JULIEN MADON, LISA AZUELOS AND JÉRÔME SEYDOUX PRESENT

NICOLASDUVAUCHELLE

SVEVAALVITI

RICCARDOSCAMARCIO

JEAN-PAULROUVE

DIRECTED BY LISA AZUELOS

ALESSANDRO BORGHI VALENTINA CARLI BRENNO PLACIDO NIELS SCHNEIDER VITTORIO HAMARZ VASFIDAVIDE LORINO HAYDEE BORELLI WITH SPECIAL APPEARANCES BY VINCENT PEREZ AND PATRICK TIMSIT

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W W W . D A L I D A - L E F I L M . C O M

JULIEN MADON, LISA AZUELOS AND JÉRÔME SEYDOUX PRESENT

NICOLASDUVAUCHELLE

SVEVAALVITI

RICCARDOSCAMARCIO

JEAN-PAULROUVE

DIRECTED BY LISA AZUELOS

DURATION: 2H04

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FROM HER BIRTH IN CAIRO IN 1933 TO HER FIRST

CONCERT AT THE OLYMPIA IN PARIS IN 1956;

FROM HER MARRIAGE TO LUCIEN MORISSE,

DIRECTOR OF THE NEWLY EMERGING EUROPE

1 RADIO TO THE HEIGHT OF THE DISCO SCENE;

FROM HER JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY TO INDIA

TO THE INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS OF GIGI

L’AMOROSO IN 1974, DALIDA THE FILM, IS

A TOUCHING AND TRAGIC PORTRAIT OF AN

EMOTIONALLY COMPLEX WOMAN WHO WAS

BORN TO BE A STAR. AN UNCONVENTIONAL

MODERN WOMAN LIVING IN CONVENTIONAL

TIMES. DESPITE HER TRAGIC DEATH IN 1987,

DALIDA’S STAGE PRESENCE AND INCREDIBLE

TALENT CONTINUE TO LIVE ON.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A FILM ABOUT DALIDA?

To be honest, I wasn’t really a fan of Dalida’s before I began

working on this film. In some ways, she was kind of thrust

upon me! Saying that, as soon as I started researching her life,

I felt an empathy with her, and, as time passed, the bond got

stronger and stronger. Dalida wasn’t just a woman who broke

a lot of records - she won more awards than any other French

artist; sold 170 million records, recorded 2000 songs and had

70 gold records - she was also an exceptional person. Not

every celebrity has a destiny mapped out. But she did.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?

Her existence was both spectacular and tragic! Dalida’s life

was like a novel, with all the ingredients of a good TV drama.

Her fame and notoriety were on a par with her loneliness.

I quickly came to realise that I shouldn’t just tell the story

of a woman, but the story of this woman who never found

happiness. I wanted to do justice to Dalida to her memory. I

wanted people to understand who she really was and forgive

her final desperate act. She was a victim of misfortune, in that

she was a modern woman in an era that was far from modern!

Had she lived twenty-five years on, she could have kept the

baby that she conceived out of wedlock, or had an abortion

in an environment that wouldn’t have made her sterile. She

could even have been a “cougar” without worrying about

it. And then – just maybe – she might not have been so

desperately unhappy as to commit suicide.

WHY DID THIS FILM TAKE SO LONG TO MAKE?

Probably because when dealing with such an important

and complex character, nothing is ever simple! The project

changed direction, actress and angles many times. Yet

strangely, I knew that I would get there in the end because

back in 2012, a medium said to me, “Dalida is happy that you’re

telling her story”. I replied “That can’t be right because even

though I’ve written the script, the film has been abandoned.”

She replied, “You’re wrong, in four years time there will be a

film and you’ll direct it.” So whether one chooses to believe in

those sorts of things or not, it did happen!

COMPARED TO MANY OTHER BIOPICS, YOU CHOSE NOT TO FOCUS ON ONE PART OF DALIDA’S LIFE BUT ON THE WHOLE. WHY?

Because I think that Dalida’s childhood, and especially

her relationship with her father, explains a lot about her

relationship with men all the way through her life. Her life and

death were two sides of the same coin. In order to understand

her being, it’s impossible to cut corners. Furthermore, all the

different phases of her life as an artist and her love life are

fascinating: from the San Remo years all the way through to

the disco years. It would have been way too hard to leave

any of that out! I already feel frustrated enough as it is for

not being able to include everything - I had to cut the film, as

originally, it was almost three hours long!

HOW DID IT GO WORKING WITH ORLANDO (DALIDA’S BROTHER/PRODUCER), WHO CO-WROTE THE SCREENPLAY?

Very, very well. His involvement was a safeguard mechanism

and a way to ensure that the true story of Dalida was told. He

soon realised that we both shared the same ultimate goal:

to make Dalida live on for eternity. Orlando only had three

requests: he wanted to approve the screenplay, choose the

actress who would play his sister, and choose the actor who

would play him, which is fair enough. In exchange, he totally

respected my artistic freedom. From time to time he guided

my writing (“You can’t leave that out, Lisa!”) but he also let

me depart from reality too. I wrote quite a lot intuitively, just

letting myself be guided by how I imagine Dalida might have

felt. I’ll never be able to thank Orlando enough for the faith

and trust he put in me.

THIS IS YOUR FIRST BIOPIC, SO HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT MAKING DALIDA’S STORY YOUR OWN?

I began by reading, watching and listening to everything by her

and about her! I was also helped by the fact that her lifestyle

was relatively familiar. Being the daughter of Marie Laforêt, I

understand what it would have been like to be a singer in the

1970s and 1980s: the glamour, the etiquette, the conservative

nature of this period, the constant attention from everyone

(especially men who determined almost everything for you),

but also the small details, like having a lady whose job it was

to stamp your signature on autographed photos. I knew about

all of that stuff. There was no danger that I could get any of

that part of the script wrong. As for Dalida herself, it’s very

strange to delve so deeply into someone else’s life, especially

when I began to realize that through her, I was also going to

reveal a lot about myself. The first year of writing was very

hard, probably because I found a lot of similarities between

us, such as her interest in spirituality and her relationships

with men. Like her, I have never had any doubts about my

career, but I have regularly had doubts in my private life. Yet,

I was lucky enough to have children and that makes all the

difference. Through Dalida, I learned a lot about myself, and in

particularly that I couldn’t have lived my life without children.

