Benjamin Louet talks to us about his work on the mini-series "37 Seconds," directed by Laure de Butler

On January 15, 2004, the "Bugaled Breizh," a Breton trawler, sank suddenly off the English coast, resulting in the deaths of its five sailors. Faced with an obscure judicial process, Marie, the sister-in-law of one of the victims, becomes the spokesperson for the families of the missing and embarks on a long quest for the truth.

Filming a series about the mysterious sinking of the "Bugaled Breizh," one might think that some experience at sea is required ?

Benjamin Louet : I don’t really have a direct connection to the sea, nor am I a sailor ! But I had a great-grandfather who was a fisherman, and I often thought of him during the shoot. This experience allowed me to discover the environment in which he lived. I suddenly realized a certain similarity with the lives of film crews, especially in series, who can be away from home for three or four months, establishing a rhythm of intermittence with family or loved ones. Being on the same boat for several weeks and working with a team during that time took on much more resonance in my mind. It’s like being in a closed environment, with that intensity we know well on set.

How to approach such work ?

BL : Quite a few documentaries have been made about this case. With a lot of archival footage, news segments, radio shows... All these elements were very useful for preparing the project. The production sent us everything so we could fully immerse ourselves in the atmosphere. Additionally, the main decision made by Anne Landois, the series creator, to film in the actual locations of the events was fundamental.
For example, when we look back at the archival footage from 2004 with the families gathering at the building of the Guilvinec fishing committee, it’s exactly the same room where we filmed several scenes in the series, including the one where the families come to learn the result of an identification of a body found in the wreck (episode 3). These were powerful moments, heavily charged with emotions that certainly helped the actors and the crew in their work. Of course, the script took liberties with the personal stories of each character, but many elements, scenes, and locations were really authentic to the project.

And the key people involved in the case... Were they contacted ?

BL : We were able to meet the real lawyer for the families (played by Mathieu Demy in the series), as well as the underwater expert, both of whom are still around to testify. Similarly, the president of the fishing committee at the time welcomed us to the site, showing us the port and all the symbolic places that marked this case. In fact, I believe that before even deciding on a certain artistic direction for this series, it was important for us to immerse ourselves in these places, to understand the colors and the light atmospheres of this Breton port. It was really from this scouting experience that we, along with the director and other department heads, were able to find the image of the series.

The series is characterized by a rather cold atmosphere, in cyan tones...

BL : We worked from a series of scouting photos, starting with winter as the base element (the events took place from January 2004). Another thing that struck us on site was the reddish-brown tones. Everything there is absolutely covered in rust ! Nothing withstands the seawater and the spray. Sometimes even the stones themselves seem covered in rust. And this observation led us to want to recover red in the low lights, contrasted with cooler high lights, cyan. We aimed for a very harsh, highly contrasted look in colors between the shadows and the lighter parts of the image. In any case, we never sought anything aesthetic but rather aimed for realism and authenticity.

How did the residents of Guilvinec welcome you ?

BL : The story of this shipwreck in Brittany is known to everyone. It was quite touching to sometimes see people stop us during filming in the port, on the streets, to thank us for bringing it up again... The judicial battle being closed, bringing these sailors to life one last time through a series seemed to touch them deeply. Another incredible moment was the day we had to film the boat for all the opening sequences, as well as those we see later in the series in flashbacks. We found a trawler that could somewhat resemble the lost one, on which we would write the name "Bugaled Breizh" on the bow. Knowing the superstition that reigns among sailors, you can imagine it wasn’t an easy task ! Yet, after these sea sequences, we noticed that a good hundred people had gathered at the entrance of the dock upon our return. Among them - we learned later - were several family members of the missing. Imagine coming back to port with that crowd around you ; it was truly an impressive moment that far exceeded what you typically experience on a set.

How many days did you shoot ?

BL : The series was filmed over 60 days, for six episodes of 52 minutes, with a shooting schedule that took place from February to May 2024. Naturally, we mainly shot exterior sequences from February to March to capture the winter atmosphere that marked the original events, then focused more on interiors for the rest of the shoot. The main challenge when working on a series inspired by a true story, especially when you are on the exact locations of the drama, is to avoid overdoing it on screen. To maintain a certain humility with the camera. And especially to find the right distance so that we remain quite modest in the narration. This was something quite new for me in the subject and in the treatment, as the previous series I had worked on had taken much more stylized visual choices. As a director of photography, I find it much more exciting to be able to change the atmosphere in the image with each film... It’s a real privilege in our profession to move from one very different project to another.

