the.
minimalist
Tom Dawson meets the great French actress ISABELLE HUPPERT and discovers a woman with a passionate desire to take risks in her work.
it an illustrious prol'essional career tltat has now spanned o\'er three decades. lsahelle lluppcrt seems to ha\e been repeatcdl)
drawn to engaging with the per\erse side ol‘
human natttre. 'l‘hink ol her sell—mutilating music professor in Michael llancke's The Piano 'li'uc/n'r. taking a ra/or blade to her genitals ttltis astonishing perl'ormance won her the Best Actress pri/e at (‘atmes where she receiVed her award with the message ‘(iod can tltank Bach because Bach is Drool ol tltc c\istcncc of God on lter arm). Or her murderous postmistress in (‘laude (‘habrol‘s ('wz'inonie. blasting awa} her enemies with a shotgun. Or her professional nihilist in l)a\'id () Rttsscll‘s / . l/ut'ku/u't'x. getting dragged through the mttd b_\ her )oung co-star Jason Schwart/mann. before the duo indulge in some l‘rantic all'resco \L‘\ll£ll coupling.
Yet on meeting the straw berryblonde lluppcrt in person. you‘re reminded ol'(}usta\e l‘lauberts dictum that ‘you must be regular and natural in _\'our habits like a bourgeois. so that _\ou ma_\ be \‘iolent and original in _\our work‘. Dressed casuall} in a purple fleece and an all—black combination ol‘ polo neck. jeans and boots. the 5|—_\'ear-old sits alone on the sola oi l’arisian hotel. She‘s a surprisingly slight figure. who
speaks excellent linglislt. a legac}. she sa_\ s. ol‘
summer holida_\s spent in Britain as a child. There's no sign of an} entourage. and indeed the lilm star glamour that delines colleagues such as Isabelle Adjani. limmanuelle Beart and Catherine l)eneuse.
‘I could recognise m_\'sell' in that l'laubert quote you mention.. she muses. ‘I feel \er} close to l5lauben. and his definition ot‘ an artist being like God in his uni\'erse. present es er) w here and visible nowhere. .-\nd l ltas'e a normal. conventional lite. and I allow m_\ sell’ to take risks
20 THE LIST 3 :‘.‘.c‘:' .i
in in} work. It's like the Virginia \Vooll book. .l It’oom of()/1c's Unit. You want to create _\our own space and nobod_\ can interlere with that. which gi\es me the l'reedom to e\plore this c\tt’eine \\ttt‘ltl ttli lt‘cllttg‘s ill tlte cttltit‘ttllctl em irontuent ol the lilm set. lo me each new role
is an opportunit} to show another side ol'
)ttttt‘sc‘ll'.‘
The actress is currentl} appearing on the Parisian stage in a \ersion ol' lbsen's llt't/(/(/ (hilt/er. and she‘s come in on her da} oll~ to help lil‘omotc one ol' her recent lilms. .llu .‘lt'l't’. .\n adaptation ol the contro\ersial l'rench writer (leorge Bataillc's posthumous unlinished noxel. it‘s t}pical ol lluppcrt's commitment to challenging material. as she p|a_\s a mother llelene initiating her teenage son l’ierre il.ouis (iarrel) into a world ol' se\ual transgression.
‘IF I WERE ASKED TO SAY SOMETHING TO YOUNG ACTORS, I WOULD TELL THEM TO LISTEN TO MUSIC'
telling him that she wants to be '|o\ed tor the shame I pro\okc'. 'l‘abloids will no doubt li\ate on .llu Arm's depictions ot~ sadtt-masochism and incest. btit this latest e\ample ot '.\'ew l‘rench li\tremism' is a genuinel} serious attempt to consider whether Bataille's writings continue to ban e \alidit} in our supposedl) liberated societ}. The characters here aren‘t seeking pleasure in their sc\ual encounters so much as attempting to escape trom the human condition.
Still. lluppcrt admits that she initiall} turned
down the script sent to her b} .l/u .Ilt'll' director (’hristophe llonore. who had been struck b_\ the actress‘ ‘lummous' perlormance itt Sarah Kane's pla_\ -/.-/\‘ I’m limis. "lhe script was scarier than the linal lilm. more detailed and more e\plicit.‘ she re\eals_ ‘I said no. but something dragged me into it. 'l'ltere was something I reth liked about it. I went back and lorth sc\ct'al times; I talked to (‘ltristophe a lot. and in the end I agreed because (’hristophe ga\e me a kind ol reassurance ol' how he would shoot certain scenes.‘
lluppcrt lecls that those who pigeonltole her character in tin .I/(‘l't as being perxerse are being reductnc. \Vhen reading the screenpla}. she emisaged llelene as being '\ct‘_\ dangerous and \cr} tragile at the same titne. I saw her like a [lame trout the candle. burning attd dangerous. something sou don‘t like toch close to. bttt ahottt to \anish at some point. I didn't deline her pssc'ltologic;tll} to me the lilm is poetic and metaphoric; it’s not a stor_\ to be takett literall_\.‘
Born into a bourgeois l’arisian lamil}. with her lathct' a sale maker and mother a teacher. lluppcrt was still a teenager when she starred opposite a _\oung (ierard l)epardicu in l.('\ lit/V Hu‘s. Bttt it was her perl'ormances in The l.(l((’lll(1/\t’l'. as a sullering ingenue. and in (‘habrol‘s lio/t'm' spam-(I. as a _\oung woman iinpassi\cl_\ poisoning her parents. which brought acclaim and recognition be}ond l’rance. l5or her .\merican debut. she pla_\ ed a frontier prostitute iii the epic \Vestern I/t'ui‘r'n's (iulr'. 'l‘he lilm was re\ iled h_\ the critics on its original release in NM) and shunned b} audiences. hankrupting the studio l'nited Artists in the process. l'ndoubtcdl) lllls c‘ttsl hcr Ilit.‘ chance iii. a lloll_\wood career. )c't lluppcrt has gone on to work with some ol liuropc‘s most interesting directors. including ('habrol tsix