A New Kind of Pedigree—Catherine Breillat - Brief Article

A DIRECTOR WHO'S NOT ON A LEASH

JOAN DUPONT: Ever since 36 Fillette [1988], your movies showing women's worst sexual nightmares--deflowering, rape, humiliation--have provoked violent reactions, haven't they?

CATHERINE BREILLAT: That's putting it mildly! These days, the French critics say nice things about my work, but when 36 Fillette came out, they said the film was vulgar and obscene and the young actress was an animal.

JD: Did Romance [1999] win you wider acceptance?

OB: I'm better accepted than [I was] 10 years ago. But some fashions come without warning: the wave of women's cinema was unexpected, for example.

JD: Is there such a thing as women's films?

CB: No, but it's lucky to be a woman today, and to make movies. It may be contrary to the Hollywood law, but making a movie is not putting a script onscreen; it's an art.

JD: Could you make a film in the U.S.?

CB: I don't know. Can they work the way I work? I remember an American journalist asking naively, "What kind of public did you make your movie for?" I said, "Van Gogh didn't cut his ear for the benefit of an audience." You make a film in a fever of artistic passion.

JD: Do you pay a price for the risks you take?

CB: No. I'm an artist, so even if I provoke hostility, it hurts, but it never discourages me.

JD: Do you push further with each film?

CB: Yes, but I don't know why and it scares me. After Romance, I thought I couldn't go further. Then I made A Ma Soeur! [For My Sister] which shows an unhappy first sexual experience. We've all had sexual experiences that we weren't proud of. Our love life is pathetic most of the time.

JD: How does your family react to your films?

CB: It's better now that I'm more accepted, but it's hard for my kids to have a mother who talks about sex. But I've always done exactly as I wanted. When I was small, they told me I couldn't do what I wanted, because I was a woman--and now I see that I can.

Joan Dupont writes about cinema for The International Herald Tribune. Left: Catherine Breillat wears clothes by HELMUT LANG.

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