“There was a break”: how Agnès Jaoui’s meeting with Jean-Pierre Bacri shook her family

A remarkable return. On May 22, 2026, Agnès Jaoui presented at the 79th Cannes Film Festival The object of the crimehis first feature film written and directed without Jean-Pierre Bacri, his alter ego who appeared in all his films and died in 2021. Released in theaters a few days later, on May 26, 2026, this film takes spectators behind the scenes of an adaptation of Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaroupset by an accusation of sexual assault.

On the occasion of this return awaited by a large part of French cinema, Agnès Jaoui spoke about her former partner to Maïtena Biraben as part of an interview given to the latter’s media, Ladiesand published from May 22, 2026 on the Instagram account.

A meeting that changed Agnès Jaoui’s family dynamic

Agnès Jaoui was only 22 years old when she met Jean-Pierre Bacri. Very close to her family and in particular to her father, she explains that this meeting led to a form of “breakup”. “Until now, my family was my reference. From the moment I met Jean-Pierre, who was not family at all, he is the one who becomes my reference” However, she tempers her remarks by specifying that she has not “rejected” her family.

The director then remembered the way in which Jean-Pierre Bacri brought “justice” into his life, and not only into his own. “He was very reassuring about ethics, courage, good or evil, contempt. He had a very strong sense of justice“.

Guests have micro du podcast With a bare voice of France Culture in 2022, Agnès Jaoui had already mentioned her meeting with the actor. “When I meet Jean-Pierre, I see a man who is so free, so different. (…) We fall in love and within a week I move in with him.”

The new relationship to the writing of Agnès Jaoui

In an interview given in our columns and published on May 27, 2026, in which she returns in particular to the ageism suffered by actresses, Agnès Jaoui explained the way in which she had approached this first project as a screenwriter and director without the presence of Jean-Pierre Bacri. “I first tried to write with just one person and it was impossible. For him, as for me, it was not the right method. And it was painful. So we stopped.”

After having appeared in several films as an actress, Agnès Jaoui finally had a sort of click. “At one point, I wanted to write and direct again. I found this method of speaking to different screenwriters and for short periods of time. From there, it was pretty easy and joyful. And then afterwards, there were different stages… [Sa réponse s’achève dans un silence ému, ndlr]”.