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Press Conference for Clouds of Sils Maria, with Juliette Binoche

Juliette Binoche, Guest of Honor at the 12th FICM, presented the premiere of her latest film Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) in our country. Clouds of Sils Maria, directed by Olivier Assayas, was shown to the press at the Cinépolis Morelia Centro, and afterwards Binoche gave a press conference, which kicked off the series of activities of the actress at the festival.

This is the second film she has made with director Olivier Assayas. It was part of the Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival 2014 and the Munich Film Festival 2014. Juliette Binoche plays Maria, a famous actress with various emotional textures who decides to perform a revival of the play that helped solidify her career in the past. Binoche masterfully unfolds the contradictions of this character, who faces her fame and her moment in life with jealousy, desire and confusion. It was Juliette Binoche herself who proposed the idea of exploring the character of Maria to Olivier Assayas, who wrote a script that addresses a confrontation with her ego in the entertainment world, while exploring the fear of loosing her youth.

Within the world of celebrities, Binoche approaches her profession in an unusual way. She has been characterized by choosing risky projects that allow her to maintain the integrity of her acting career. Frequently, she says she abandons her characters allowing them to penetrate her being, and this surrendering is tangible in each one of her projects. Another example of her artistic exploration is her previous film, Camille Claudel 1915 (2013), in which she plays the famous sculptress at the same age that she was at the time of the filming. Juliette Binoche and director Bruno Dumont wanted to explore the similarities between them from this time connection. Camille Claudel 1915 will also be shown in Morelia as part of the series that the 12th FICM presents for the Guest of Honor.

At the press conference of Clouds of Sils Maria at the 12th FICM, Juliette Binoche was accompanied by Daniela Michel, general director of FICM, Isabelle Giordano, general director of UniFrance films, and Jean Christophe Berjon, audiovisual attaché at the French Embassy in Mexico.

Juliette Binoche on the process of embodying a character:
“I don’t know if you go from one character to another or if it is more like getting in contact with oneself in another way. It is not that I let them go, but rather it is seeing another part of oneself, without chains. The challenge of an actress lies in the difference between playing a role and being the role. One embodies them.”

Juliette Binoche on beauty:
“There is beauty that you see through one, that you can feel through film when it is well done. An uplifting look, a look that waits, but is alert, personal, loving. In that case, there is beauty that appears and cannot lie; for me it comes from the cells, it is a different vibration. That is why the look of a director as a lover is essential.  And there beauty exists that is perhaps different, that is why I filmed Camille Claudel with no makeup at all, in a state of abandonment because the character needed that, and I think I’ve never been as beautiful as that.”

Juliette Binoche on the challenges of her professional life:
“The biggest challenge in my life as an actress has been each role: Each character is a challenge. When we are in danger, we finally look within ourselves for that which we have forgotten to do. Of course, there are times when I ask myself why I chose this profession, because at seven in the morning, you don’t want to jump into human slumps, descend to deep levels, and each day one must find light within intense emotions and situations.”

Clouds of Sils Maria will be presented at a gala on Sunday, October 19, at Cinépolis Morelia Centro and in Pátzcuaro, at the Teatro Emperador Calzontzin, on Monday, October 20. To complete the series, on Tuesday, October 21, there will be a red carpet with the presence of Juliette Binoche before the screening of the films Summer Hours and Camille Claudel 1915 at Cinépolis Morelia Centro.

Coverage by Fabiola Aguilar Díaz (@panoramafunky)