Emmanuelle Béart Q&A

Kaleem Aftab discusses 'Strayed' with the beautiful French star of the film.

Mar 27 2006

Emmanuelle Béart is still as ravishing as ever aged 40 and she's the perfect actress to play a yummy mummy in André Téchiné's 'Strayed'. Set during World War II just as the Nazis are moving into Paris, Béart plays a widowed teacher who flees Paris with her two kids. When the escape route is blocked, they find refuge in an abandoned cottage. Their only friend is a teenager with a mysterious past and during the long, hot summer days, a romance starts to blossom. Béart talks to Kaleem Aftab about making the film and staying pretty.

What was it like working with André Téchiné again?

As it was our second time working together there was a familiarity that I had with his working method. André is someone who can only work on location. Before we arrive at a shoot, even five minutes before, he doesn't know what he is going to shoot; and five minutes after wrapping he doesn't know any more. In the moment he is completely present and it is like a physical sensation because he is really close to the actors. He is not behind screens, he is looking all the time, he is obsessed.

Did you like playing a woman who seems to have lost her way?

What I like is the story. It took place in a moment of great history during the Second World War. It's an enclosed story that is just one part of the bigger story that is taking place at the time. Her life is rocked by what has happened: the war; everything that she has lost when her husband dies; and by the flight of her children, she cannot keep to her beliefs anymore. This is a woman who becomes almost like a child. She tries to stay a mother, but she loses her way and I find her touching.

Do you feel that you're typecast as the beautiful woman?

I disagree. There are a lot of films where I play characters that are about the windows to the interior person rather than the exterior. For me, I don't feel it is a success in the career to be the pretty woman; career success comes from being characters who tell us something about the truth.

Is it hard for you to combat this glamorous image people have of you?

No, because it's never stopped me from working.

You have had 20 years of success – looking back are there things you would like to change?

Hmm. Maybe to have more time for life; to have more time for myself. I dream about singing. I would love to sing and write.

What are you working on now?

I've just done a film in the United States. It's a thriller called 'A Crime', with Harvey Keitel, we play against each other, and it's so great to play in another language. But I'm definitely not American. I play a traveller and she can be, I don't know, Russian, Polish, French, someone who is from elsewhere. I play an immigrant.

'Strayed' is out now.

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