Interview. Near Rouen, Marianne Lère filmed the “victorious struggle” of the employees of Chapelle Darblay
By Valentin Lebosse
Published on
From May 2021 to June 2022, Marianne Lere filmed the fight of the employees of Darblay Chapel, a Grand-Couronne (Seine-Maritime), close to Rouen. At stake, the rescue of the last factory to manufacture 100% recycled newsprint in France.
In the process of being finalized for a planned release “during 2023”, this film entitled Chapelle Darblay, they did it! promises to be a dive behind the scenes of this adventure full of twists and turns, until the takeover of the site by the Veolia/Fibre excellence consortium, made official at the end of May 2022. Interview with its director.
“They did not belong to the same world”
News: How did you come up with the idea of making a documentary on the fight of the employees of Chapelle Darblay?
Marianne Lere: After my film “Vive le travail” (2021), an investigation of more than two years on the world of work in Europe, I had in mind to approach the trade union question: what is the role of a trade union in today’s society and how can it assess? Very quickly the question of the ecological turning point arose, the environmental question linked to the social question.
It was my accomplice Thomas Coutrot, an economist, with whom I was considering a film project, who told me about Chapelle Darblay. He told me that something very interesting happened there. It’s a site that I didn’t know about at all. I met the three staff representatives there: two workers unionized at the CGT [Cyril Briffault et Julien Sénécal, Ndlr] and the third, a frame without a label [Arnaud Dauxerre].
do you see us introducing these three men who are the major protagonists of the documentary?
ML: When I met them, they had already been in the fight for a little over a year. I immediately felt that a strong bond united them whereas at the beginning, they only knew each other by sight and did not belong to the same world. Within the company, there was no exchange between them. The Chapelle Darblay site is divided into two spaces: “Versailles”, as they call it, are the offices where the executives worked, the world to which Arnaud belonged before the struggle; and the “Kremlin”, the works council in the parking lot of Chapelle Darblay, where the workers met, where they could call on their unionized colleagues in the event of a problem.
We can sometimes see that they are really very different: they don’t have the same culture, they haven’t received the same education, they haven’t had the same career and life path. And at the same time, they are all three straining towards the same goal. This shows that even in the difference, we can find hooks for meaningful projects.
“I didn’t want to show CGT riders burning tires again”
You started filming them in May 2021. The future of the factory is still uncertain at that time. Its former owner UPM closed the site and some 230 workers were made redundant. Are you leaving with the idea of documenting yet another social drama or will you be convinced that the stakes could be different this time?
ML: I didn’t want to show angry mountain bikers burning tires again. That’s not it at all. I felt there was a strong story. Through these three people, there was something quite incredible from the start. Thanks to their pugnacity, to Arnaud’s network – he has a very large network of politicians, entrepreneurs, etc. – they have put all three into a completely new dynamic.
What were the highlights of filming?
ML: There were a lot of ups and downs, which the film will show: how our three heroes managed to maneuver through this emotional roller coaster. I remember a moment of great excitement, at the end of 2021, when the boys thought it was a win, but just before the holidays, the project suddenly collapsed. UPM wanted to sell Chapelle Darblay to an industrialist with plans to raze the site to make it a hydrogen production unit.
He climbed the slope. The boys fought, took a lot of steps to get the best advice and to manage Veolia and Fiber Excellence to save Chapelle Darblay.
“This film is going to be nervous”
Were you able to film the negotiations with the manufacturers?
ML: Not directly at Veolia, but I was present at most important meetings. I am thinking in particular of this meeting at the CGT, where Philippe Martinez [le secrétaire général du syndicat, Ndlr] brought together around the industrial table, the President of the Métropole [Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol] and a whole legal team.
The actors of the fight completely dubbed me and accepted that I film these interviews. They all said to me: “You are right to document this action because there has to be a trace, so that the public can see that there are other possible problems than the dismantling of a factory and the relocation of its activity. This is what the film will tell.
do you see talk of the role played by the other protagonists in this “combat”?
ML: What Philippe Martinez and his team are trying to do within the CGT is revolutionary. If anyone in the world of work has understood the urgency of saving the planet while preserving jobs, it’s him. In this sense, I think the film will show another possible face of trade unionism which, I believe, can only continue to exist if it takes the turn of the ecological question. As Philippe Martinez says: “There is no possible job on a dead planet.”
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol also played a decisive role in the rescue of Chapelle Darblay. This is a first in France: the Metropolis has used its right of first refusal to cancel the sale planned by UPM. It changed everything. It was quite fun to film. There were a lot of negotiations, discussions, it was very tense. This film is going to be nervous. We will go from one emotion to another. It is a human story above all.
What will the crowdfunding campaign that ended on October 14 be used for?
ML: Thanks to crowdfunding, I will be able to carry out individual interviews with those who took part in the fight: the three staff representatives, Philippe Martinez, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, Julie Lesage [maire de Grand-Couronne, Ndlr], Veolia executives. The idea is to come back with them on this victorious struggle, how they perceive it a few months later.
Those who have benefited from the fundraising campaign will have exclusive access to these interviews. Then, I will see with my producer how to show them to the general public.
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