A special guest of The World Magazine, Frederic Beigbeder is the French writer whose books became a real revelation for the Russian reading public in the early 2000s. 99 Francs was shocking in its description of advertising’s cynical backstage operations, and Love lasts Three years has been apprehended as the true encyclopedia of modern romantic relationships. Shy reminders that the classic Russian author Anton Chekhov told similarly, though in shorter form, in his Three Years novella fell on deaf ears. In an interesting turn, Frederic Beigbeder’s 76 own revelations include modern Russian prose.
I am always in search of any revelations, because if we cease having something to discover — we die. While a person develops, he discovers something new for himself, he studies and makes mistakes. If that is lacking, the person is presumed dead, even if he walks, speaks and steps on your feet.
It is necessary always to remain curious people. The world is huge and varied; a man lives only seventy or, at most, maybe a hundred years. It is not enough to tell yourself: ‘I already know about everything I am not un- interested in, I’ve seen everything.’
Discoveries are everywhere — every day, something is constantly coming to light. In science, in literature, in art. For example, we maybe thought, yesterday, that medicine had approached its potential limits, that nothing could be counted on and it was time to think about the testament. But then you find out news about Shinya Yamanaka and your world landscape changes. This is an individual who received the Nobel Prize after having learnt to correct adult somatic cells, taking out stem cells and correcting mistakes in DNA. When you try to understand HOW he does it, you get dizzy! And then — whatever, it doesn’t matter how he does it — the main thing is I now know who will be able to return my youth to me when I turn seventy.
Or you open a book. Sometimes you cannot say pre- cisely whence it even appeared — I do not know about others, but books arise independently around me. And so, you open a book and discover the fabulous Russian author, Yuri Maletsky. He was translated into the French perfectly!
Discoveries are everywhere — every day, something is constantly coming to light. In science, in literature, in art. For example, we maybe thought, yesterday, that medicine had approached its potential limits, that nothing could be counted on and it was time to think about the testament. But then you find out news about Shinya Yamanaka and your world landscape changes. This is an individual who received the Nobel Prize after having learnt to correct adult somatic cells, taking out stem cells and correcting mistakes in DNA. When you try to understand HOW he does it, you get dizzy! And then — whatever, it doesn’t matter how he does it — the main thing is I now know who will be able to return my youth to me when I turn seventy.
Or you open a book. Sometimes you cannot say pre- cisely whence it even appeared — I do not know about others, but books arise independently around me. And so, you open a book and discover the fabulous Russian author, Yuri Maletsky. He was translated into the French perfectly!
Sometimes you cannot precisely say whence it has appeared — I do not know about others but books arise independently around me
When you write a book, you make countless discoveries. Literally, for each page to be written rather well, it is necessary to make even one discovery. I have been writing one novel for two years, and my goal is to finish it, and then, probably, to create one more film from this book. I really liked making The Ideal. I had a lot of fun, though choosing the girls to participate in the project was tremendously difficult for me. Seriously, the casting process of the girls and women was the most difficult phase in the film’s shooting. But I am still ready to continue my movie work, I am enjoying playing with this new language.
I worked in advertising long enough, and I had the opportunity to form a taste of images, of communication using images. I really like writing, but “pictures” are absolutely other language, more three-dimensional, and non-linear. And I would like to master this language perfectly. My next film will be much less attached to my books; I am interested in making a movie based on the original self-valuable scenario.
And THAT will really be a great revelation for me!