New York audiences may be the luckiest moviegoers this summer: the latest film from legendary French director Catherine Breillat is a masterpiece. last summer In addition to being released in theaters this weekend, the film was also featured in a directorial retrospective at Film at Lincoln Center (an opportunity that is, unfortunately, all too rare in other parts of the world). The reputation of Breillat’s early work precedes her. Romance and Anatomy of Hell Both were associated with French neo-extremism and were often considered provocative and inappropriate for their sexually explicit and violent portrayals of relationships, but there is a strong current of idealism and even hope (unsuccessfully) that Breillat’s characters try to embrace throughout his work.
last summer It is a remake of the 2019 film directed by May El Toukhy. Queen of HeartsThe story is about a successful lawyer who begins an affair with her stepson. Anne (the wonderful Lea Drucker) gradually finds herself drawn to Theo (Samuel Kircher, who, like all the men in Breillat’s work, is both angelic and cruel), and they renew their love, but must keep it a secret from her husband Pierre (Olivier Rabourdin), who had spoken to Catherine Breillat a year earlier. Cannes debutIn this interview, conducted ahead of the film’s US release, he reflects on the passage of time and audience reactions then and now, as well as offering a chance to delve deeper into some of its most tender scenes of intimacy.
The Film Stage: Now that you’ve been promoting the film for a year, have you been surprised by the response to it?
Catherine Breyer: Yes, we have toured all over the world! last summer It was well received not only abroad, but also in France. It was a first for me: my cast was nominated for the César Awards, which is like the French Oscars, and I was nominated! Even the French press, who treated me so badly throughout my career, changed their attitude. They thought the film was great and they even came back to watch the rest of my filmography. So this was a real surprise for me. On the other hand, the reaction in the US has a different meaning for me, because it’s really thanks to America that I’ve been able to continue making films.
On that note, I want to congratulate you on your current retrospective at Lincoln Center. How do you engage with your films as time goes on?
Looking back, I think my success was [my films] Outdated pieces never go out of fashion, at least not formally. I am always looking for timeless designs, clothes, hairstyles that can remain that way forever. As for my work being rediscovered, I was recently invited to a retrospective in Barcelona, which surprised me, because the city had stopped buying my work. RomanceIt really shocked them. So the retrospective Really young girland I saw the venue was packed, and at that point I thought everyone was going to go home because they didn’t know what was going to happen.
But then there were none left! By the end of the film, all the old ladies[Laughs] Maybe people my age, but also younger people, come up to me and say, “That movie is me!” To me, that’s the biggest testament to the contemporary energy of cinema. And more than that, they all seem to speak to a central theme of the last half century, which is about sexuality and desire… but not just desire. Repression of desire, sexual shame, fear – all of these are part of my filmography too.
You’ve also said that you are your movies and they are a part of you, but how do you personally relate to movies as time goes on? Do you feel more distant or closer to them? Do you have any ambivalent feelings?
With the way I work, there are certainly times when I look at things and think, “Who made me do this? Who made me film that?” But I work without censorship, and all I can do is make every moment as sincere as possible. Nothing comes from the imagination. There is no imagination! Instead, I draw everything from memory, from the computer in my head that records everything I’ve ever heard and seen. When I watch the film, I know exactly what light is hitting where. There is no process of invention. What I do is like piecing things together, not something that can change my relationship. I question these standards myself. “How can I do that?” But at the same time, I know it’s necessary.
It’s also perfect to take with you last summer During the conversation, May El Toukhy’s 2019 remake Queen of Hearts, But it speaks to all the themes of your work and your formal signature.
Yes, there was really very little room for creativity. One difference from the 2018 film is that the two girls, who are Theo’s siblings, last summerFor some of the lines, I went to my own family to understand the dynamics that come into play with adopted children. We found a really good French-Chinese actress. [Serena Hu and Angela Chen] And that idea was a reset for me. [the film] In a different way. The role of the abortion and the scene where Theo is on top of Anne and her legs are wrapped around him and she comments on how thin he is are things I took from my own life – the experience of being with a young lover and marveling at the difference in our bodies. So really, everything is taken from a personal place in some way.
When you worked with Leah Drucker, who plays Anne, did you ever discuss or think of her as a woman between two men?
I don’t talk to the actors. I let the script speak. Lea and I talked a lot during filming, after I realized she was very smart on set. But up until then, I was just focusing on my role as a director, which is to give directions without saying anything. The only thing I told her for the grass scene was that she needed to clear her mind and imagine herself as Pauline on the beach, which meant: “You’re 15 years old and the most handsome boy on the beach is hitting on you.” Other than that, I didn’t say anything to her.
This is a question I get asked a lot, but what is this non-verbal intimacy? last summerWhat was the sexy moment when you first worked with Drucker?
It’s the body that speaks to the audience, what the actor can speak through, and I don’t really care about the psychological element of it. I never read the script with the actors, I never discuss it with them or think about it with them. What matters is what’s in the frame and how to shoot it. There’s always a big question of framing these intimate scenes, because that’s what gives the most important information to the audience. Whether it’s the way it’s shot, it’s the essence of the actors’ performance. [Anne] I define the relationship between husband and wife in detail: where to place the camera in relation to the bed, how much space the husband’s body will take up, where and how I will touch him, how I will touch his chest, his hair, etc. These details will reveal how the husband is different from Theo. This is how I structure the content of the film. No further variations will enter my set.
What about exterior scenes of intimacy? The film is full of them, though more subtle.
Actually, there’s not much difference. Every scene requires the same number of people: three people in front of the camera, me, the AD, the script supervisor, and the sound engineer. Most of the difference is that if we’re outside in a given situation — a scene in the middle of a lake or a body of water where everyone has to be perched on some kind of flotation device — it’s a whole different story. What’s at stake there is no different than what’s at stake behind closed doors: the sincerity of the gesture.
Can you give an example, like the scene where Anne takes the kids out to the lake to swim?
In that scene, there is a moment when Anne playfully “drowns” Theo, which is very important. At first, Lea did not have the courage to do it, because it is a rather violent act. And I had to reassure her that he would let me know when his body reached its limit. And it happened. When Samuel came out of the water, he was really out of breath, but that is the energy that drives the rest of the love story forward. Similarly, making an actor blush is not something that can be artificially produced. And there is also something about how surprised Theo is by Anne’s violent act in that scene. It is as if it was beyond what he expected of her. These moments, in turn, open up the possibility of their relationship. The possibility that this was an unconscious gesture of her desire to get rid of him permanently had to exist.
Actually, this is my last question, about love. Would you say that your films present a philosophy of love, or a mathematics of love? It seems that when people try to communicate their desires, their love, they always win or lose…
I am French and Mariborage tradition [a writing style characterized by an affectation of refinement] and [French Romantic poet and writer] By Alfred de Musset Don’t underestimate loveSo it is perhaps not surprising that we should quote the Marquis de Flers: The last mistress“He who loves first loses” – I think that’s true.
last summer Currently on sale in limited quantities.
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