This was something that I had never admitted to myself until

working on this film.

FACED WITH SUCH A TRAGIC LIFE, WERE YOU EVER WORRIED THAT THIS FILM MIGHT BE TOO DARK?

I knew that it would never be a feel-good movie, but I also

knew that Dalida had two sides to her character: on the one

hand she was a very unhappy person but when she was

singing, she shone. That’s why I chose to tell the story of her

life through both the men that she loved and her songs. And

she had other moments of great happiness in her life and not

just in her career. For example, her passionate love affair with

Richard Chanfray is a very uplifting passage in the film.

TELL US ABOUT THE CASTING. IS IT TRUE THAT YOU SAW 200 ACTRESSES BEFORE FINALLY COMING ACROSS SVEVA ALVITI?

Yes! We started in France, but all the actresses I saw rolled

their ‘R’s, it was too much! Maybe it’s because culturally

speaking we don’t really have that many accents, so it all

sounded rather fake. So, we decided to cast the net further

afield to Italy and the Middle East. When I saw a video of

Sveva, I had a very good feeling about her. When she came

to Paris, there were still 20 actresses in the running. Sveva

sang Je Suis Malade and in that instant, I was overcome

with emotion! I literally cried. She was a very inexperienced

actress and she didn’t speak French but at the end of her

audition when she said, “I am Dalida” I said, “I know.”

AND WHAT ABOUT THE MALE CAST?

I thoroughly enjoyed that part, as Dalida only liked really

good-looking men! I was very lucky to get the actors I wanted

from the start. And they all amazed me: Nicolas Duvauchelle

(Richard Chanfray) and Jean-Paul Rouve (Lucien Morisse),

that goes without saying, but also among the actors playing

the men with lesser roles in Dalida’s life such as Niels

Schneider (Jean Sobieski), Alessandro Borghi (Luigi Tenco)

and Brenno Placido (Lucio). Patrick Timsit (Bruno Coquatrix)

and Vincent Perez (Eddie Barclay) were both so true to life.

And when Riccardo Scamarcio, who I went to meet in Puglia,

agreed to play the part of Orlando, I knew that I had the best

male cast on this earth!

CAN YOU SAY A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE COLOUR PALETTE OF THE FILM: THE COSTUMES, DECOR, LIGHTS ETC.

Visually, I didn’t want the film to be too real to life. Instead,

I wanted to conjure up something that would be as visually

pleasing as possible! A bit like the series Mad Men – in the

60’s people’s offices weren’t as slick as they are in that

series, but who cares, as long as we believe it and it gives

us something to dream about. Emmanuelle Youchnovski the

costume designer understood what I was after and suggested

dressing Dalida not in the fashion of the time, but in regard

to the men in her life at that moment. So, for example, when

Dalida is with Lucien Morisse her clothes are elegant and

ladylike, and when she’s with Chanfray, the lines are softer

and more sensual.

NOW THAT THE FILM HAS BEEN MADE, WHAT PLACE WILL DALIDA HAVE IN YOU LIFE?

She has a huge place in my life and always will! Ever since

I started working on this film, I felt that she wasn’t far from

me, and I still do. I completely understand her quest for

the absolute, her thirst for love, true love, not the type that

we usually get served up and accept. She taught me to no

longer let myself be carried along by a relationship. Thanks

to Dalida, I have become my own best friend. I’m convinced

that we would have got along very well, as, beyond her talent

and her beauty, she was a very kind person. I’m sure of it. I’m

both proud and happy to have put her back in the spotlight.

ORLANDO, HOW LONG HAVING YOU BEEN WORKING ON THIS FILM PROJECT?

5 years! It didn’t work out with the original American

co-producers as they sent me two versions of the screenplay

that both lacked soul and finesse. So I ended up abandoning

the project in 2012. I have to take my hat off to Julien Madon,

the producer, because he never once gave up over the past

five years! He fought hard to get this project off the ground,

and kept on ringing me again and again! I ended up agreeing

to meet Lisa Azuelos and Jêrome Seydoux and got along with

them very well. Their vision of the film reassured me, so we

started all over again from scratch.

YOU HAVE A REPUTATION FOR BEING A PARTICULARLY VIGILANT TRUSTEE.

Dalida has been gone for 30 years, and my mission, then and

now, remains the same: to not simply keep her memory alive,

but to carry her into the future. It’s the next generation that

interests me! Dalida’s strength is that she appeals to all age

groups. I’ll do everything in my power to keep that going until

the day I die. But I’m aware that I’m neither a writer nor a

director, so once I have put my trust in someone, I let them

get on with their job.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE LISA AZUELOS?

Firstly, because I liked the idea of a film about a woman being

made by a woman. And Lisa has great strength of character,

like Dalida! She understood one very important thing, that my

sister had two very different sides to her: Dalida and Iolanda,

two personae, one public and one private and that it was key

to do them both justice. Furthermore, Lisa had an altogether

better understanding of the depth and complexity of Dalida’s

character as she herself is the daughter of a famous French

singer from that period.

HOW DID YOU WORK WITH LISA?

During the writing stage, my contribution was to corroborate

the facts, places, dates, Dalida’s relationship with the public

and with the men in her life, in order to stick close to the truth.

I also put all my archives and the documents that Dalida had

left to me at Lisa’s disposal. Lisa had complete freedom to

write the script and make the film she wanted. When I read

the script, I knew that she’d understood Dalida.

DID YOU HAVE ANY SAY IN THE CASTING?

