Cécile de France
Cannes Film Festival alumnus and two-time César award winner Cécile de France hosted the 2005 Cannes Film Festival; in addition her films L’Auberge Espagnole (2002) and Quand j’étais chanteur (2006) premiered at Cannes. This year, playing opposite Vincent Cassel, Cécile de France stars as Jeanne Schneider, the wife of the famous French gangster Jacques Mesrine, in the new film L’ Instinct de mort (Death Instinct), which makes its presence at the 2008 Marché du Film.
IFQ’s Nicole Holland spoke with Cécile de France as she discussed the Cannes Film Festival, her role in the new film L’ Instinct de mort (Death Instinct) and her breakthrough role in Haute Tension.
IFQ: Can you tell me about your experience hosting the Cannes Film Festival in 2005?
Cécile de France: It was a lot of emotions. I wasn’t at the festival all of the time. I just went for the opening and the closing and at the same time, I was shooting Fauteuils d’ Orchestre. It was very exciting to do that. It was wonderful, but it was a lot of stress. You feel that everybody is looking at you; each second almost the entire world is looking at you. The Grand Lumière Théâtre is very big, and of course a lot of famous people and geniuses are in front of you.
IFQ: L’Auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Apartment) (2002) and Quand j’étais chanteur (2006) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and Les Poupées russes (The Russian Dolls) screened in the Cannes Market. Can you tell me about your experience with your film premieres in Cannes and specifically as an actress promoting your films?
CF: It’s like a dream. With Quand j’étais chanteur, Director Xavier Giannoli, Gerard Depardieu and I didn’t care if we didn’t win the Palme D’Or. Yes, it’s important, but the adventure is the most important. Just to be in the selection is already a wonderful thing and it’s magic. It’s a big honor. The film was shown in the Grand Lumière Théâtre and the screen was huge. I was impressed to see this beautiful film. At the end of the projection all of the audience stood up and applauded for a long, long, long time. I will never forget this moment for the rest of my life.
IFQ: Are you going to be in Cannes this year?
CF: I am screening a film for promotion [in the Marché du Film]. The film is about the famous French gangster Jacques Mesrine. I play his second wife Jeanne Schneider and I’m sure the film will be in the market. I don’t know exactly what will happen, but I will try to be there.
IFQ: Are you talking about L’ Ennemi public n° 1 (The Death Instinct) and L’ Instinct de mort (Death Instinct)?
CF: Yes, the L’ Ennemi public n° 1 is the second film. I’m only in the first film called L’ Instinct de mort. You know the instinct of death. It’s the first part of his life when he was a classy, smart and beautiful gentleman. During the second part, he has too much pride. Jeanne Schneider is his accomplice and they were very close. She did the hold-up with him. She was not sitting at home waiting for him. No, No. She was with him doing everything. It was very exciting to play this character and of course, it is always interesting to play a character that really exists. Each scene that we played was excellent— in Arizona, in the mountains and valley you know with the old car, in Canada and in France. So yes, I think it will be a very beautiful film. Vincent Cassel did a really good job. He really creates his character [Jacques Mesrine] with a lot of creation, imagination and professionalism.
IFQ: In 2003, you won the César for Most Promising Actress for L’Auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Apartment) and in 2006, you won the César for Best Supporting Actress for Les Poupées russes (The Russian Dolls). I notice that in both films, you evolve in your acting over the course of years and your acting is so natural and real. What’s your secret? Do you have any special acting techniques?
CF: I have no special acting techniques. I just trust my director. I can do a good job if I have a good director who directs me well. That’s why I prefer working with a director who has a “world” and who can bring me into his world—you know in his universe, his imagination and travel with him. I like to create a character for the story that the director wants to tell. I don’t like to show myself; I don’t care about myself. For my César that I won, Cédric Klapisch (L’Auberge Espagnole, Les Poupées russes ) is an excellent acting director and he created my character Isabelle. We worked a lot, prepared, rehearsed and improvised to create this character.
IFQ: How did you get started in acting?
CF: I was 6 years old and in theater. I was in a very good school in Belgium and had a very good French, literature and theatre professor. I learned a lot about French culture and I began very young and after that, I went to National Theatre School. When I was young, I decided to be an actor, perhaps not in cinema, but in theatre. Everybody in my family had to understand that it was my passion, my life and that it was so important to me. When I decided to do it as my job, it was evident because it was my big passion.
IFQ: Have a lot of talent and directors come out of Belgium? I know there was the Belgian film L’Enfant that was directed by Jean- Pierre and Luc Dardenne. They screened and won the Golden Palm in Cannes 2005.
CF: Yes. The Dardenne brothers won two Palms. There are a lot of Belgium actors and directors. I worked on a film with two brothers Guillaume and Stéphane Malandrin. The film is Ou est la main (Ou Est La Main De L’homme Sans Tete?) which means “Where is the hand?” The directors are French, but it was shot in Belgium and it has a Belgium touch. The film is like a very dark David Lynch film. I think it’s a special film.
IFQ: You are mostly in dramas, comedies, real life situational films and then, you did Haute Tension, which was your international breakthrough role. How was it on set and working with make-up artist Giannetto De Rossi and Director Alexandre Aja?
CF: It was very special because the story is happening in one night, so it was two months of night in Romania. We worked in Romania because it’s cheaper. On set it was very hard because it was very cold and I was barefoot. I only had a tee shirt and the blood was sticky. I couldn’t put on a blanket [to keep warm] because I couldn’t take it off. It was very exciting and interesting to work with Giannetto De Rossi who is an excellent make-up master. He’s done a lot of films like David Lynch’s Dune, Conan The Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger and The Man in the Iron Mask. He is very famous in the make-up world. It’s a lot of technique with make-up and with the blood. It takes a lot of concentration to do all of the make-up and the natural special effects. There were only handmade special effects in the film—special effects made by Giannetto De Rossi, using only his hands—no memory and no computer. It was amazing watching him. Alexandre Aja is younger than me and he was 23 when we shot the film. He knows a lot of things about these kinds of films. I think he is a young genius.
IFQ: Haute Tension is told mostly through your character Marie’s point of view and her split personality, and you give a very chilling, primal and raw performance. How did you prepare for this role?
CF: Alexandre Aja asked me to do a lot of physical work in the way that I prepared my character. Alexandre Aja said that the shooting would be hard and that I had to run a lot and must be very strong. I did physical training. I ran and boxed for two to three months. It’s the same for Un Secret. Last year Claude Miller did the film Un Secret and it went out in France. I was nominated for the César for Best Actress for this film. I did physical preparation for my character in that film as well.
IFQ: In Haute Tension, you convey so much emotion and in each sequence you exemplify different forms of expressing fear through your acting even though there is minimal dialogue. Do you find minimal dialogue a challenge?
CF: Yes. When you come from theatre, you are used to working with your body more than when you come just from the cinema. In theatre, I work with my body, and when my body is ready, the emotional, intellectual and spiritual aspects come afterward. You can work in different ways and explore different territories of imagination, different part of the creations and the body. It’s about instinct. It’s like an animal. I think all actors are very good animals and very good children. [Laughs.] The body is very important for animals and children. It is very important to keep the relation of the head and the body while acting.
IFQ: What was your initial reaction to the script? How do you react to scripts in general?
CF: I liked the script very much. Just after I read the script, I called the director and said, “OK.” Usually, it’s like that. If it’s an exciting script, I call the director exactly after I turn the last page and say, “Oh yes, let’s go!” If I read a script and it’s boring, I will take a long time before I call the director. [Laughs.]