The series blends without clearly identifying the eras (the trial of 2021) and the past (the months following or preceding the shipwreck in 2004). Was it decided from the start not to differentiate in terms of imagery ?

BL : Yes, that was very clear. The series opens with a courtroom sequence in the UK set in 2021, followed by a short introduction scene with the crew on the boat in 2004, then a long shot that starts from a stained glass window and ends in a packed church during a Sunday mass, as a counterpoint to the opening shot.
The series then regularly plays with these back-and-forths between periods, without ever precisely marking the temporality on screen. We really wanted to show this kind of puzzle, with pieces all of the same nature gradually fitting together. In a word, to create a look for the entire series and apply it regardless of the era. Since I wanted to start with a rather realistic base for the image, with a somewhat gritty feel - and definitely not to go for something vintage or overly stylized - I did some tests in prep between the Sigma Cine Lens series and the Zeiss Supreme Radiance on the Arri Mini LF. What I really liked about the Sigma’s rendering was the cool tones they brought in the highlights and on skin tones. Unlike the Supremes, which had a more golden, glamorous look in a way. Because we really wanted to feel the cold, the spray, the wind on the faces... That the sea marked the image. Combined with a bit of red in the makeup on the skin, these optics worked very well as a counterpoint.

The series opens with a long backward zoom, a very narrative form you favored at the beginning...

BL : Generally speaking, we used quite a few zooms and tracking shots at the beginning of the first episode to feel this story gradually tightening around the protagonists. The news of the shipwreck spreading. But that’s a style we then set aside to move to more static shots. One of the challenges in terms of narration - as is often the case in ensemble series - was to manage this whole group of characters affected by the shipwreck. How to make an individual stand out within the group, or conversely, to drown them in the middle. The sequence of the sailors’ funerals in the church in episode 1, for example. A scene with almost all the loved ones of the victims, where we isolate Marie and the shipowner...

In the middle of episode 3, there’s also an important scene on the port between the lawyer and the designated representative of the families.

BL : This is the moment when Marie’s character really decides to get involved on the front line. For this fairly classic dialogue sequence between her (Nina Meurisse) and Christophe the lawyer (Mathieu Demy), we opted for a kind of waltz where the camera starts with a look, then moves on to a hand, panning around as the scene unfolds. Our idea was to unify them in the image, moving away from the classic field against field. This is the moment when the relationship between these two characters really takes shape, and when Marie’s battle for the truth becomes clear.

Have you seen Titanic again ?

BL : Oh no ! But it’s true that, objectively, we have a lot in common with James Cameron’s film. The reconstruction of the shipwreck using modelling, for example. Or the exploration of the wreck... Well, we didn’t have the same budget !
For example, this short underwater scene was recreated on the last day of shooting. We took over the Lorient swimming pool with two simple underwater sheets of deco to simulate the wreck of the boat. Filmed in all directions...

It was minimalist but it worked. Similarly, the flashback scenes on the boat that I evoked with the sailors before the shipwreck were shot with a very small crew of six people (director, script supervisor, focus puller and sound engineer) plus the five sailors in the picture, two of whom were the boat’s real pilots. I remember that for the first 30 minutes, we were really struggling with seasickness, and then once we’d started shooting, I have the impression that the adrenalin of the first takes suddenly made us all forget the waves of that month of February.

(Interview conducted by François Reumont for the AFC)

• Read other interviews with cinematographers conducted by François Reumont as part of the Séries Mania Festival in Lille :
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  - Interview with Mateusz Wichłacz, PSC, about the series "Kabul", by Kasia Adamik and Olga Chajdas
  - Seamus Mc Garvey, BSC, and Joe Wright look back on the shooting of the series "M"
  - Sergi Gallardo talks about the visuals of the series "Querer", directed by Alauda Ruíz de Azúa
  - Adrien Bertolle looks back at the filming of the series "The Deal", directed by Jean-Stéphane Bron.