I had my say in the choice of actors who would play my sister

and me. Finding the right person to play Dalida was a very

long, drawn-out process. I have to admit that, at first, I wasn’t

totally convinced by Sveva Alviti’s screen test. I found her

very beautiful and touching but something was missing. She

asked if she could meet me and I agreed. When she arrived,

in the middle of dinner with Lisa and Julien, I was very

impressed. She had Dalida’s elegance, physique, glamour

and finesse. We spoke in Italian. I was very touched by her so

we met again for two hours in my office. I showed her videos

and explained to her Dalida’s gestures, her way of walking,

how my sister sculpted the air with her hands, her soul, her

DNA. Then Sveva did another screen test and this time she

was amazing. She showed her emotions, what she had on

the inside. I said to the producers: “She will be Dalida, you

were right to insist!”. On the first day of the shoot, I sent her

a note: “As from today, I have a new little sister”. I know she

was very touched by this. I really hope that Sveva has a long

successful career, she has what it takes. We have so many

beautiful and talented young women in European cinema!

AND WHAT ABOUT RICCARDO SCAMARCIO, WHO PLAYS YOU?

It’s funny because I had thought about Riccardo Scamarcio,

who I’ve been a fan of for a long time, to play the part of

Luigi Tenco. But when he read the script he found the role

of Orlando more... exciting! (Laughs). I think that he played

me with great elegance, precision and respect without ever

slipping into a caricature of me!

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE ACTORS WHO PLAY THE MEN IN DALIDA’S LIFE?

Per-fect! The film’s two-thirds French and one-third Italian

cast is exceptional. Jean-Paul Rouve portrays Lucien with

great authenticity and sincerity. And off-screen he’s such a

lovely person. Niels Schneider, one of Xavier Dolan’s preferred

actors, is as handsome as Jean Sobieski, an apparition in real

life. Alessandro Borghi is beautiful and dark, like Luigi Tenco

was. As for Nicolas Duvauchelle, I pushed for him to play

Richard Saint-Germain. He was so unbelievably true to life:

the way he walked, his sensuality that was quite animalistic.

My sister loved such different types of men, it’s crazy! You

must remember that I knew them all very well, so I know what

I’m talking about.

HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN YOU SAW THE END RESULT?

The first time I saw the film, it was a huge shock. Like a slap

in the face. It was hard to watch my own life unfold on the

big screen. Dalida wasn’t just my sister, we worked side by

side, and we went through it all together. I was the witness

to her life story and now I’m the guardian of her memory. The

night after seeing the film, I couldn’t sleep. I asked to see the

film again, in order to try and see the film the way a viewer

would, with emotional distance. It was only the second time I

watched it that I managed to form an opinion.

AND?

I’m proud and happy with the result. Sometimes I feel angry

with Iolanda for depriving us so early on of Dalida, but I also

think that Iolanda stepped back so that Dalida could become

eternal. My sister is still hugely popular. She was a legend

in her own lifetime and has become a myth “FOREVER”. I

think that her fans will be pleased to see her again in all her

reality, complexity and beauty. Not to mention those who will

discover Dalida for the first time through this film. I think,

more than ever, that Dalida has a future. And I will always be

there as her producer.

SVEVA ALVITI, THE FRENCH PUBLIC DON’T KNOW YOU YET. WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

I’m Italian, from Rome, and I’m 32 years old. When I was a

child, I wanted to be a tennis player and I got to a level where

I could have turned professional. But everything changed

when my sister enrolled me in the Elite Model Look Italy

modelling competition. I was lucky enough to win the contest

and move to New York, aged 17. I knew quite early on that

I wanted to be an actress, and modelling was a way for me

to pay for the best acting school in New York. I modelled for

about nine years, and I was just about to give up on my dream

of becoming an actress when Dalida appeared!

HOW DID THIS COME ABOUT?

What’s quite funny is that at first I refused to fly back to

Europe to do the casting. My agent insisted over and over

again, but I thought I had no chance of getting it, as the role

was too big for me! On top of this, I couldn’t speak French,

I couldn’t sing and I couldn’t dance. Why on earth did they

want me to audition, I have no idea - it was weird. So my

agent managed to convince me to make a demo video on my

iPhone. It was when I was preparing the video that I found out

who Dalida really was. I knew her songs, like all Italians, but I

didn’t know anything about her as a person. An interview with

her on Youtube changed everything. I suddenly felt moved by

her and very close to her. As if I understood her. How could I

not want to play the part of such a sensitive, kind and strong

woman? So I started imagining myself playing the part.

AND THEN?

Lisa had seen about 200 actresses and there were twenty left

in the running. So I decided it was about time that I went

to Paris! I had to be ready to sing a song, in playback. I

chose Je Suis Malade because it’s the song of Dalida’s that

touched me most. I didn’t really think I had a big chance of

being picked, but so what, I sang it for myself, to express

something I felt deep inside. This song is also a poem, and I

understood the pain hidden within the text. When I finished

singing it, everyone was silent. I saw that Lisa Azuelos was

crying. I simply said to her, “I am Dalida.” And she replied, “I

know.”

HOW DID YOUR CRUCIAL MEETING GO WITH ORLANDO?

I was very nervous about meeting him, but I treated it as

though I was in character, imagining the nerves that Dalida

must have felt before going on stage. Orlando was extremely

kind to me. He made me work really hard on my gestures,

but then he gave me the freedom to realise Dalida in my own

way. I didn’t just want to imitate her, I wanted to make the

part my own. When we had finished filming, Orlando gave me

the most beautiful gift anyone could ever give: he gave me

a pair of earrings that belonged to Dalida and called me his

little sister.

HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR THE PART?

I spent nine months preparing. I worked extremely hard.

For a start, I had to learn to speak French! Filming lasted 3

months, and took place in France, Italy and Morocco. It was

quite tiring as I spent four hours in makeup every day even

before I started work! I had a wig, a prosthetic nose and false

teeth. On some days, I had to jump from a scene that took

place in the 1950s to a scene in the 1980’s. I had a coach

to help me rehearse, and I worked on the script until I knew

it off by heart. I was also helped by the other actors on set,

who were all much more experienced than me and gave me

lots of helpful advice. Nicolas Duvauchelle, Niels Schneider,

Riccardo Scamarcio, Jean-Paul Rouve - they were all very

supportive. And, of course, Lisa Azuelos was amazing. She

was like a mother to me: she was very understanding and she

gave me a lot of encouragement. What’s most important to

her is t convey the emotion, so she’s happy to leave room for

improvisation, which is great.

