“Johnny gave himself up without a filter”: the documentary “Johnny by Laeticia” delves into the singer’s intimacy

“We never see them, these movies that you make,” launches Johnny Hallyday, at the beginning of Johnny deLaeticia, broadcast this Thursday, December 8 on M6. From her meeting in 1995 to her death in December 2017, Laeticia has immortalized many moments of her private life. The director William Karel, extracted from it a documentary of one hundred minutes.

We see Johnny getting a wolf tattooed on his arm, singing a bawdy George Brassens song, playing 1000 Bornes, helping his daughter Jade make a presentation, or taking part in the “ice bucket challenge” surrounded by kids.

A smiling, relaxed and happy Johnny. In the antipodes of the dark side, the contours were revealed in 1998, in a long interview with the writer and journalist Daniel Rondeau for The world.

“Johnny was no longer the same man”

The documentary takes a long look behind the scenes of this interview, which marks a turning point in Johnny’s career. We are in 1997, the singer has just taken a sabbatical, aboard his boat, after the fiasco of his concert in Las Vegas. He decides to accept Daniel Rondeau’s proposal. And trust like never before. “Johnny gave himself up without a filter at a time in his life that was complicated by his demons, his flaws and his traumas,” the journalist told AFP.

“When Johnny came back from the interviews and told me about the exchanges he’d had with Daniel, I said to myself ‘it’s going really really really far.’

Daniel Rondeau’s article caused a stir. “I had phoned him to notify him of the impact,” testifies the journalist, who also evokes “the extraordinary impact” of the portrait in The world.

“Johnny used the word ‘destroy’ to destroy himself, to talk about his suicide attempts, alcohol, drugs,” says Laeticia.

His addictions, “he also lived them daily,” he adds. I lived the demons of her daily. I lived his descent into hell, I lived the sleeplessness, Johnny was no longer the same man, he was someone different.

“I didn’t fall out of my chair,” laughs Johnny’s old friend Jean-Claude Camus. I fell out of my chair seeing that he had literally taken it all out. I think he almost exaggerated a bit. He looked good in the picture. of the rocker”, he moderates himself.

As a result of the article, which changes the view of many on the rock star, Johnny decides to give a memorable concert, to relaunch his career. It’s at the Stade de France where it happens and it’s called Johnny lights the fire. She arrives on stage in a helicopter. Under pouring rain, he became one of the first singers to perform at the newly opened stadium.