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Robert Germain Guilbert: Actor by accident
JP/Simon SudarmanIf Frenchman Robert Germain Guilbert’s face looks familiar, the chances are you will have seen him acting as the token Dutch officer in Indonesian movies from the 80s and 90s
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JP/Simon Sudarman
If Frenchman Robert Germain Guilbert’s face looks familiar, the chances are you will have seen him acting as the token Dutch officer in Indonesian movies from the 80s and 90s.
Guilbert, popularly known as Eric, initially came to Indonesia in 1982 to work for a French company, but has stayed there ever since, later stumbling into the Indonesian movie scene.
“Early 1982, I was invited to act in my first movie, and at that time I was staying temporarily in Yogyakarta,” he says.
“By chance I met the director, Alex Suprapto, who, also by coincidence, lived close to my house. He was looking for someone to play a Dutch officer in a movie called Tali Suri Putri [The Princess’ Thread].”
And because he could pass for a Dutchman, he says with a smile, he accepted the role.
Acting wasn’t exactly new to Guilbert, who took it up as a hobby in Paris in 1970.
“My first paycheck as an actor was Rp 90,000 [US$9],” he recalls in fluent Indonesian. He donated it to an orphanage in Yogyakarta.
Offers to act as the token Dutch officer in other movies started piling up. He starred in Last Fortress (1985), Salah Asuhan (Wrong Upbringing) by Ami Priyono, Suro Buldog by Slamet Raharjo and Tuanku Tambusai by Alex Suprapto.
Guilbert was soon jetting off to shooting locations in far-flung corners of the archipelago, including parts of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi, but always returning to Yogyakarta.
“I wanted to be involved. If I got an allowance for a hotel room or other lodgings and some transportation money, that was enough. I didn’t need a paycheck.
“I did it because it was my hobby and I only wanted to develop my acting.”
Some of the movies he appeared on never screened because the funding dried up immediately before and after the 1997 economic crisis. One such movie was Pangeran Antasari (Prince Antasari).
All were documentaries or historical movies.
Guilbert has always had a penchant for historical movies, he says.
“That’s because I have to learn the local culture, and for me this is really pleasing. My involvement in historical movies means I have to make an effort to depict a life or an incident from the past that really took place in the heart of society, not just something engineered or drawn from the imagination.”
Because of his strong determination and idealism, Guilbert has never sought roles in fiction movies.
For him, such movies have no benefit to Indonesian society.
“The fictional sinetron [soap operas] don’t offer anything; they just create more problems because of the many issues they raise,” Guilbert says.
“They don’t represent the thoughts of the majority of society because there’s no need for them. As a consequence, such works are not realistic. The audience doesn’t get anything from them, they’re all in vain.”
Guilbert has rubbed shoulders with several actors, including Idha Iasha, Tino Karno, Cok Simbara, Renny Djayusman, and directors such as Alex Suprapto, Aswar A.N., Irwinsyah, Slamet Raharjo and Ami Priyono.
However he has lost contact with many of them after he left the movie industry in 1997.
“I’m no longer in the movie business because I’m not handsome anymore!” he laughs.
Although he has been in the movie industry a long time, he doesn’t want to be called a celebrity. He admits his roles in the movies he’s done were just a hobby through which he could express the art in his blood.
“I prefer to be called a volunteer in the movie industry, or just an actor,” he says.
In France, Guilbert’s father is still remembered as a silent-movie actor of the 1920s.
“More senior filmmakers in France still remember him for his body of work from 1920 to 1927,” says Guilbert, who keeps a photo of his father as a baby.
Guilbert père acted in a slew of movies in his time, including La Marée au Diable (The Devil’s Swamp, 1920), La Dame de Monsoreau (The Lady of Monsoreau, 1923), Koenigsmark (1924), Violettes Impériales (Imperial Violets, 1924) and Le Miracle des Loups (The Miracle of the Wolves, 1924).
He continued to act after the advent of the talking movies, with roles in movies such as La Rose de la Mer (The Rose of the Sea, 1946), La Chair et le Diable (The Flesh and the Devil, 1954), which marked his final movie appearance.
“My father acted in movies during both world wars, performing in a total of 43 movies before he passed away in 1962,” says Guilbert fils.
“Meanwhile, my mother, Madelaine Jeanne Alary Guilbert, is still alive.”
Since leaving the Indonesian movie industry in 1997 and retiring from his job as a consultant in 2007, in which he was engaged for more than 26 years, Guilbert now enjoys his old age with his child and wife.
“I live on the pension from my previous company in France,” he says.
“And because I live in Indonesia, the money is more than enough to enjoy a comfortable life with my family. I still get lots of invitations to act in movies, but when I read the scripts I turn them down, because none of them offer a role that I’d consider challenging.”