HOW DOES A YOUNG WOMAN LIKE YOU FIND IT IN HERSELF TO PLAY THE PART OF A SUICIDAL 54 YEAR OLD?

Fragility has nothing to do with age! Like Dalida, I’m intuitive

and quite introspective, so I really understood how she felt.

One of the best things about being an actress is being able to

express what you have on the inside. We all have a dark side

to our personality, so, for me, it was interesting to explore

this. The most difficult scene for me wasn’t the scene where

Dalida commits suicide but the scene where she had to go

through an abortion. The sacrifice she made, for a woman

who dreamed of one thing, having a child, is inhumane. But

fortunately, Dalida didn’t only experience suffering in her life!

The scenes of happiness were so much fun to do. When I

sang at the real Olympia and in San Remo, it felt amazing, and

these experiences are now some of memories I cherish. There

was a moment when we were filming when I no longer knew

whether I was Sveva or Dalida. It was a dizzying experience,

both joy and pain. Right now, Dalida is not so much a part

of me, which is probably a good thing, but she will always

remain the best gift that life has ever given me up until now.

HOW MUCH DID YOU KNOW ABOUT DALIDA BEFORE READING THE SCREENPLAY?

I knew that she was very famous in France, and I knew the

original versions of her songs because she often did cover

versions of Italian hits. For my parents, she was a huge star!

As for her brother Orlando, I just knew his name. I didn’t know

that he’d played such an important part in her career.

ORIGINALLY LISA AZUELOS HAD YOU IN MIND TO PLAY THE PART OF LUIGI TENCO. WHY WERE YOU DRAWN TO THE PART OF ORLANDO?

Actually, she originally offered me both parts. In the beginning,

the idea of committing to a big film like that, abroad, when all

the funding wasn’t in place, didn’t really appeal to me. Then

Lisa came to see me at home, in Puglia. I was very touched

that she made that effort. We had dinner together and laughed

a lot, and I did everything in my power to make her change her

mind but she wouldn’t have it! Together, we decided that the

real challenge for me, artistically speaking, would be to play

Orlando, as on paper, he seemed completely different to me.

Also, the fact that Sveva didn’t have much acting experience

also had an affect on my decision. As an “experienced” actor,

it seemed right that I should play a protective, brotherly role.

It brought a credible dynamic to our two characters.

HOW DID YOU PREPARE TO PLAY THE PART OF ORLANDO?

I watched a lot of footage from that period, but unlike the

other characters in the film, I was lucky in that my character

is still alive and thank goodness he is! So obviously I met

him. The difficulty for me was finding the right balance and of

being able to convincingly portray the brother, the producer

and the private person without falling into caricature; to stay

real when acting this complex man.

DID THE FACT THAT YOU AND SVEVA ALVITI ARE BOTH ITALIAN CREATE A SPECIAL BOND BETWEEN YOU?

Yes, absolutely! When she was tired - and she had good

reason to be, she worked so hard! I have rarely seen such a

commitment to a role! - I would go and speak to her in Italian,

and spend a bit of time with her. As though I really was her big

brother. Plus, it was a perfect way to work on my character!

DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE SCENE IN THE FILM, AND IF SO, WHICH ONE IS IT?

Firstly, I’d like to say that I really enjoyed the film – all of it!

Conveying the loneliness of a celebrity is a tricky business

and the result is amazing. My favourite scenes were perhaps

the ones I did with Nicolas Duvauchelle; I think they’re great.

And also the scene in the restaurant, towards the end of

the film. We improvised the dialogue. Lisa wanted to keep

it. I think that scene portrays simply and honestly, the loving

tenderness between brother and sister.

DID ORLANDO GUIDE YOU THROUGH THE PART?

No, not really. He rarely interfered on set. It’s funny, because

he’s actually one of my neighbours in Paris. We’ve walked

past each other many times over the years without knowing

each other. I was very touched when he told me that he found

my interpretation of Lucien Morisse just right.

WHAT’S YOUR VIEW ON LUCIEN AND DALIDA’S RELATIONSHIP?

It’s not just because I play him that I think he was the one true

love of her life! He was her Pygmalion, her father, her husband,

a little of all of those rolled into one. I get the impression that

their story was a series of missed opportunities. Dalida was

no longer in love with him when he finally decided to marry

her, but if they had got married a few years earlier, if they’d

had a child, it would have been a very different story. And I

think that the outcome of Dalida’s life, and Lucien’s, would

have been quite different.

YET HE HAS A NASTY SIDE TO HIM, FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN HE BLACKLISTS HER AFTER THEIR BREAK-UP.

Absolutely! I’m not trying to justify his behaviour but his

reaction was that of a scorned and jealous man. I can

understand. I like it when characters have reactions that aren’t

particularly honourable - that’s what makes them human. And

in his defence, later on, he realises his mistake. The scene at

the Olympia really did take place. It proves that Lucien had a

certain humility to admit and accept the fact that Dalida could

get by without him.

A WORD ABOUT LISA AZUELOS?

Lisa has been a friend for a long time but we’d never worked

together before. I loved the good humour and energy that she

brought to the set and I’m truly amazed by the fantastic end

result. She did the right thing hiring Sveva. She took a big

risk working with an inexperienced actress, but Sveva did a

fantastic job. Frankly I take my off hat to her because that girl

is seriously good! Although we all know the story of Dalida

well, and its sad ending, we get carried along with the story. I

found it very intelligently done. The film is about a woman; her

career is basically just a backdrop. That’s what’s so moving

about the film and what allows everybody, man or woman, to

let themselves be carried away.

NICOLAS DUVAUCHELLE

HOW WOULD YOU INTRODUCE YOUR CHARACTER, RICHARD CHANFRAY AKA THE COUNT OF SAINT-GERMAIN?

