anderswolleck

Audrey Tautou is a sweet petite thing. She is a so beautiful and charming. It is easy to see why Jean-Pierre Jeunet first cast her in the sweet and tender Amelie and now again in A Very Long Engagement as Mathilde.

A Very Long Engagement is set in France near the end of World War I in the deadly trenches of the Somme, in the gilded Parisian halls of power, and in the modest home of an indomitable provincial girl. It tells the story of this young woman's relentless, moving and sometimes comic search for her fiance, who has disappeared. What follows is an investigation into the arbitrary nature of secrecy, the absurdity of war, and the enduring passion, intuition and tenacity of the human heart.

Check out the website for A Very Long Engagement

Daniel Robert Epstein: What attracted you to this character?

Audrey Tautou: What I liked the most about Mathilde was her determination and courage. I liked her love for Manech and the way it gives her power and the way it enhances her to find him. I like her pride. She is very brave and very strong.

DRE: How was it playing a character from a novel?

AT: At the beginning it was harder for me because when I prepared for the movie I already had a vision of Mathilde from the novel because I read the novel first and when I first read the script I had in a way another one. The two stories are not exactly the same and the parts are not exactly completely similar. So to try to make a connection between the Mathilde in the novel and the Mathilde in the script and the universe of Jean-Pierre Jeunet took me some time to find out.

DRE: When did you read the novel?

AT: Oh it was a few months before they started writing the script.

DRE: When you saw the film, did you see things you didnt expect or surprised to see that came from the script or what you read in the novel?

AT: When I saw the film I wasnt surprised because Jean-Pierre is a director who prepares a lot for his movies, so he knows exactly how he is going to shoot and we have a pretty precise idea of how the film is going to be. I was very impressed by the warmth of the scenes because I hadnt seen anything like that. The difference between the novel and the movie was already in the script. I thought in the novel Mathilde was more petulant, she could abuse and insult people, she could swear.

DRE: Was she angrier?

AT: She was more extroverted.

DRE: Would you have liked that to have been kept in the character?

AT: Oh no because the character is the baby of Jean-Pierres film and he is very modest and discreet about it. He is very modest in his way of being so he likes characters who are modest who dont expose their feelings. But I like how
Mathilde in the movie kept pain inside herself.

I think the difficulties of this part were to contain the emotion because when Mathilde has this emotion she is full of tears but the tears stay right there. For me this is difficult and more difficult when a situation can help you to shout and cry because her state is a latent one, an emotion that she retains the whole movie, its practically a mood that she plays, a state of her spirit and its difficult to play a mood.

DRE: How has your relationship with Jean-Pierre changed?

AT: The relationship changed because the part was different so I was different too. I put my "lightness" between brackets, I was less funny. I lost my spirit of giving.

DRE: What kind of advice did Jean-Pierre give you about the character?

AT: I dont know if he gave me advice because he knew me better than at the beginning of shooting Amelie, so I think he really trusted me. He knew that if it took me more time in the preparation to have an idea of how far she could take the emotions and how she could behave. He knew that I would do something he would like.

DRE: So he let you guide your performance.

AT: Yes but we discussed a lot during the preparation. I spent 2 months in the studios where everybody was preparing the movie: the costume, the set designer, the hair, make-up, everything. I spent two months preparing just to try to feel the atmosphere of all these people because there were maybe 600 technicians. So I wanted to feel where everybody wanted to go. Jean-Pierre and I discussed very subtle things but it was more a maturation part for me.

DRE: When this character was adapted, did you expect her to be in a wheelchair as in the novel?

AT: I knew from the beginning that Jean-Pierre did not want to keep her in the wheelchair because it was too restrictive for the frame. He is very creative with his shots; he likes to be really free, as he used to say in the scene when she climbs down the mountain running after the car, that would have been difficult in a wheelchair.

DRE: Jean-Pierre said that you were not very star oriented, that you didnt like the whole star thing, but how have things changed since youve become better known and more internationally accepted. Youve been getting more offers to do films in English and in other countries, how has this changed things?

AT: I like the creation of a movie. I like to be on a set with a team and technicians. Everything else for me is not normal. When I wanted to do this job it was for making movies not for the glitter. Of course with the fame I got more offers from different countries so it is great to have huge luxuries for an actor to work and to have the choice. I cant enjoy anonymity but I can hide myself.

DRE: What made you want to work with Jeunet the first time and now the second time?

AT: Because I love his cinema. For me it is a very personal and unusual universe. We are not used to seeing that kind of direction in movies. He has his own elegance, his own aestheticism, the way that he transcends the every day life of his characters. I like his poetic way of shooting. I was attracted by his work and by him.

DRE: Did you help Jodie Foster with her French for her role in A Very Long Engagement?

AT: She speaks perfect French, so I was way behind. I was at a much lower level of English. When I did Dirty Pretty Things I could say maybe two sentences so every word and sentence was a challenge. I worked so hard and she speaks French like a native.

DRE: So you dont think youre going to do another film in English?

AT: I did another one, but it didnt really get seen. I like to change parts, so I like to learn. It is not a problem for me to prepare.

DRE: What was easier the English or playing the tuba?

AT: Oh the tuba was easier.

DRE: Do you think of reprising the Amelie role?

AT: No never. I never want to do the same things twice. I like surprises.

DRE: Whats your own romantic sensibility? Can you go as far as this woman did for love?

AT: I have no idea. This kind of situation of losing somebody without knowing what happened would be impossible to bear. So that situation also makes the love bigger and the necessity to find the answer. But I think that it is very rare to find this kind of absolute love. Its very intense and absolute. Manech and Mathilde are the typical romantic heroes, like Romeo and Juliet.

DRE: So that doesnt exist in real life?

AT: I think it can exist but I dont think it exists for everybody.

DRE: Would you say that Mathilde has a destiny and works very hard for it?

AT: Yes, I think that its important to try to fulfill our dreams and to fight for that. I think thats the whole message of that movie and I really appreciate that. I think its important to be active in this dream, not to be just lying in bed saying "Oh, I would like to do that and never actually doing it."

DRE: You said that you dont enjoy being anonymous, do you find this in the United States?

AT: Yes, its nice and much better here. People are more distant and are not as intrusive here in New York. People in France are very intrusive when they recognize you.

DRE: Are you living here?

AT: No I am living in Paris.

DRE: What did you know about the First World War, if anything?

AT: Before I did the movie I had a scholarly knowledge. Its difficult to summarize but I knew about the war; executions, trenches. I knew the main battles; that soldiers did not talk a lot when they went back home and it was difficult for them to talk about the horrors of the war. There were two different worlds between people who stayed in the country and the ones who were waging war.

DRE: What is this movie with the Russian dolls that you did?

AT: It is five years after the events of L Auberge Espagnol so it is the same characters. It is difficult to talk about a story when it is written by Cdric Klapisch because in a way there is no story but in a way it talks about many subtle things in life. So the heroes are asking themselves the same questions about life, couple and how to build your family. Its the same, its very funny.

DRE: Were you always planning on being an actor? Is that what you always wanted to do?

AT: No before I wanted to study monkeys.

DRE: Are you studying monkeys now?

AT: No [laughs].

DRE: Are you expecting to make a movie with monkeys?

AT: Sigourney Weaver already did it so probably not.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

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