We didn’t necessarily see it coming, but it is on the way to having a lasting impact on the French landscape. His register? Pure fiction, a strong story, well-established heroes, facing headwinds, and unfailing determination (or daydreaming). It got carried away very quickly this year, well before the Fnac prize was awarded to it on August 30. From June, booksellers were drawn to the fourth novel by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Watch over her. Overall, 59 tour dates throughout France between now and mid-December, to which we must now add those organized by the Goncourt high school students, the 52-year-old from Cannes having been selected by the Drouant jury.
A boundless imagination and impeccable construction
He misses his dog, the TGV writer tells us live from Besançon, but for the rest, only happiness! Yes, the joy of success, and above all, of having allowed myself to be a writer, after a long detour through cinema. A winning obstinacy, as his 600-page novel-length story, recounting the incongruous romantic friendship between a modest fatherless man, who became a genius sculptor, and the cheeky daughter of a large family against the backdrop of Mussolini’s Italy, reveals himself fascinating. Thanks to the boundless imagination of its author and its impeccable construction, Watch over her keeps us in suspense from the first pages. What is the mystery of this PIeta that is kept buried in a monastery? How will the 12-year-old Mimo, who will stand at 1.40 m all his life, go from the status of slave of a pseudo-uncle from Liguria to that of an artist demanded by the greatest fortunes? What will become of Viola, the rebel with a phenomenal memory and excessive dreams (for the time)? Will they compromise, or not, with the fascist power?
Zoom out. It was at the age of 46, in 2017, that Jean-Baptiste Andrea finally took the plunge by publishing My queen published by L’Iconoclaste directed by Sophie de Sivry, who died on May 31. “With this novel and my meeting with Sophie, I had the impression of having found a haven, of finally being aligned with myself, explains the author, it changed me from the world of TV series where ‘I am criticized for ‘being too original’ and where we must multiply compromises.” Let us also point out “the epic and historic flop” (those are his words) in 2013 of his third feature film, The Brotherhood of Tears, enough to divert the path of the Sciences Po graduate, who, when young, had not dared to tackle the novel, “noble art par excellence”, due to his own “mental locks”. This notion of locks is discussed extensively in Watch over hernotably about Viola Orsini, confronted with the machismo of the pre-war years.
A caring environment?
Because if the novel opens with Mimo, the short man (who fights when he is called a dwarf or a dwarf), it is from Viola, confides the author, that the original impetus for the novel comes: “She is a mixture of very strong women from around me, who, all of a sudden, set themselves inexplicable limits, born, it seems to me, from oppressions inherited for centuries. It’s a very difficult fight. more violent than for men. Viola, she smashes everything, a bit like Sophie [NDLR : son éditrice] who, all his life, has exceeded his limits. So, Mimo is me, the nice guy, a little clumsy, but who has a good heart, and Viola is the person I want to be.” These characters, but also the sublime Florence, Rome and its places of perdition, the black shirts, the sculpture, the patronage of adults and the small compromises make up all the salt of this novel tinged with humor.
Jean-Baptiste Andrea says he discovered in 2017 a benevolent environment compared to that of cinema “in which many people exist only to say bad things about others”. In 2023, voices are being raised to insinuate that his presence on the Goncourt and Femina lists would also be a posthumous tip of the hat to his editor. Suddenly, the author loses his smile, and grumbles: “He there are perhaps people who would have an interest in suggesting that we are on lists for things other than the quality of the book…” Innuendoes which are not likely to fade in the event of a jackpot. So benevolent as that, the literary world?
Watch over her, by Jean-Baptiste Andrea. The Iconoclast, 590 p., €21.90.