Isabelle Huppert and John Waters at the Film Society. Photo courtesy of Julie Cunnah.
âAnother feel bad French movie, my favorite genre,” joked Waters as he accompanied Huppert on stage following a screening of Catherine Breillatâs latest film, Abuse of Weakness. The Pope of Trash and the acclaimed French actress [whom he states is his favorite] joined in conversation at the Film Society of Lincoln Center to discuss her performance in the film, potential filmmakers she would work with, celebritism in France, and much more. The two poured out loving references to many movies as Waters questioned her about filmmakers from the past and present, from Alfred Hitchcock to Gaspar NoĂ©, she has acted for or would like to. âSo Michael Haneke… heâs a real laugh riot, right?â asked Waters. âOf course he is, just not in his films,” replied Huppert.
[Related: John Waters Looks Back and Forward Prior to His Film Society Retrospective]
âI get along with whoever has a vision. Iâm only an instrument,â Huppert said, regarding her experiences working with an incredible range of filmmakers throughout her career. âYou have two different jobs in life. You have the job of an actor and you have the job of the spectator. These are two completely different jobs. What you feel as a viewer is not the same as what you feel as an actor. Theyâre different jobs, and you donât want to confuse them. As an actress, Iâm not the viewer. I do my job. Of course, as a viewer, I get hooked by a scene, I get moved, I get scared, all those things. As an actor, I donât get any of those. I just âdoâ things. Itâs totally different.â
Abuse of Weakness finds Huppert in a fascinating role in regard to the relationship between actor and director. This semi-autobiographical film follows Huppert as Maud Schoenberg, a film director, as she recovers from a stroke and in the process becomes hypnotized by a well-known swindler in France. Hoping to have him star in her upcoming film, she voluntarily writes him check after check until sheâs clean out. This premise comes from the personal experiences of Catherine Breillat, the filmâs director, following her stroke in 2004.
John Waters and Isabelle Huppert at the Walter Reade Theater. Photo courtesy of Julie Cunnah.
Huppert discussed the process by which she and Breillat, (whoâs more typically known for her sexually provocative female dramas such as Fat Girl, Anatomy of Hell, and Romance) separated the biographical aspects of the film and the fictional story she was starring in. Huppert even came across the con man himself, Christophe Rocancourt, outside of shooting the film by chance. In the film, Rocancourt is portrayed as the manipulative Vilko Piran by French rapper Kool Shen. âWhoâs more handsome?â laughed Waters.
On paparazzi and celebrity culture, Huppert talks of the mask of normality that doesn't ensue with fans coming up to her when she goes out in France. âAs actors we like to explore to this blurred border between normality and abnormality,â Huppert said. âSince you played so many characters that are extreme, do strangers confide in you, thinking youâll understand? It happens to me all the time,â joked Waters in front of the packed auditorium.
After the conversation, Huppert stayed to introduce a screening of the Michael Haneke masterpiece The Piano Teacher, in which Huppert portrays a repressed piano instructor who embarks on a masochistic love affair with one of her pupils. For this role, Huppert took home Best Actress at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.
Abuse of Weakness begins its one-week exclusive theatrical run on August 15 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.