- Title: Deneuve, Binoche face off in Kore-eda's family drama "The Truth"
- Date: 28th August 2019
- Summary: VENICE, ITALY (AUGUST 28, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (SOUNDBITE) (French) ACTRESS, CATHERINE DENEUVE, SAYING: "What I put in of myself is what one always puts in when they do a film, meaning even when you interpret a character you put a lot of yourself into a role, particularly this one knowing that the relationship would be complicated since Kore-eda speaks neither French nor English so we'd always have an interpreter in the middle, which means in the end that you only say only the essential." PRESS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) DIRECTOR, HIROKAZU KORE-EDA, SAYING (TRANSLATION PROVIDED BY VENICE FILM FESTIVAL): "We didn't know yet whether we would shoot in Japan or elsewhere, so nothing had been decided yet, so everything was still vague. And then I thought it might be interesting to shoot in France, and you would need actresses to represent the history of the French film industry." ACTRESS CLEMENTINE GENIER AND BINOCHE SEATED PRESS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (French) ACTRESS, JULIETTE BINOCHE, SAYING: "Being in a Kore-eda film, for me, is a dream come true - for when actors and directors get together, and also I admit, to act with Catherine because 'Donkey Skin' was one of my favourite films when I was little, and to come face to face with her, humbled, and to be as close as possible, in the intimacy that a film allows. So for me this film is a dream come true, and also to rediscover new talent." (SOUNDBITE) (French) ACTRESS, CLEMENTINE GENIER, SAYING: "When I was shooting the film I didn't understand everything he (Kore-eda) was saying to me, but after I while I began to understand what he wanted me to do, where I should go, what words I should say, because at the beginning I was making a lot of mistakes with which words I should put here or there, and after I began to evolve and I became better."
- Embargoed: 11th September 2019 17:46
- Keywords: Venice Film Festival The Truth La Verite Catherine Deneuve Juliette Binoche Hirokazu Kore-eda opening film
- Location: VENICE, ITALY / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- City: VENICE, ITALY / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA004AU4U2J1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: JAPANESE TRANSLATION PROVIDED BY VENICE FILM FESTIVAL
For his first movie shot outside of his native Japan, filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda travelled to Paris to direct two of France's top leading ladies in "La verite" (The Truth), a drama fraught with family tensions.
Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche face off as mother and daughter whose fragile relationship resurfaces as they reunite when the former publishes her memoirs.
The film, which opened the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday (August 28), sees Deneuve, 75, plays Fabienne, a famed French actress whose career and tough exterior have long distanced her from her screenwriter daughter, Lumir.
When Lumir returns to Paris from New York with her husband, played by Ethan Hawke, and their young daughter, she challenges Fabienne about some hidden truths and painful memories.
"We thought it might be interesting to shoot in France, and you would need actresses to represent the history of the French film industry," Kore-eda told a news conference via an interpreter.
Deneuve, a French cinema veteran, said while the language barrier between the director and cast was difficult at first as an interpreter had to be present on set, the process worked well in the end as "only the essential" was shared.
The "Belle de Jour" star puts on a tough exterior to play Fabienne, a self-centered actress who refuses to apologise for her wrongdoings, acts petty when cast alongside a much younger rising star and is fearful her career may soon be over.
"What I put in of myself is what you usually put in when playing a role," Deneuve said. "But this character is very different from me ... Her world is very distant from mine. Her relationship with her daughter is obviously something that's very distant to me as well."
Binoche said she relished acting alongside Deneuve, whose 1970 film "Peau d'ane" (Donkey skin) was one of her favourite films when she was younger.
"The Truth" is one of 21 films competing for the festival's top Golden Lion prize, which will be announced on September 7.
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