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| Isabelle Huppert Photo by Peter Lindberg |
THE READER INTERVIEW
‘I never really learned anything from anybody’: Isabelle Huppert on 50 years in film
I loved doing 8 Women and I just saw his last film in San Sebastián, When Fall Is Coming, and it’s really great. He’s very versatile. He goes from one style to the other, like a French Stephen Frears. The Crime Is Mine is more in the line of 8 Women. It’s a comedy, an adaptation of an old play that he turned into more contemporary material; something more feminist and more updated. He’s very vivid and he’s very, very, very fast, so when you work with him he gives you a certain kind of energy.
Having performed in such a wide range of films, what draws you in when selecting new projects? Is it the role, the storyline or the opportunity to work with a particular director? VerulamiumParkRanger
Mostly the director, because I always believe it’s the key piece of the ensemble. If you take material like The Piano Teacher or Elle, if it wasn’t for Michael Haneke or Paul Verhoeven, what would it be? Then it’s the ensemble. Film-making is a really collective art.
With the script, I think attractive dialogue can make you willing to do a film, because as an actor you really project yourself through the dialogue, through how you are going to say it. For me, it’s one of the most important things.
Have you ever felt that the era of great, meaning-shaping cinema is over? Are films still being made today that have the power to transform a person’s life? Dmitry_S
A big question, and it really gives a prestige value to moviemaking, which I think it still has – otherwise, I wouldn’t still be doing it. Change someone’s life? I’m not sure, but maybe it can change someone’s day – let’s be more modest. Being in a movie house for a couple of hours gives you such pleasure, a way of thinking, of being entertained. That’s what it does to me.
In its early days, cinema was exclusively entertaining, but, over time, it has extended its power of reflection, of questioning, of being more and more political. It’s a powerful weapon.
Haneke seems to me to be the major director of our time. You have worked with him four times – have you developed a shorthand over the years? Markj74
He is wonderful to work with. One expects him to be particularly difficult and it’s the other way around. Everything is very simple and he’s attached to concrete, practical things. He says very little. He lets you do it exactly the way you want, but he wants it to be really real.
Your film career has been prolific. Is there a favourite film that stands out in your memory? Colette7
Heaven’s Gate, because the whole story is so big, so unusual. It was such a great film and a big thing to do, because I was there for two months and ended up staying seven months. And because it turned out to be a disaster when it was first released, but now is an iconic masterpiece.
Was it possible, during the filming of Heaven’s Gate, to suspect it would end up being such a flop? Oldetonian1
No, we had no idea, of course, because Michael [Cimino, the director] had got five Academy Awards for The Deer Hunter and so he was really on top of the hill. It was only when it was the opening night in New York and you could hear the seats going boom, boom, boom as people left the room. Then we understood that we were in bad shape.
You have enjoyed a remarkable career. However, allowing for the fact that nothing in life is perfect and given the power of hindsight, what one thing would you do differently next time around? Ignatzratzkywatzky
Nothing.
Whatever Verhoeven’s provocative intent, Elle seemed entirely believable because of your performance. To what extent did you decide how to act it and to what extent were you directed? geoffgarside
We were completely in tune – and it was the same with The Piano Teacher. I felt very protected, I never felt in danger, I never felt I had to resist something. I remember Paul kept saying all the way through: “I don’t have anything to tell you, because you are a woman and you know more than I do about what you have to do.” This was total mutual trust. So, basically, I did what I wanted to do and that was fine.
It is 14 years since Claude Chabrol died. You worked with him on seven films. What do you miss most about him? DangerousMethod
I do miss him. He was very smart, highly educated. You could talk about anything with him. He was funny, but also did things very seriously. Chabrol was not an idealistic person. He just wanted to show things the way they are – not too romantic, with a certain amount of irony all the way through. I really miss this type of exploration.
Have you ever refused to play a role as directed, or had a disagreement with the director? gleebitz
No. Many times, I’m asked: was it difficult, or risky, or whatever? What is really risky is to do a film with a bad director. It never happened to me. It must be a nightmare to share all this time with someone with whom you disagree.
What do you think are the main differences between American and European cinema? michaelskadden
It’s more a matter of economics: a very big film with a huge amount of money and hundreds of people, or a very small film. I never did a kind of commercial Hollywood Marvel picture and, in fact, all the American films I did were more in the line of the films I would do in Europe. Even Curtis Hanson, Ira Sachs, David O Russell are very personal directors.
I really loved L’Avenir [released in English as Things to Come] – your performance is superb and it’s clearly a very under-rated movie. Is it hard when people don’t “get” your films, or don’t you care? GasparGarcao
It was not at all under-rated. Not a blockbuster, but it got the Silver Bear in Berlin. It was quite successful, and critically acclaimed in France, so I don’t really get that question, but I’m happy to hear that it’s a wonderful film. In general, I never really read dreadful critics.
When you were an up-and-coming actor in the 1970s, did you ever feel intimidated by the likes of Romy Schneider or Yves Montand when filming César and Rosalie, for example, or any other well-known actors? And what, if anything, did you learn from them? Rochelle60
I never really learned anything from anybody. I was very young when I did that film, and Romy Schneider was young, too, but a very big star. All those people were very warm and nice. That’s really the memory I keep: they really gave me such positive ideas that it made me willing to go on and on.
Have you had the opportunity to direct? Is that something you would like to do? writeronthestorm
Not really. I guess I’ve been asked a couple of times and I know that many actors do it now. I’m very fulfilled with what I do as an actor, because I always manage to create my own little territories and I always feel like it’s as much my film as the director’s film. If ever I direct a film, it will be more out of curiosity than really wanting to – just to see what would come out of my brain.
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