It can be both a head start and a burden to bear the name of an illustrious predecessor – but what if you look like him, too? Victor Belmondo’s pillowy lips purse in amusement when the inevitable question comes up. “It’s not annoying. I get it,” he says. Although a touch less pugnacious-looking, he is unmistakably of the same lineage as his grandfather, Jean-Paul. “I know the name I have and who my grandfather was. From the moment I do the same job, it’s normal people have questions. As long as we talk about my films as well, it’s OK.”
So we park the trifling matter of Jean-Paul, who died two years ago, to chat about other things. Belmondo, 29, has been quietly firing up his own acting career, this month with a meaty supporting role in Lie With Me (Arrête avec tes Mensonges), a faintly Almodóvarian homecoming drama directed by Olivier Peyon. He plays Lucas, who works for a distillery in the town of Cognac that is welcoming back – 35 years after he left – a bestselling novelist, Stéphane, to act as its brand ambassador. But both men are forced to grapple with the past: Stéphane’s unrequited first love was Lucas’s late father.
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