He’s a bit like Mike Brandt on the outside and Christophe

Rocancourt on the inside! Behind his flamboyancy, he’s a

relatively unsavoury person, a pathological liar who takes a

lot of drugs and is prone to outbursts of violence. But in his

defence, he didn’t have an easy life. He reminds me a bit of

one of those courtiers at the court of Versailles. He came from

nowhere, forged himself a new identity, spent years hanging

out with the jet-set, sleeping with people left, right and centre,

until he finally hit the jackpot the day he met Dalida!

DO YOU THINK THAT HIS FEELINGS FOR HER WERE INSINCERE?

In the beginning I think he was drawn to her to serve his own

interests. But Dalida was a very seductive woman and I think

they genuinely loved each other. After all, their relationship

did last almost ten years. I imagine that they wowed each

other, for whereas Dalida was very famous, Chanfray was the

king of the smooth talkers. Furthermore, it would appear that

he was the man who made her discover carnal pleasure, so

that must count for something!

HOW DID YOU APPROACH THE ROLE?

In order to do my research into the part, Lisa Azuelos gave

me lots of documents and video footage from that era, such

as interviews that Chanfray gave as a philosopher and as

an alchemist and a pop video of the record he made with

Dalida. Then to build on the character, we went to town with

the costume design: big lapel shirts, wide belts, vulgar rings,

Cuban heeled boots, fur coats, the whole shaboom! I wore a

very layered wig and did a few sessions on a sunbed to give

myself a St Tropez tan. It’s the first time I’ve ever played a

character from the ‘70s - I really enjoyed it.

ORLANDO SAID THAT YOU WERE A DISTURBINGLY TRUE-TO-LIFE RICHARD CHANFRAY.

I remember the day he came on set and saw me for the first

time as Saint-Germain. He looked at me and didn’t say a word

for what felt like ages. It was really nice and also quite moving

for Lisa and I to see him so unsettled.

HOW DID IT GO WORKING WITH SVEVA ALVITI?

I thought she was wonderful and incredibly courageous. She

was always the first on set and the last to leave. She had to

spend hours in make-up and had French lessons every day.

Even on the weekends she came back to rehearse her songs

and dance routines. I take my hat off to her!

DALIDA’S

THE EARLY YEARS

How impoverished and abandoned Serrastretta was, the village in Calabria from which Dalida’s grandparents set out in search of a better life.

17TH JANUARY 1933...

Birth of Iolanda, daughter of Pietro and Giuseppina Gigliotti. Pietro plays first violin at the Cairo opera house; Giuseppina is a housewife. They have a 3-year old son called Orlando. Dalida’s younger brother Bruno (who would later be known as Orlando), would come along a few years later. The Gigliotti family, with their Calabrian roots, lived in a modest apartment in Cairo in the working-class neighbourhood of Choubra.

When Dalida was very young, she had to undergo two eye operations as a result of a poorly treated illness. As a result, she had to wear glasses throughout her childhood and teenage years.

In 1939, war broke out. Egypt became allies with Britain in the fight against Hitler. Every Italian living in Egypt was imprisoned. As a result, Yolanda’s father spent four years in a camp in Fayed in the middle of the desert. He came home mentally and physically exhausted. He became ill and died in 1945.

MISS ONDINE AND MISS EGYPT

To help support her mother financially, Iolanda worked as a secretary/typist at a pharmaceutical import-export business. She had always dreamed of making a name for herself in the world but most of all she dreamed of becoming an actress. At the time, her idols were Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth.

At the age of 16, she threw the pair of glasses that had caused her so much suffering out of the window. To prove to herself that she was now beautiful, in 1952 she took part in the Miss Ondine beauty contest. She came first and, to her mother’s great despair, her photograph was in all the local papers the following day. Her mother hadn’t been aware that her daughter had taken part in any beauty contest.

Dalida then became a model at Donna, which, at the time, was a very famous fashion house in Cairo. In January 1954, she won the Miss Egypt beauty contest. In the salons of the Auberge des Pyramides, wearing just a leopard print bikini and the number 7, she caused a real sensation.

20TH NOVEMBER 1954

The film LE MASQUE DE TOUTANKHAMON came out in Egypt. Iolanda played the part of a dancer-cum-spy. She had previously played the part of fake Hollywood-style vamp in A GLASS AND A CIGARETTE directed by Niazi Mostafa that came out in cinemas in September 1954. Because Iolanda looked very like Hedy Lamarr, the heroine in Cecile B De Mille’s film SAMSON AND DALILA, the director suggested that she take Dalila as her stage name.

25TH DECEMBER 1954

Iolanda, now known as Dalila, landed at Le Bourget airport on board a “Connie”. And spent her first night in Paris. Marc de Gastyne, who had been beguiled by her on the big screen and, advised her to try her luck in France. He and his wife Shira had offered to put her up for a bit in their modest apartment near the Champs-Élysées. De Gastyne had introduced her to his old friend, Colonel Vidal, who had recently retired and was looking for a new career in show business. Vidal was very keen on representing Dalila and paid for her trip from Cairo to Paris. But in the long run it turned out that the Colonel knew very little about show business.

A month after she arrived in Paris, Iolanda moved into a bedsit - 67 rue de Ponthieu, just off the Champs-Élysées - and then, on the 9th May 1955, she moved again to rue Jean Mermoz where her new neighbour was a certain Alain Delon.

Between appointments with casting directors, she wrote to her mother saying how happy she was living

“near the most beautiful avenue in the world in a

neighbourhood full of shops”. Whereas in reality, she was worried as she hadn’t managed to get a single acting job yet. But she wasn’t discouraged. To make a living, she decided to try her luck at singing. In Cairo, she was told time and time again what a lovely singing voice she had. So she began taking singing lessons with the music teacher Roland Berger, who taught her how to control her voice.

SEPTEMBER 1955

Thanks to her agent, Colonel Vidal, Dalila was hired by a cabaret on the Champs-Élysées called the Drap d’Or. Only a few weeks later, she was also asked to sing not far from there at La Villa d’Este, a well-known cabaret near the Champs-Élysées. She became the opening act for a show whose headliners included Juliette Greco, the ex Saint-Germain-des-Pres muse, and Charles Aznavour.

