EMMANUELLE BEART
‘I DON'T SEE MYSELF AS A FANTASY. THAT'S HOW OTHER PEOPLE INTERPRET ME'
in the languished contemporary melodrama Hell. points out: 'limmanuellc is so committed. She giv es l5t)‘ i. It‘s rare for a big name to have such passion. She doesn't worry abottt where the camera is. or whether she‘s beautiful in a certain shot..
.\'or has the actress been averse to risk-taking in her choice of parts. Back in l‘)‘)l. she signed tip
for Rivctte‘s La Belle .\'uis('uvt'. a four-hour
esploration of the working relationship between an ageing. lecherous painter and his young model
Marianne. Beart was required to spend most of
the running lime naked. and said afterwards: ‘I bared more than tny ass. I bared tny soul.‘ The tilrn doesn‘t seek to present the star‘s body in an erotic light and explores how Marianne steadfastly resists being reduced to an object of desire.
In l-‘rance. where she is seen as successor of
sorts to both Bardot and Deneuve. mother of two Heart is one of the highest—ranking celebrities. and her private life is subject to endless scrutiny and speculation. When [fl/e magazine featured a photograph of her. naked on a Mauritian beach. on its cover. half a million copies were sold it _iust two days. She's dipped her toes into the Hollywood waters on just one occasion. appearing as Tom ('ruise‘s pouting romantic interest in two‘s .ll/ssiun lnr/mssi'lfle. Sadly. it was not the first or last time a highly accomplished liuropean actress was relegated to the status of eye candy.
In his book. Stars in .llm/em French [Vi/m. (iuy :\ustin argues that Beart‘s commitment to political activism is a crucial aspect of her complev and often contradictory persona. Back in 1006 she became directly involved in l‘affaire des sans-papicrs. in which several hundred :\frican immigrants who lacked the official documentation to remain in France occupied the church of St Bernard in Paris. Some of the protestors began a hunger strike and Beart visited the building in person. where she was photographed holding a black baby in a potent gesture of inter-racial solidarity. The following spring. she took to the streets as a figurehead for the demonstrations against the right-wing government‘s anti-immigration proposals. Such rnilitancy has ensured that her lucrative cosmetics contract with Dior was not renewed. and she received hate mail from the public. while
16 THE LIST ‘S—e“ A1" 233'.“
Beart with Karim Ward and Marie Gillain in Hell (top), and with Gaspard Ulliel in Strayed
the newspaper Liln'rurinn christened her 'Belliqueuse madone‘ (bellicose Madonna). Her campaigning /.eal hasn't abated: during the last presidential elections. she was active in the protests against the openly racist lean-Marie Le l’en. 'l didn’t get involved as an actor.” she said to one interviewer. 'l got involved as a citizen.’ .\'or has her passion for acting been diminished by the passage of time. Having recently completed a thriller alongside Harvey Keitel in
New York. she‘s currently shooting another film of
'l‘echine's in France. Her press cuttings tend to highlight her immersion in particular roles. particularly the fact that she spent l8 months learning the violin in preparation for (’21 (new ('ll Hirer. ’et. she tells me: 'When I did those earlier films like 111 Bel/e i\’nt's'(’ii.vo and .l 'Iz'mlnus‘se l’us‘ l was much more disciplined as an actress. l‘m tntrch less disciplined now and have many more ideas. and I like to express my opinions. So I work differently with my directors.‘
How. though. has she coped for some two decades now with the burden of being viewed as a national sex symbol and the endless press attention that entails‘.’ ‘Fantasies belong to other people and not to me. I am just a woman and a mother. trying to do herjob as an actress. I don't spend my life playing mannequins. I don‘t see myself as a fantasy. that‘s how other people interpret me and their fantasies are not something I can control.' Sometimes. however. she admits that things are tnuch less pressurised when she's away from France. 'You know I love going to your country.‘ she adds. ‘The reception there for my films is interesting. They used to have that awful image of me as a doll. But now I think they take me seriously.‘
Hell is on selected release from Fri 21 Apr. Strayed will be at Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 19 May and available on DVD from June.
VIVE LA RESISTANCE
Five other politically active French actors
I Catherine Deneuve
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itlllltl :n Etrutth punt .ir xxx: 1:»- 'ittrittt '.‘t't_l.l".tflt"i; I Roger Ibafiez l'w's that iron 't filllfltfil‘. .ltl tr tttett last war tt'urriphet r‘ lllt‘ l H‘t‘t‘": l\ View“ t'f‘:;t\.«g."‘w' and .l .‘.l‘t‘tt'i \t‘l of popular lrent‘h tilrnu He ‘.‘.tlf§.tlf1t7llt‘lllh‘tlil‘. it 'ttm attainst l rant‘o'n tllt tat "whit: throudttout lllf‘. tout; tar-wt HIS brother is the rnuttlrloved Spanish protest sinner Patio lbanex.
I Yves Montand the ‘Lt m of Italian eornnzuntsts. Montand seemed to f‘llll r. the tlttilrotorm helmet-rt hi1; ultra starry 13ll()\‘.’l)|,’ Me of .it‘ltlltt and tantrum and that of lurllltl a Signed up (Lornrnunist .it a tune when the USS wits; persecution so called 'retls Ill the bed'. Despite being involved Ill rnanr. lt :btmnt; campaigns on behalf of the party. Montand finalt, broke wrth thern Ill 1908 Ill response to the 84 met lll‘.£lSl()ll of Czechoslovakia.
I Brigitte Bardot l more“. most well knt mu £t(;ll'.’l‘}l l‘» luxatrelv not the least llll interested lll human ridhtu, prefertnd those 1 ll aritrnal‘, lll fact, her politics fall dergtdertl, to the noht. Her husband Bernard D'Orrnale I‘) a politician front a French extreme right party and. Ill May 200-1. she was Charged wrth lllfllilllf) raeia' hatred Ill her best-selling book A Cry Ill Sr/enw Ill
which she expressed worries; about the ‘rntrltratxon' of France by lslarntr; extremists. She was fined "vi/H
I Lambert Wilson Hearthrob Irish Frenel model- turned-actor Wilson ll/fat/ir Re/oaded. Cate/omzm l‘) at the forefront of the anti GM crop rnmerne‘nt lll France and has been wed. outspoken about it 3 support of anti- globalisation guru Jose Box/e.
I Julie Delpy The Three Co/ourg ll/h/te actress now lives Ill LA. but that hasn't quenched her French rebel Spirit. In Before Sunset her Character quotes from an angry 15-page letter the real Delpy wrote to George Bush.