Like Samia, Jérôme will “come back from the dead” in “Plus belle la vie”! Laurent Orry, his interpreter, tells AlloCiné the context of this comeback and teases the reunion of the protagonist with Kevin, his son, and Laetitia, his wife…
From October 24 in More beautiful life, Jérôme Belesta will reappear at the Mistral! Indeed, although deceased a few years ago, the spirit of Lætitia’s deceased husband (caroline riou) will manifest itself to Kevin (Theo Bertrand), the couple’s son.
The latter will find himself facing a problem similar to the one his father once had to solve. Jérôme’s “ghost” will therefore come to Kevin’s aid and meet his wife again for a few scenes…
Laurent Orrythe interpreter of the character, gave himself up to AlloCiné on his comeback on the film sets of the soap opera of France 3 (like Fabienne Carat reprising her role as Samia), while the end of the fiction is fast approaching…
AlloCiné: Why did you make your comeback in “Plus belle la vie”?
Laurent Orry: I left three years ago and I was offered to come back to finish the series. There are people I really like on the set, starting with the costume designers, the make-up artists, the technicians, a few actors… It was a pleasure for me to meet them again. Then because Jérôme Belesta is a character for whom I had a lot of affection. So I wanted to pay him a last little tribute.
In what context does Jérôme appear in the Mistral?
There is a detective story in which Kevin, his son, is confronted with a similar problem as that of Jérôme several years ago: in self-defense, he had to kill a young man… Kevin, as a cop, will find yourself in this situation today and be accused of having shot a young man in turn.
In his moments of distress, his deceased father will appear to him more and more, like a kind of benevolent soul, of paternal support which he lacks. Jerome will be here as a conscience. It’s going to actually manifest, out of Kevin’s mind. There will also be a small reunion between Jérôme and Lætitia, his wife… It will be like a projection of the lack and of his memory.
How will the couple’s “reunion” unfold?
There are two or three very pretty sequences between Lætitia and Jérôme. It will be an opportunity for her to really mourn her husband. I understood when I came back to shoot, thanks to the shots of him everywhere in the Belesta apartment, that their home is a bit like a mausoleum. It seemed to me to still be very present in the series, the consciousness of the characters and the public. This ‘return’ will also be like a way for him to come back to tell his wife ‘Now go and fulfill your life’.
Was it pleasant to play again with your former partners?
Caroline was a little scared because the last times I was there three years ago, I wanted to take off. So I was probably grumpy or nervous at times, while remaining a good comrade of course. But from the moment I agreed to come back, it was because I wanted to. I didn’t come back to earn money or whatever, I really wanted to find them. And it went very well, we found our old reflexes right away.
What did you think of Jérôme’s death when you left “Plus belle la vie”?
He didn’t deserve this if I dare say. It could have evolved differently. For X reasons, I had decided to leave, to take a step back at least. It would have been possible for him to come back in the guise of another actor. Jérôme was someone emblematic, representative of a certain French population, which could be described as ‘yellow vest’ but not only.
I thought it was a shame to kill him because he was getting out of it. He had found a job that upgraded him, he who had struggled all these years. I had told the production to send him away, abroad for his job, and to bring him back with another actor… They didn’t want to. There was a falling out with the producer at the time and my former agent. Despite everything, Jerome’s death was very beautiful. It was quite moving.
Did you miss it?
You can’t say I missed him, but I thought he still had things to say. He spoke to a very popular social class because he embodied, with his wife and his kids, daily hardship and dignity in adversity. It was beautiful. What I liked about this character is that he stayed straight in his boots all the time. He served as an example. People have often come to tell me about it. I missed individuals in PBLV and vice versa, but viewers especially missed Jérôme.
How did it feel to come back to the sets of the soap opera?
It moved me, I do not hide it. I didn’t think it would get to me. Coming back to the studio where there was the Belesta apartment, with all these photos of “me”/Jérôme, it upset me. I also found some people not quite having the impression of having left them. It’s as if I had to come back to end my participation in this series, with Jérôme. Besides, to come back to your first question, why I came back, maybe that’s ultimately why.
How did you react when you learned of the end of “Plus belle la vie”?
I left, among other things, because I didn’t want to remain a prisoner of this series and I said to myself ‘Well, if I had known that it would stop three years after my departure, I probably wouldn’t have not gone’. I would have said that I needed to move away to come back in six months, a year… I just didn’t want to spend 10 or 15 years here. In any case, I was surprised by this announcement. I felt sorry for those who worked on PBLV for a long time and sorry for the viewers for whom the characters are a real family they find every day.