THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 3, 1994 TAG: 9407010210
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 126 lines
Juliette Binoche, one of the most famed and intriguing women currently on the international film scene, was fresh off the plane from Paris.
Sitting in her hotel suite in New York City, she prefaced the interview with a polite, purring, query as to whether it would be all right if she nursed her baby during the interview.
``Well, uh, sure,'' I answered, lamely.
She, you see, is French.
She is also a woman of independent means - her own.
She's the actress who turned down Steven Speilberg.
The starlets in Hollywood must be shivering in their form-fitting bras to even think of such a thing.
Offered the lead in ``Jurassic Park'' (the part eventually played by Laura Dern), Binoche turned it down in favor of doing the ultra-intense and ultra-arty ``Blue,'' the film from Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski that is currently mystifying patrons at the Naro Theater in Norfolk. ``Jurassic Park'' went on to become the biggest hit in the history of movies (over $800 million at the box office so far).
Binoche, however, didn't do too badly. She may not be a household name in every household - just in the ones who have seen her films.
Her love scenes with Daniel Day-Lewis in ``The Unbearable Lightness of Being'' are still legends of modern-movie eroticism. I inform her that Day-Lewis is two stories above us in this very hotel. (I had just done an interview with him). ``Daniel, here?'' she exclaimed. ``I would very much like to talk with heeem. He IS an artist. Very quiet. Very mystic.''
In ``Damage,'' herk tempting wiles drove both a father (Jeremy Irons) and his son to depths of deparavity and ruination. ``Jeremy Irons was very much the star of the feeelm,'' she said. ``There was a lot of tension on the set. I had read the book and was very disturbed by it. The images were very clear to me, but I had a fear about doing the film. All my fears were realized.''
For ``Blue,'' she won the ``best actress'' accolade at the Venice Film Festival and received a Golden Globe nomination. She was widely mentioned for an Oscar nomination but didn't quite make the cut. She plays Julie, a woman who tries to escape grief by turning away from life. Julie's husband, a famous composer, and her young daughter are killed in an automobile accident which she survives. She thinks of suicide but, instead, she decides to sell most of her belongings and move into a remote little apartment in Paris. In effect, she becomes totally independent - starting a new life. She deliberately cuts herself off from everything in her past.
Eventually, she learns that her dead husband had a mistress, who is pregnant with his child.
She collaborates with his former assistant to complete the composition of his ``Concerto for Europe.'' The film received an Oscar nomination for the musical scoring - haunting compositions by Zbigniew Preisner. The film, however, is puzzling audiences more than it is illuminating them.
``Oh, I am used to my films not reaching large audiences,'' Binoche said. ``It is nothing unusual. This film doesn't give answers. It gives questions.''
She's not lying. There are long scenes in which she merely swims laps in a pool of blue water. A blue-glass chandelier, the only remnant of Julie's past life, seemingly hypnotizes her. The director, whose ``The Double Life of Veronique'' infuriated and challenged audiences a few years ago, sometimes cuts scenes in the middle, only to have them continue a few seconds later. For long periods in ``Blue,'' the actress has to ``act'' in silence.
``I never felt alone,'' she said. ``The camera was there, and the crew was there. I learned to move with the camera, and to play to it. Most of all, I had to forget myself. I had to be as transparent as possible.''
Critics have called her performance stunning.
``Kieslowski wanted me for `The Double Life of Veronique' but I was in England filming `Wuthering Heights,''' she said. She played Cathy Earnshaw (played by Merle Oberon in the Hollywood classic) in the remake. It has never been released in the United States, and she hopes it never will be. ``Eeet was some gamble. I don't know,'' she shook her head and ran her fingers through her short-cropped hair. ``I'm not English. I didn't know what that story was all about. It is a tragedy about a man and a woman who could not communicate. I didn't see much excuse for the situation. Communication should be possible.''
``Blue'' is the first of a trilogy of movies named after the tri-colors of the French flag. ``White'' is currently in release in New York and ``Red'' was recently the toast of the Cannes Film Festival. ``Kieslowski originally thought I was too young for the role of Julie in `Blue,''' she said. ``I told him `It is for you to decide' but I gave him some photographs of me when I `thought' older. There was no aging makeup, just my eyes. I looked much older. He said that I could do the film with my eyes - with my eyes alone. It was a gamble I took.''
Her baby, in the care of a servant, was crying in the adjoining room, but she made no move to go to it. ``Soon, I must go to my babeee,'' she said, ``but I am enjoying talking with you. I have a feeling that you understand the movie. Not, maybe that you have THE understanding of it, but at least some understanding. Most of the people who interview me don't care to try. They ask me who I sleep with. In France, they try to take pictures of my baby. No, no! I will not have this. My baby, Raphael, is three months old. He can not make decisions. I must make decisions for him.''
She adds that, ``I don't think `Blue' is as dark as Kieslowski tried to make it. I am not as pessimistic about life as he is. To me, Julie tried to escape life but she found that life is too strong. For better or worse, she could not escape.''
``Blue's'' mood is enhanced by classical music. ``Kiesslowski would play Chopin for me. Then Stranvinsky. And then he would ask me to discuss what I felt. He'd use my feelings to choose the music. All through the film, I had to react to music. I only had to be very honest. That's all.''
Born in Paris, both Binoche's parents were involved in theater - her father as a director and her mother as a teacher. She studied at the Paris Conservatoire and began landing movie roles in the mid-'80s.
Asked if she wants a Hollywood career, she said, ``I have no sense of Hollywood. In Paris, young girls dream of Hollywood, but not me - not particularly. Maybe. I would like to have been there, maybe, in the 1950s, in the time when the big studios brought actresses over from Europe. Today, there is only one script at a time - one movie at a time. But I am very fortunate. I have very many good stories being sent to me.''
She admits that, when she goes to movies, she likes light fare. ``I like to make movies that ask questions, but when I go to movies, I like entertaining ones. Still, I think people, even me, should not be lazy.''
``Oh, yes, I could talk to you about life, but what would be the point? You will be gone. As far as being an actress, the important thing is not to take it too seriously. For an actress to believe in her own myth could be disastrous.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
``I like to make movies that ask questions,'' says Juliette Binoche.
For a review of ``Blue,'' see Page E10.
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