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Five Lessons from the Conversation with Isabelle Huppert

Fabiola Aguilar Díaz, jefa de información (@panoramafunky)

It is an honor to have the presence of the extraordinary actress Isabelle Huppert at the 13th FICM. Huppert had a conversation with Nick James, editor of Sight & Sound, at the Teatro Rubén Romero, during which she shared with the audience her experience inside the highest level of cinema in the world:

On preparing for her roles:
I hate to rehearse my roles. I simply prefer to do them, perform them spontaneously. From my point of view, it you rehearse, something is lost. The minute the director says, ‘action,’ one tries to act and the idea is not to act. Acting is not living and you don’t want to be acting too much, rather living the character, as one does in life.”

On the relationship between acting and directing:
Every great director has a different approach to his craft, but working with the best directors is extremely easy, those who have a clear idea in mind of the film that they want to create and know why they ask you to work in a certain way. And they have an interest in working with life in the most natural way possible.

On working with screenplays:
I never interfere with the scripts. A great script is a great tool. The script is a piece of information about locations, dialogue, situations, characters, but although you can work on some aspects, the film happens when it happens. One cannot anticipate it through talking or rewriting the script. Of course, sometimes I can make a suggestion about a line that goes with the character, but in general I would not change the script. I’m just an actress. And if it turns out that the script needs work, it’s better not to accept that job.”

On her role on the film set:
My favorite part of acting is the same for all actors around the world, and it’s somewhat difficult to describe: the feeling that arises when the camera is rolling. A film is somewhat complex and the previous moments are fragile. It’s as though small, consecutive miracles had to happen, to reach that moment. There is a lot of work behind and great concentration in order to feel the filmmaker’s direction. When you see the work before you have many doubts, many questions, but the moment you’re in front of the mise-en-scène, all the questions are answered by the staging. That’s where the dialogue unfolds. Sometimes words aren’t necessary: it can be a silent dialogue between you and the director and the movement of the camera. It can even be described as a movement. I think the direction and staging have to do with movement: rhythm and movement. The movement also involves the distance away, from where you are being filmed, how you want to construct the shot, because that is how you understand how your character wants to be shown and you understand how to express it. The mise-en-scène knows how to get that.”

On how directors choose with whom they want to work:
An actress or an actor cannot work with all the directors they dream about. Of course, you want to work with certain directors, and your best dreams are to work with people who you admire, but it doesn’t happen that way. It’s beyond my wishes as an actress. My career is not built on wishes: like life, it is built on unexpected encounters. Sometimes it happens that consecrated directors like Paul Verhoeven may approach me with a part that they considered for me and I was very excited about working with someone like him. But sometimes meetings can be with first time directors or those who are not so well known, and that’s the beauty of this: it’s nice when it’s unexpected.

You can hear the entire conversation: here