Born in Paris in 1960, Anne Parillaud shot to cinematic fame as the junkie turned government assassin in Luc Besson's thriller "Nikita", for which she won a Best Actress César in 1991. She now stars as a director preparing two actors (Grégoire Colin and Roxane Mesquida) for a crucial sex scene, in Catherine Breillat's film-about-filmmaking, "Sex is Comedy".
What was your reaction to the screenplay of "Sex is Comedy"?
One of the things I noticed was that there was a lot of text in the script, which I'm not used to in my films. And my character, Jeanne, was very alive. Usually I like characters who exist in an almost unreal world. She, though, was grounded on Earth. I realised that in order to succeed in this film, in order not to betray my character, I had to give a side of myself I didn't want to give and that I hadn't given before.
Was it difficult not to imitate Catherine Breillat, your real-life director?
Catherine was constantly repeating to me: "She's not me, she's not me, she's not me." I think she was denying it consciously and unconsciously, so I would avoid copying her looks and mannerisms and gestures. Catherine was trying to represent a certain category of artists, those directors who are ready to kill to get what they want, but I knew it was her. When I read the script, I knew it could only come from somebody who was saying something that was close to what she felt.
Catherine Breillat has a reputation for pushing her actresses to the limit. What was it like to be directed by her?
After two days Catherine told me told me not wear any makeup, which made me feel completely naked in front of the camera. The point is that Jeanne is somebody who is defined by what she creates, not by what she looks like. Catherine made sure my lips were cracked and she had these scissors in her pocket, which she would use to cut bits of my hair just before a take. So I had to find the essence of my character without the tools of seduction that an actress normally has at her disposal. The shoot was very intense and very tiring, partly because I had given birth one week before filming started: I had to move from the intensity of childbirth to the intensity of this movie.
Why are scenes of physical intimacy so hard for actors?
You have to get it in your brain that you don't belong to yourself as an actor, but that you belong to the director who creates the character. You have to be totally free and abandoned, and without shyness or judgement, so that the spectator believes that what you're doing is happening.
Did "Sex is Comedy" make you think of directing in the future?
Before "Sex is Comedy" I was attracted to directing, but since the movie I've completely blocked that thought out! I found it so hard and difficult, shifting between fragility and strength. You need to carry everybody, to give them motivation to have them serve you. Sometimes you feel very lonely and disconnected from other people - nobody knows as much as you do about what movie you're making and why you're doing it, and how far you are going to go.
"Sex is Comedy" is released in UK cinemas on Friday 25th July 2003.