One evening, one of the regulars, the playwright Alfred Machard, suggested to her to change her name and

replace the last “l” with a “d”, as in God the father. So Dalila became Dalida. Every night she went down a storm. She remained on the bill for a whole year.

9TH APRIL 1956

Every Monday night at the Olympia, a show called Tomorrow’s Number Ones was put on by Bruno Coquatrix, the owner of the venue and Lucien Morisse, the artistic director of Europe 1 radio station. They were both on the lookout for new talent to rejuvenate the world of French music hall.

A few minutes before entering the temple of song on

the Boulevard des Capucines, Eddie Barclay, the “king

of vinyl” and Lucien Morisse were deciding on whether to go to the cinema or to the Olympia. Comfortably seated in the bar Romain on Rue Caumartin, they couldn’t make up their minds. Eddie was more for going to the cinema, whereas Lucien was keen on the Olympia. They decided to let the dice decide over a game of 4-21. The dice decided in favour of Lucien and so, as it turned out, in Dalida’s favour too. Dalida, the seventeenth contestant out of twenty, sung at the Olympia wearing a white toga-style dress. With a slightly shaky voice, she interpreted Gloria Lasso’s hit song of the time Etranger au Paradis. Lucien Morisse fell totally in love with her. Eddie Barclay fell in love with the singer. And Bruno Coquatrix envisaged her as the first music hall sex symbol.

28TH AUGUST 1956

Madona Dalida’s first single, produced by Eddie Barclay, was released. Europe 1 radio played it several times the same day to the great satisfaction of their listeners who described Dalida’s voice as

“deep, unusual and interesting”. Boosted by the radio success of this first single, Lucien Morisse asked for more of the same. A second single, Le Torrent, was recorded in its wake.

28TH OCTOBER 1956

Lucien Morisse didn’t waste time. He believed in Dalida’s potential and wanted to find the song that would transform his protégé into a star. A third single came out two months to the day after the first record. Track 1 on the A-side was a cover version of Guaglione with verses by Marino Marini’s famous orchestra in Italy. Later renamed Bambino, this song would change Dalida’s life forever, and the lives of French people.

BAMBINITIS

“France has gone Bambino mad!” “The whole country is suffering from an acute case of

Bambinitis!” It was in this language that journalists and humourists acknowledged the success of this song, which was being pounded out several times a day on Europe 1 radio. In less than three weeks,

three hundred thousand copies were sold. Today, it’s considered to be a classic. Total sales to date are estimated at forty million copies

THE 17TH SEPTEMBER  1957, Dalida became the first woman to have a gold record and to create a fan club that received thousands of pieces of fan mail every week. Her natural sensuality attracted all the boys and all the girls wanted to be like her.

The critics called her “the Bardot of song” at a time when Brigitte Bardot was loved on the silver screen in the film AND GOD CREATED WOMAN.

27TH FEBRUARY 1957

Dalida performed at the Olympia for the very first time as an artist in her own right. She was billed as an “extra” in Charles Aznavour’s show. In fact, she was

simply the opening act. Bruno Coquatrix, an old hand at the music hall game, knew that it was impossible to go from being a talented hopeful to a star overnight. If you rush, you can fall from fame as fast as you rose. So, instead, he followed a well thought out strategy

and got Dalida to sign contracts for a series of dates spread out over the year.

So after a series of concerts at the Olympia, which ended on March 19th, he got her gigs at Bobino from April 19th to May 1st. There, she performed at the end of the first part of the show. Then she went on to do a mini tour all over France. Finally, on October 9th 1958, Dalida was the headline act for the very first time. The fifteen songs that she sang, had all done very well in the record charts for the previous two years. The game was won before it started. A huge triumph before many others to come.

18TH APRIL 1961 

At the town hall in the 16th arrondissement in Paris, Dalida made her five-year relationship with Lucien Morisse official by marrying him. This was a happy occasion. Unfortunately, life doesn’t always turn out how you would expect and a month later, Dalida was invited to the Cannes Film Festival. There she spotted a young Polish painter, Jean Sobieski, in a nightclub. It was love at first sight! Dalida was under his spell. Their affair was soon uncovered by the paparazzi and the scandal broke, making the headlines in all the papers. Lucien Morisse was deeply hurt and decided to take his revenge by boycotting Dalida’s songs on the radio. Divorce was inevitable. Dalida left the marital home on Ankara Street, leaving the house to Lucien Morisse, and moved in to a rented apartment in Neuilly with Jean Sobieski. Thereafter, the friendship between the ex-spouses would reveal an unwavering attachment that was stronger than love.

6TH DECEMBER 1961

Richard Anthony opened for Dalida on her first night of a series of concerts at the Olympia. Not long before the curtain went up, a funeral wreath was delivered to

Dalida’s dressing room with the inscription: “To the

deceased song, long live Edith Piaf!” The shock was terrible. But Dalida didn’t let it show. On stage, she gave everything she had, more than ever before. By the time she got to the fourth song Je Me Sens Vivre the whole audience were on their feet.

That night she received a standing ovation, which only went to prove that whatever that wreath meant, it was just mental cruelty. The ultimate reward came from Piaf herself who congratulated Dalida and added

with a smile: “After me, it will be you.” One month later, after a series of hugely successful concerts, the press all agreed on the talent, hard work and tenacity of the singer they now called «the great lady of song».

16TH MAY 1962

While walking through Montmartre hand in hand with Jean Sobieski, Dalida spotted a house on Rue d’Orchampt. It had six floors, a turret and a small garden with a view of the famous windmill, the Moulin de la Galette. The house was for sale. Dalida took out all her savings and got a bank loan. Later on in life, she sometimes thought about selling that house, but never did. She stayed there till the day she died.

