As soon as I read it, I felt strong affinities between myself and the character of Simon, the way he’s out of kilter with the world. I saw him as a gentle, funny,

touching, manipulative person on the borderline of a normality that I don’t feel I fit into either, for different reasons than his. I was also attracted by the theme of the impostor whose imposture runs away with him, to the point where he loses track of his own desires. Also, for the first time that I can remember, here I was being offered a real character part to get to grips with, a part that was close to me for the reasons I’ve explained, yet at the same time a world apart. I’m a more or less lapsed Catholic, heterosexual, I hope not too corny, and all I knew about clarinets was the theme tune for a chronic sixties game show. So it was a real acting challenge of the kind I’d been looking for for ages. (Antoine de Caunes)