gttess I’ve always written from a distance.‘
Macdonald wrote the part of (‘aitlin with her daughter in mind. As it tttrned ottt. Knightley was instrumental in getting The [cage (ff/.01? greenlit. and although she did take a role in the film. it wasn‘t that of (‘aitlin Thomas but of Vera Phillips.
‘She was only 17 when I started writing it. so she was far too young to play either part.‘ says Macdonald. 'But I‘ve always been fascinated by people’s energies. When I wrote Caitlin. l was writing about Keira‘s energies as a [7-year- old and the part was coming off the page so easily for me. whereas Vera was harder. becattse she was a more passive character. Two years later. Keira picked up the script. when she was working on Domino and said. "(‘an I help get this made'.’ I‘ll see if I can get meetings for you." She did. and afterwards said. “The studio asked me if I was going to he in it. I couldn't say no. could I?" So I said to Keira. "Right. So you‘re playing ('aitlin'.’" She went. “.\'o. Vera."'
‘.\'ow.‘ Macdonald says. ‘1 like passive central characters. becattse they reflect what‘s going on around them. But that doesn’t necessarily make them a joy to play. although. oddly. that‘s what attracted Keira to the part. You need something else as a performer. so I pushed the character and that was when Vera became a singer.‘
'I'lie lit/ye of'l.ove opens with Vera singing to the troops in a makeshift nightclttb in a London l'ndcrground station dttring the Blitz. The grim reality of the situation is subverted by Maybury‘s stylish treatment of the scene. which is intended to be liltered through Vera‘s imagination. It was. reportedly. a stretch for Knightley to sing for the film. but she‘s sensational in the scene. Macdonald is very happy with all the performances.
‘The boys are to die for.‘ .\lacdonald says. 'Sienna’s amazing. Keira's amazing. and they're amazing together. Keira's a quarter Welsh. and she has an innate ('eltic quality in the playing of the part. It's a warmth and a brittleness and a sensuality. Sienna‘s so earthy. and incredibly sexy. Whereas Keira is sensual. which makes for a wonderful chemistry between them.‘
There‘s a nice footnote to this story. In a way. Macdonald helping her daughter‘s career along by writing her a great part is payback. because Keira was instrumental in her mother becoming a writer in the first place. Back in 198-1. .\*lacdona|d was an actor. but she’d developed debilitating stage fright and wanted to qttit. ‘l was also desperate for another child when my son (‘aleb was four or livef she says. “and so my husband made a deal: the sale of a script for the birth of a child. So I wrote ll’lten I Has a Girl. I (/set/ to Scream and Shout [which won the livening Standard Award for best newcomer] and the next year Keira was born. And once the play went to the West [find I then thought. “Shit! I’ve got to do this for the rest of my life.”
The Edge of Love, Cineworld, Edinburgh, Wed 18 Jun, 9.30pm 8. 9.45pm, £1 1 (£8.80).
‘I WAS WRITING ABOUT KEIRA'S ENERGIES AS A 17- YEAR-OLD'
1‘ “
y m 1“ .4, a - ~' as
Renaissance woman
Jeanne Moreau was a polymath who didn't need the movies. Paul Dale argues that European cinema wouldn't have been the same without her
orn between the wars to an linglish chorus girl
mother and a French restaurateur father. Jeanne
Moreau was born to play what feminist film critic Molly llaskell called 'the glorious fantasy. appealing to both sexes. to men as eternal mistress. to women as .\'iet/.schean Superwoman.‘ Actor. singer. writer and director Moreau never really needed the movies: she was a popular leading actress at the Theatre Nationale Populaire before she made her name in cinema. but movies. and particularly the burgeoning French New Wave. needed her. It is these films that this lS-movie retrospective. which is rttnning concurrently between the lidinburgh International Film Festival and London's National Filtn Theatre. concentrates on.
Having already worked with some of the greats of French cinema (.lean (iabin. Jacques Becker. lidouard Molinaro). Moreau was 30 years old before the New Wave found a proper use for her chameleon. epicurean and sensualist charms. 1957 was a key year for Moreau and French filmmaker Louis Malle. the first of many directors to find their muse in Moreau. In that year they made a modemist film noir masterpiece called Lift to the Scaffold and the notorious sexually frank drama Les Amants.
The first film proved seminal and wholly influential on all that was to follow in liuropean cinema. The second film was scandalous. bourgeois and. in retrospect. really rather silly. bttt both allowed Moreau to work with (and in some cases have carnal knowledge of) everyone from mad. bad pseudo pornographer Roger Vadim (Dangerous Liaisons). Francois 'I‘ruffaut (Jules et Jim. The Bride Wore Black). eccentric choral master Jacques Demy (La Bate (les Anges). Spanish surrealist l.uis Bunuel (Diary ofa ('Itambermairl). Orson Welles (The Immortal Story) and exiled genius Joseph l.osey (the brilliant 1962 melodrama Era) among others. Many of these filmmakers wrote and spoke later of their love of Moreau's hedonistn. intuition and abandon. Spend some time with France's real first lady and you too may be similarly smitten.
Jeanne Moreau retrospective starts Thu 19 Jun with Lift to the Scaffold, Filmhouse, Edinburgh, noon, £6.50 (£5.20).
if) Jim—1% Jul 2008 THE LIST 17