I couldnt live without cinemain fact, I wasnt alive, she reflects of that fallow period.
When you adapt a film, you are making it your own, Breillat asserts.
Take the scene where Theo threatens to reveal the affair to his father.
In the Danish version, this reads as an act of blackmail.
It means that this woman is conscious of the boundaries and knows the limits, says Lea Drucker.
Yet the strength of her desire is something that shes unable to refuse or avoid.
Samuel Kircher and Léa Drucker as Theo and Anne inLast Summer
This woman has a very bad start in her romantic life, explains Drucker.
We can imagine how awful it was, even if its subtle in the movie.
Samuel Kircher and Lea Drucker as Theo and Anne inLast Summer
Drucker was not Breillats initial choice for Anne.
Drucker inLast Summer
When Id thought of her before, Id seen her as someone elses actor, the director admits.
She would become my creation.
They invest themselves into their characters, and thats what is transmitted to the audience.
Breillat applies the same specificity to costumes.
It was almost like a form of rehearsal.
I dont want my films to ever be dated, the director explains.
Throughout her body of work, Breillat has sought to undo the eroticism of the male gaze.
The end result is something uncannily intimate, even more so than bodies, Breillat says.
(Ultimately, she would raise the bed to create a low angle.)
Shes like a painter, says Drucker of the filmmakers meticulous framing methods.
Cinema is about the point of view of the artist, not some stranger, Breillat says.
Once the actors entrust themselves to you, they allow you to work with them as you want.
Theres symbiosis between the actor and the director.
I devour the actors with my eyes.
That intimacy is on their faces.
(CaravaggiosMary Magdalen in Ecstasywas one point of reference.)
I tried not to overthink it and just receive Catherines visions.
Im very much a supporter of the #MeToo movement, she clarifies.
When such movements become doctrinaire and dogmatic, thats the problem.
I see elements or exaggerations of the movement as puritanical, and thats what Im avoiding.
Breillat was deliberate about leaving things open to interpretation, she says.
Last Summeris in theaters now.
