Among our countless readers, the youngest ones will probably not know the identity of the brunette surrounded by the improbable rapetous of the photo opposite. It is thus to them that we address ourselves in priority. The one who seems to be spinning ball in hand was called Marie Laforêt. She was a singer and author of many hits in the 1960s and 1970s (Mon amour, mon ami, Il a neigé sur Yesterday, Viens, viens...). We also saw her in the films of René Clément, Henri Verneuil or Michel Deville, where she excelled. Marie Laforêt, who left us on November 2, 2019, was a funny woman and a lively intelligence. She also loved rugby passionately, which was not common among women of that time. It must be said that she was born Maïtena Douménach in Soulac-sur-Mer, a town in the Médoc peninsula, a drop of Bègles, La Teste or Salles, which always had teams of terrible men. She who would become godmother of La Voulte, French champion in 1970, did not miss an opportunity to return to her Aquitaine roots and to this sport which made her vibrate.
So she accepted in 1982 the proposal of Christian Gion (fourth on the left in the photo) to appear in his next film, Les diplômés du dernier rang. Why did she accept? First, because Gion is a friend, and also a former third row player of Lourdes, of which he will be the president between 1996 and 1998. Secondly, because the film evokes this game in the person of Patrick Bruel, who plays a student rugby player from the PUC trying to be reformed from military service. And, finally, because she is given the opportunity to discuss penetrating maul with Walter Spanghero, former captain of the French national team, who plays himself (here, on his right with Puciste Yann Le Doré next to him). As a result, Marie was not afraid to promote the film on the field of the Pershing stadium, in Vincennes, in the spring of 1982. The graduates never made the front page of Cahiers du cinéma. On the other hand, Nanarland, a blog of bad and sympathetic films, still holds it in high esteem.
Bruno Garay