SUMMER 1966

Dalida and Luigi Tenco first met that summer on the set of a TV show in Rome. She was there performing Bang Bang her hit record at the time. They barely noticed each other. It was only in September of the same year that Dalida really got to know him. The young Italian singer-songwriter was introduced to her by the bosses of her Italian record company. Dalida immediately fell for Luigi and the feeling was mutual. He was handsome, young and moody with a hoarse voice and dark skin and eyes. At the end of the dinner that she had organised at her house in Montmartre, she agreed to sponsor Luigi Tenco at the next San Remo Festival and sing the song that he had composed, Ciao, Amore Ciao. From then on, Dalida and Luigi never left each other’s sides. They had a passionate and secret love affair. A love affair that would become legendary, when Luigi brutally ended his life.

LUIGI TENCO, HER GREAT LOVE

ON 26TH FEBRUARY 1967, people in France were astonished to learn that Dalida had tried to end her life. She had rented a room in a luxury hotel in Paris, The Prince of Wales, and swallowed a tube of sleeping pills. The maid discovered her twenty-four hours later, just in time. She spent the next five days in hospital in a coma. Little by little, the truth came out. She had wanted to join Luigi Tenco, the man she loved. He had shot himself in the head when the song she sung with him, Ciao, Amore Ciao, was eliminated in the first round of the San Remo Festival. On February 7th, she had made an appearance on TV programme Les Palmares des Chanson hosted by Guy Lux, as if nothing had happened. She showed no signs of the depression that led her to try and end her life. On 8th June, dressed in a long white dress, she was back on television. She sang Les Grilles de Ma Maison with a lump in her throat and tears in her eyes.

5TH OCTOBER 1967

Wearing a long white dress, which was a big contrast with the outfits she wore during the first ten years

of her career, Dalida triumphed once again at the Olympia. Michel Polnareff opened for her. Jacqueline

Cartier wrote in the France Soir newspaper: “Dalida

has killed off Mademoiselle Bambino.”

The new Dalida was born!

THE INDIAN EPISODE

On the 2ND NOVEMBER 1969, Dalida was the «Sunday Guest» on French television. She was interviewed by the writer, Arnaud Desjardins. His book The Ways of Wisdom, in which he told the story of how his was initiated into spirituality by the Tibetan sage Swami Prajnanpad captured Dalida’s imagination. In front of the cameras, she seemed more interested in talking about Buddhism than answering the questions he was asking her. A few weeks later, she decided to follow Arnaud Desjardins to India to spend time

in an ashram. There she considered giving up her

career and devoting her life to meditation. But a

meeting with Swami Prajnanpad made her change

her mind. He managed to convince her to return to

her own true path of wisdom, which was on stage

where her public was asking for her.

1ST JULY 1970

The circle was complete. Her younger brother, Orlando,

was now her producer. He created a company called

International Show, which later became Productions

Orlando, a label under which he would release his

sister’s records. Darla Dirladada was the first in a long

series of hit records on this label.

11TH SEPTEMBER 1970

After a night at a casino and an argument with his

wife Agathe, Lucien Morisse shot himself in the head.

Dalida - who, since their divorce had maintained a close relationship with her ex-husband - experienced this tragedy as another drama in her personal life. He

was the second “love of her life” to commit suicide. A few years later, Dalida confessed to her closest friends

that she regretted leaving Lucien Morisse: “When you’re young, you don’t realize. He was the man I

could have grown old with.”

24TH NOVEMBER 1971

On the Champs-Elysees, posters 90-feet long and 12-feet high announced Dalida’s long-awaited return to the Olympia with Mike Brant as the opening act. Her fans and the press approved her new repertoire, which was full of texts that she had chosen for their poetic

value. She was nicknamed “the queen of the theatre”,“a

modern Phaedra.” However, Bruno Coquatrix didn’t hide his surprise. He wasn’t convinced about this change of style. He had even refused to produce the show and decided just to rent out his venue to Orlando and his sister. Yet later, being the good sport he was,

he recognised his mistake and told “Dali” she could return to the Olympia whenever she liked, without ever having to pay a single penny again.

RICHARD, THE COUNT OF SAINT-GERMAIN

IT WAS THROUGH FRIENDS THAT SHE HAD INVITED TO DINNER AT HER HOUSE ON OCTOBER 21ST 1972, that Dalida first met Richard Chanfray. He introduced himself to her as the reincarnation of the Count of Saint-Germain, and claimed to be able to change base metal into gold. He added that he was born a thousand years ago. They fell head of heels in love and never left each other’s side from that moment on.

To the people who warned her against him during the nine years they spent together, Dalida would

reply: “I love him, he’s available, he makes me

laugh, I’m no longer alone.”

Richard was a tormented soul. One evening, at the house in Montmartre, he shot a stranger that he had mistaken for a burglar. The man was, in fact, the housekeeper’s lover. Dalida bailed Richard out of police custody. She then testified in his favour during the trial. He got off with a one-year suspended prison sentence and a heavy fine. By then, their relationship was starting to unravel, but they kept it well hidden. They finally separated in February 1981. Richard committed

suicide on July 20th, 1983. The third “love of her

life” to end his life.

17TH JANUARY 1973 – PAROLES, PAROLES

Orlando brought the song Parole, Parole back from Italy where he had spent his holidays the previous July. He had heard the song during the end credits of a TV show. He immediately got in touch with the French publisher and got them to put the song aside for Dalida. She listened to it and called her friend Alain Delon. He knew the song as he had recently come back from Italy where he had been filming Indian Summer. He was delighted that Dalida had thought of him. The song was recorded in a few hours. When they were younger, they had lived close by to each other near the Champs-Élysées. And in the early sixties, they had had a brief and very discreet lover affair in Rome.

Paroles, Paroles broke all record sales both in France and abroad, particularly in Japan where Alain was revered as a living god. The expression “parole, parole” soon entered into the mainstream and is now often used to talk about politicians who often make promises but never keep them.

