Huppert’s impressive roll call of films includes Ma Mere (above), Comedie de l’innocence (middle) and l V Huckabees (right)
times). .lcanrl.uc (iodard Home Qui l’t'ttI). Maurice l’ialat (Lou/nu). Bertrand 'l‘ayernict'
((iw/t (/(' ’lm't'ltmt). Raul Rtti/ (comet/y of
llllltlt‘l'lltt'l and llanckc til/1e I’M/1n 'li'ut'ht'r and lime u/ I/n' Hit/f). Right frotn the beginning. she made a point of not discussing her priyatc life with the tnedia. 'l'hc few details that emerge from the press cuttings are that she has three children with her partner the director Ronald ('hammah. and that she liycs in Paris.
So what make lluppert such a compelling actt‘css'.’ 'l'hc alts“ ct’ lics in her adherence lt) the principle that less is more: she has the ability to project a seemingly blank e\pression and then through the tiniest of facial moyements reycal to the catnera her characters ttnderlying emotions. llaneke. who directed her in the aftit'cmentioned 'li/n' I’M/m ’li'm'ln'r. has stated that he wottld hayc only tnadc the lilm with lluppert. because of her 'ability to represent suffering. You haye the c\treme of her suffering and then you haye hcr icy intcllectualism. .\'o other actor can combine the two.’ (‘rucial to lluppcrt's minimalist style of acting is her belief that people often c\press their emotions in Very subtle ways. She’s said in the past: ‘I like to take unusual characters and make them as normal as possible. because we all know that the tragic and abnormal hides itself behind the normal.~ lior her co~slat in .ilu .ilt‘n'. limma de ('aunes. lluppert has the chameleonic ability to disappear into roles. ‘so that if you meet her in the street. you (ltlllil I‘L‘L‘ttg‘ttlsc her'.
It‘s actually been in some of her rare American films that lluppert has relished the opportunity to send up her cerebral liuropean actress persona. ln llal llartley 's .‘IHIt/lt'lll'. she was "Isabelle'. the e\—nun attempting to tttrn herself into a pornographic w titer and falling in loye with a psychotic amnesiac. :\nd she describes her nihilistic philosopher in l)a\id () RttsscII‘s screwball I. Hue/tubers as ‘like a comic I’iuno 'li'ttt'ln'r. w ho‘s gone oycr to America. and who‘s dissatisfied with her relationship with l)ustin Hoffman‘s and l.in 'l‘omlin's characters‘.
(iiy en that Rttssell has a reputation of alienating actors during shooting. not least (icot'gc ('looney on the set of III/'(’(’ Kings. I ask llttppert whether she e\perienced any problems with this director‘s unusual methods while tnaking I V llut‘ku/n't's. ‘.\'o. we all know that he was doing things on purpose to surprise tts.‘ is her response. ‘It was like a mutttal agreement —— he knew what he was doing and we knew what he was doing. Sometimes that creates tensions: at other times it was easy going. Actually. I didn't understand the script on first reading — l relied on
22 THE LIST .5 ‘ ' My
tny instincts to do it. e\en if the whole thing wasn‘t clear to me. liach day on the set it felt like we were assembling a new piece for the rest of the film. without knowing where it would go. It was only when I saw the finished result that I saw how the pieces filled togethcrf ('onyersation turns towards l‘)7()s American cinema. and why the careers of tnany of the most interesting actresses from that era seemed to run aground. with lluppert mentioning Karen Black. Yalerinc l’errine from Lenny and Jessica Harper from Lure uml Dent/t. ‘I think in the l‘)t\’()s .»\merican cinema becatne more triumphant and the actors had to rellcct that.~ obset'y‘Cs lluppert who. through her own production company in l'irancc. has ret'clcased Barbara l.odcn's rarely seen portrait of a fetnale drifter Ham/u. 'lt‘s an extraordinary lilm.‘ reckons the actress. ‘And it show s such a dark side of;\merica in the 7()s.‘ Time is running ottt. as lluppert mentions 'l'rois Soin‘es. which she's just completed with l’atricc [mi/may (‘hereatt (it‘s about a marriage that collapses and is based on a Joseph (‘onrad short
‘TO ME, EACH
NEW ROLE IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW ANOTHER SIDE OF YOURSELF'
story). her desire to make another filtn with
(‘habrol. as well as the international tour of
ll('(l(/(l (Mb/er that she will embark on in the spring. I ask her whether she finds on films like .Ilu .ilen' that the younger cast members look up to her as a role model. For the first time in our conyersation she seems pu//.led. and slightly lost for words. ‘Nof she replies. ‘Sometimes at the theatre younger actors come tip to me and say nice things to me. But I don‘t feel like a role model. I hope not! I don‘t think I have the soul of a teacher and I find it very hard to define what an actress is. If I were asked to say something to young actors. I would tell them to listen to music. If you take a piece of mttsic that‘s performed and interpreted by different people. you feel different textures and rhythms. and that says a lot about acting.‘
So is she always this calm when being interviewed‘.’ ‘Bttt there‘s nothing for me to be neryous about when I do interviews] she replies with an enigmatic smile. as she prepares to leave the rootn. keen to get back to the real business of acting.
Ma Mere opens at the Filmhouse, Edinburgh and selected cinemas from Fri 15 Apr (subject to change).
ARE YOU TRYING TO SEDUCE ME?
In her new film. Ma Mere, Isabelle Huppert ensnares a much younger man (who also happens to be her son). But she‘s not the first older seductress to be celebrated on celluloid.
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