Isabelle Huppert on White Material, Missing Chabrol, and the Joys of Law & Order: SVU

There were some striking similarities between this film and Home, another of your films from a few years back: Society descends on a family's home, with catastrophic consequences. Did you note the parallels?

Absolutely. That was an interesting year for me: I was offered Claire's, then came Home, and then there was another one I did after that called The Sea Wall, directed by Rithy Panh, a well-known Cambodian director. In the first place I hesitated doing the two other films because they were very similar, but then, for that reason, I decided I would do all three -- precisely because they were all similar. I would get to go to countries I would never have gone to otherwise, like Bulgaria for Home and Cambodia for The Sea Wall. Claire's film and Sea Wall are very similar because they both take place in a political situation -- having to face people around me. Home is more like a fable, but still: It's a family. And these are three women desperately, madly attached to a place. In all three it was about the idea of how the human being is defined by ties. To land, to family. There is a lot about this idea of linking that makes you relate to a place.

How does geography influence character for you?

It does a lot, especially in these three movies. They all took me to remote countries -- or far from where I am, anyway -- and very strong climatic environments. That defines a character a lot in terms of physicality.

When Claude Chabrol passed away a few months ago, what kind of reconsideration or reappraisal of your long working relationship did that provoke?

When it happened, I realized how much I owed him. How much he loved me, how precious my relationship to him was. He filmed me like I was his daughter -- not an object of fantasy, but just like his daughter. He was not idealizing me. There was no seduction, you know? It was like a father would film his child. So that made it easier to have total confidence -- which I gave him back, of course, because there was mutual trust. It was total acceptance of who I was, which is an immense gift for an actor. It's really taking a person and exploring every little detail and bit of her persona, you know?

You also recently made a guest appearance on Law & Order: SVU opposite Sharon Stone--

Yeah, I did!

**Which blew my mind

Really? Blew your mind, like, you liked it? Or...

Oh, yes. I liked it very much. Just the whole--

It was strong! It was strong!

How did that appearance come to be? Why did you want to do it?

Because it was strong -- and even stronger, because it's the [season finale]. I did it very simply. I was approached last year when I was doing Quartett at BAM, directed by Robert Wilson -- centuries away from SVU of course. I was approached by Neal Baer, who happens to be one of the producers. He offered to write an episode for me and asked me if I would consider it. I said, "Why not?" I was curious. He told me the synopsis of the story, and I said, "OK."

It's so much more heightened than what we usually see from you -- this big American TV police procedural-turned-melodrama. When I realized you were on, I said, "Oh, God, please just let Isabelle Huppert do what she does."

I think when you see the episode you can tell I stuck to what I was. But instinctively... I have to say I didn't know that series. I'm not very much into serial culture anyway. But then I watched a couple of episodes, and I realized it was very well-acted. I liked the performances -- especially the guest performances. The regular actors are very good! But the guests who came in were very strong. So I said out of curiosity, "Why not?" I liked the way they talked to me. And I was not disappointed. It was very strong, as you say -- it has to get right to the point. You don't have time. But ultimately I thought, "This is me!" Because they wrote it for me! They wrote it for a French woman, and it was me. It was very intense. I liked doing it.

A lot of screen actors are moving to TV these days, and there is probably a case to be made for television being the new cinema -- at least for actors: High production values, better writing, longer arcs, longer narratives. Do you foresee doing more yourself?

No, no. In France, no. I never do TV. I know more and more movie actors do it; maybe it's more here. I'm not that familiar with how people do it. I mean, here, sometimes you can deliver the most extraordinary and outstanding performances on television. I'm thinking, for example, of Al Pacino in the Kevorkian movie?

You Don't Know Jack?

I mean, "amazing" is not enough. So incredible, so brilliant. I was really struck by it. So when television gives you that kind of opportunity, I think why not? But I never did anything like that in France. I did a lot of television years ago when I started being an actress -- before I became a movie actress. But for the moment I'm fulfilled being a movie actress.

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