18TH JANUARY 1974

Hidden behind the lyrics of Il Venait d’Avoir 18 ans written by Pascal Sevran, Pascal Auriat and Serge Lebrail) was a genuine love story that up until then was unknown to everyone except for Dalida’s brother Orlando and her cousin, secretary and confidante, Rosy. In December 1967, Dalida met a young Italian man called Lucio. In many ways he reminded her of her dead lover, Luigi Tenco. Lucio was also a fervent admirer of his. Their friendship soon transformed into a love affair. The only problem was that Lucio was 12 years her junior. Dalida got pregnant and decided not to keep the baby as she though that Lucio was too young to be a father. He would never know about the pregnancy. Dalida went on to regret this decision for the rest of her life, when, after her abortion, she learned that she could no longer have children.

18TH FEBRUARY 1974

This album, which had been recorded at the Olympia one month earlier, contained the longest song in the history of music-hall: Gigi L’Amoroso. It lasted a whole 8 minutes! To finish off the album, Dalida wanted a song that would give her the opportunity to both sing and act on stage. Orlando appealed to Dalida’s writing team (Michaele, Lana and Paul Sebastian) to work on an idea. The public went crazy. The critics gave credit to the basis of a play that Pagnol could have written and that Vittorio de Sica could have directed on the big screen. The title became a social phenomenon. Recorded in six languages, it went straight to the top of the charts in twelve countries.

DISCO DALIDA

On January 12th 1976 J’attendrai was released. Orlando came up with the idea to do a cover version of a song by Rina Ketty that he listened to as a child in Cairo on the family radio, and put it to a modern disco beat. In Montreal, while on tour in Quebec, Dalida and Orlando learned in the press that they had just made the first French disco record. Disco was the new big thing in all the nightclubs in New York and had already started to filter through to Germany. Reassured by the huge success of J’attendrai, which went to number one in the charts in January 1976 in France and throughout Europe, Orlando felt that disco really suited his sister. He repeated the experiment on March 20th 1978, with the release of Generation 78. On this record, Dalida did a cover version of an old time hit, in a duet with Bruno Guillain. That summer it was a hit in all the nightclubs. A year later, Dalida did it again. Laissez-moi Danser (Monday Tuesday) was released on June 15th 1979.

By the end of the summer, it had gone platinum. This success led Dalida to take on the craziest challenge of her career: eighteen huge shows at the Palais des Sports in Paris. She was the first woman to perform every night in front of 4,000 people. Accompanied by thirty musicians and twelve dancers, she changed costumes twelve

times in the space of two hours “A dazzling show that will remain firmly etched in people’s

memories, like a model of the genre,” the critics wrote.

10TH MAY 1981

Dalida celebrated the election of her friend, François Mitterrand, the new French president. On May 21st

she stood in the front row at the Pantheon during the swearing in ceremony. This made a lasting impression. She wasn’t involved in politics in any way, but she paid a high price for her friendship with the president. Some of the press even went as far as wanting to boycott her. To calm things down, Dalida decided to go on a major tour overseas for the next eighteen months.

17TH JANUARY 1983

Dalida celebrated her 50th birthday. A rite of passage, which she felt deep within her soul was more a day of sadness than of joy. She was living alone, knowing that she could never have children or adopt them. Her entourage knew that something was broken inside her. Whether on stage or on television, her performances had become rather mechanical.

29TH SEPTEMBER 1986

Dalida went to Choubra and to Le Moderne, the cinema where, as a child, she had dreamed of becoming an actress. Her dream had come true. There she was up on the big screen at the premiere of Youssef Chahine’s film THE SIXTH DAY. Three million Egyptians celebrate

her success. She is hailed as “a great actress and

tragedian.”

Released in France on November 16th, this film was highly acclaimed by the critics but only drew in small numbers of film-lovers.

3RD MAY 1987

Dalida deceived the vigilance of her loved ones and ended her own life. She left a suicide note on the

bedside table in her bedroom: “Life has become

unbearable. Forgive me.”

DALIDA Sveva ALVITI

ORLANDO Riccardo SCAMARCIO

LUCIEN MORISSE Jean-Paul ROUVE

RICHARD CHANFRAY Nicolas DUVAUCHELLE

LUIGI TENCO Alessandro BORGHI

ROSY Valentina CARLI

LUCIO Brenno PLACIDO

JEAN SOBIESKI Niels SCHNEIDER

PIETRO Vittorio HAMARZ VASFI

ORLANDO (elder brother) Davide LORINO

GIUSEPPINA GIGLIOTTI Haydee BORELLI

With special appearances by

EDDIE BARCLAY Vincent PEREZ

BRUNO COQUATRIX Patrick TIMSIT

Director Lisa AZUELOS

Screenplay, adaptation Lisa AZUELOS and dialogues in collaboration with ORLANDO

Librement adapté de « Dalida. Mon Frère, tu écriras mes mémoires »

de Madame Catherine RIHOIT et Monsieur Bruno GIGLIOTTI, dit ORLANDO. Editions Plon

Music Jeanne TRELLU

Jaco ZIJLSTRA

Cinematography Antoine SANIER

Production design Emile GHIGO

First assistant director Joseph RAPP

Script supervisor Isabelle QUERRIOUX

Costume design Emmanuelle YOUCHNOVSKI

Film editing Thomas FERNANDEZ

Sound recordist Vincent GOUJON

Executive producer Philippe GUEZ

Produced by Julien MADON

Lisa AZUELOS

Jérôme SEYDOUX

Co-producers BETHSABEE MUCHO

Co-producers Nadia KHAMLICHI

Gilles WATERKEYN

Bastien SIRODOT

Romain LE GRAND

Vivien ASLANIAN

Co-production BETHSABÉE MUCHO

PATHÉ PRODUCTION

TF1 FILMS PRODUCTION

UMEDIA

UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING

With the participation of CANAL+

TF1

OCS

HD1

In association with RAI CINEMA

LES PRODUCTIONS ORLANDO

UFUND

JOUROR

© PHOTOS DP : LUC ROUX© PHOTOS BIOGRAPHIE DALIDA : PRODUCTION ORLANDO / D.R

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY DELIA PRINGLE GARNIER DELIA@ZEFISHANDCHIPS.COM