Ludivine Sagnier: in a season of blockbusters and sequels, swimming pool is the little movie with a lot of splash. Meet its cannonball

GRAHAM FULLER: You were sensual in Francois Ozon's Water Drops on Burning Rocks [2000], tomboyish in his 8 Women, and now you're promiscuous and needy as Julie in his new thriller, Swimming Pool.

LUDIVINE SAGNIER: Yeah, Julie's very aggressive compared to the first girl.

GF: Sunbathing topless by the pool, you draw the eyes more than the mind, but gradually we become immersed in Julie's despair.

How did you and Francois develop her?

LS: We didn't really talk about her psychology because Francois wanted Julie to submit to the imagination of Sarah [a vacationing mystery writer, played by Charlotte Rampling]. We talked more about the physical aspects of Julie, trying to create the vision of a phantasmic girl.

GF: He's said he wanted you to train physically to become "the Marilyn Monroe of the South of France."

LS: I didn't succeed in looking like her, unfortunately. I really had to work out a lot to get as perfect a body as possible because this character is an archetype of social fantasy. I also needed to be distant enough from my own body in order not to be self-conscious. You know, it's never easy to be naked in front of the camera, especially doing erotic things, because it can be mistaken for your own intimacy, when it's not. I was glad when I looked in the mirror and could only see Julie. It gave me the strength to do those scenes.

GF: You reminded me of Brigitte Bardot in Contempt [1963].

LS: We had that film in mind. Julie is also a poor creature who is suffering so much that the only thing she can feel inside is contempt.

GF: As Julie becomes more introspective so--

LS: --Sarah blossoms, yes. They're like communicating vases, one giving water to the other. It's the idea of the creator depending on the creature she is creating, and the creature depending on the creator. There is some vampirization going on.

GF: Did you learn from working with Charlotte?

LS: Oh, yeah, lots. Charlotte has been through some personal experiences that have given her strength to fight all the feelings that can hurt you. She plays with quietness and ease. Because I am so young [24 this month], sometimes I get overwhelmed by the feelings I'm creating. My shoulders sometimes are not strong enough to carry my characters.

GF: I presume that doesn't include Tinkerbell [whom Sagnier plays in the upcoming live-action Peter Pan]?

LS: That's much more delightful!

GF: When the 1953 Disney Peter Pan came out, its Tinkerbell was described as too sexy. How are you playing her?

LS: That's a surprise! [laughs] But I think I created something more clownish than sexy.

GF: Who do you play in La Petite Lili [a new Claude Miller film adapted from Chekhov's The Seagull]?

LS: I play an actress from the suburbs who dismisses her awkward lover for an older director. It's kind of like All About Eve [1950]. I like the ambiguity of playing someone who can be fresh, but at the same time ambitious and sneaky and dangerous.

GF: Playing nice girls is boring?

LS: Well, it's not very potent. Maybe because I'm nice in real life, I don't have to learn about this much. [laughs]

GF: What does Ludivine mean?

LS: It's from Latin and it means "divine light."

GF: Oh, a little like Tinkerbell.

LS: Maybe she was written in my destiny.

GF: Julie gives off a different kind of light.

LS: Yeah, more evilish. [laughs]

COPYRIGHT 2003 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning