Paris Star Juliette Binoche: The Movieline Interview

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This film and Summer Hours (right) are two of recent cinema's more revelatory portraits of sibling relationships. What drew you to both of them in such quick succession?

I have a sister and a half-brother. And it's true: In film, I don't remember playing [with] this kind of relationship between sisters and brothers. When you get into this subject as an actor, you are focusing on your relationships and your questions about it. But on both films, they express it in very different ways. I'd say in Summer Hours, it's more about detachment -- even more so with the death of the mother and the separation of the house. There are things coming to you that weren't resolved or were left unsaid.

In Paris, it's resolved through difficulties with his illness. But I went through life where you measure your strength with the difficulty you encounter. If you don't have challenges, you can't surpass yourself; you can't change as much. So the fact that they're able to get closer and spend life in a different way -- him being able to tell her what he feels, or pushing her with questions -- that he never would have dared before? Or her showing her love for him by moving into his place -- and daring to take her children? Not being afraid of the illness, but being aware of the difficulty of it? It's a remarkable chance to prove your love and the possibility of transforming.

In the opening of the film, a character looks up at the power lines and wonders where all the wires go. Do you have any of your own small, semi-invisible wonders of Paris?

I love details. The details are making the differences. I love observing; I think it's the best way to learn about life. Probably also because I'm an actress, I love trying to understand what's behind the little things. A look, somebody scratching, why is he scratching at that moment--

[Upon Binoche's comment, I scratch my involuntarily twitching left eye.] Wow, that was weird. Sorry!

[Laughing] Language! No, it's good. I have a very thirsty mind into those details -- in a city or anywhere. If a specific light is happening at that moment, it emerges in you as a wonder. Why is it like that at that moment? If you're oblivious to the details, then somehow you're not as alive as you can be.

Do you have a favorite depiction of Paris in the movies?

I love the Hou Hsiao-hsien [The Flight of the Red Balloon]. The way he showed it was very magical. Even the sound of the bus -- it becomes very real for me, being a Parisian. The reflection on the glass of the cafe is magical. And it's not explanatory, it's just observance of a feeling. But Cédric is Parisian. In a way, it's easier for a stranger because you're taking it in for the first time. For him, he needs to take all the crossing and interaction between stories because it's his everyday basic life. That's his Paris.

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Comments

  • ferencv says:

    It's kinda weird you've left in that part about your twitching eye. Why did she refer to you as "somebody"? Was this a round-table interview?