“Cate Blanchett told me Tár was not only the story of a conductor. And our film was not only about a conductor”: Benjamin Lavernhe on The Marching Band at Cannes Film Festival 2024

Tár star Cate Blanchett gave French actor Benjamin Lavernhe an important tip before taking his role as a conductor in Emmanuel Courcoul’s new film The Marching Band.

He stars as Thibaut, an internationally famous conductor who discovers he has leukaemia and needs his lost biological brother’s bone marrow to survive – prompting him to help him out with his sibling’s town marching band.

Speaking in an interview at the Cannes Film Festival 2024, Lavernhe revealed Blanchett, who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance as a controversial conductor in Tár, told him her film was about much more than just conducting.

“I was actually speaking with Cate Blanchett,” he explained. “She was telling me Tár was not only the story of a conductor. And our film was not only about a conductor.”

In addition to receiving Blanchett’s warm words, Lavernhe revealed he worked with real-life conductor Antoine Dutaillis to bring his skills up to scratch.

“I realised pretty early it was enormous work to be credible as a conductor so I had a coach, Antoine Dutaillis who is a young conductor who is really good and is a pianist too,” the Comédie-Française alumni said.

“He gave me a crash course into conducting and we looked at many conductors, he talked to me about the history of conducting, he talked to me about the geography of an orchestra  – where do we need to go.”

Explaining how he had fallen in love with conducting himself, Lavernhe added: “I really understood how conducting could be a passion you could get addicted to.”

He even impressed some of the professional musicians who featured in the movie as players in Thibaut’s orchestra.

“I had 70 musicians in front of me and I felt judged by them because I wanted to be credible and they were like, ‘Oh not bad, that one was good,’” he said with pride. “In one scene after a good take, they actually tapped their bows on their stands, and the best compliment one musician gave me was that he had worse conductors.”

The Marching Band, also known as En Fanfare, has drawn comparisons with 2000s British film Brassed Off – though Lavernhe hasn’t seen its UK counterpart – thanks to a plot featuring a marching band from a struggling industrial town. Plus, the heartwarming fraternal relationship at its centre.

Speaking about how he and co-star Pierre Lottin, who plays Thibaut’s working-class amateur trombonist brother, Jimmy, Lavernhe convinced as brothers, he said being friends on set was key.

“We actually immediately sympathised with each other and could also exchange quite well,” Lavernhe said. “We had a friendly relationship but it was very modest as well, and lowkey and this came to enrich the film and the characters.”

Mark Worgan

The Marching band does not have a UK release date yet.

Read more reviews from our Cannes Film Festival 2024 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Cannes Film Festival website here.