of 89, received a César de Honor for all his work, confirming (if necessary) that the French public appreciated him, if he did not adorn it particularly. And it was largely reciprocal.
“I love Paris, I have always loved Paris, I launched the octogenarian in front of the floor of the stars gathered that night at Olympia. I came here at the age of 18, he was a young artist, he wanted to try new experiences, he had no money, just hope.”
And the American actor to tell a tasty anecdote: “Before leaving the United States, I bought a beret to look French when I arrived in Paris. But one day, when I was with a group of French artists, an American came to ask me if I was not an American tourist. I wanted to integrate as much as possible.
“As you aged, time passes faster”
At that time, only with his sketchbook in the capital, the young Robert Redford loved, such as Hemingway or Henry Miller before him, landing in cafes, looking at people, drawing and imagining what they were saying. “Without friends, this is how I occupied my time in Paris,” he said on the stage of the 44th César.
“After that, I went to Cannes in Autop. As I couldn’t pay much, I slept under the stars in a sleeping bag, under a dock, and I heard laughs of the Carlton hotel, he continues. I asked myself:” What should be in this hotel and have fun like this, “” Dressed in his 31? “
Seventeen years later, the actor, who became an icon, returns to Croisette, this time as a participant. “I went down to this same hotel and, when I looked at the sea, I remembered the time I slept on the beach.” And to conclude, as a great sage: “As you get old, time spends faster. Suddenly, the future is changing in the past, tomorrow becomes yesterday.”
“A freer place”
A little before, in 2013, Robert Redford had already mentioned his arrival in Paris in the microphone of Nikos Aliagas in Europe 1. “I have never been completely comfortable at home, where I grew up, in Los Angeles. Very small yes, because there were large areas of vegetation, there are no reeds or roads.
He also mentioned his Parisian experience, to escape, he said, “on the borders of American life.”
“I wanted to go to a freer and faster place, and that is what I found in Paris. This is where my adult life began,” said the actor. I still had to return to the United States because I had no money, but I didn’t want to. That is why France was important in my life. “
A sign of supreme recognition, the Californian star even received the Legion of Honor of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2016. “You play the United States and everything that this country represents,” said the former French president. A tribute before time.
Source: BFM TV
