Juliette Binoche: struggling older actresses should take risks

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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French actress Juliette Binoche suggested older women struggling to find film roles should learn to take more risks with their careers.


Wise words: Juliette Binoche has given advice to actresses

Binoche, 46, whose new film Certified Copy premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this week, said that unlike many of her contemporaries she had never struggled to find interesting work.

Asked if it was possible to find interesting roles for older actresses, she answered: "I think you can, you have to create your life, and go to directors you love, and go with unexpected risk and stories - it's that or write yourself, you cannot always blame others."

She continued: "I've never felt the lack of good roles at my age, you know.

"I went to see directors who understand, who want to shoot human beings and not ideas of women."

Binoche, who won an Oscar in 1997 for her role in The English Patient, has featured in a mix of Hollywood and international films during a career spanning more than 25 years.

In 2008, she took a break from acting to appear in dance collaboration In-i with British choreographer Akram Khan, and her poetry and paintings have also been displayed publicly.

She said: "I think that we are all creative and we have to take possibilities.

"That's why I did the dance - I was 43, it was a crazy thing to do but I thought no, no, life, it's what it's for, it's for exploring, taking risks."

Certified Copy, which is competing for the Palme d'Or, tells the story of a French gallery owner and an English author spending a day together in a Tuscan village.

The film, which explores notions of truth and falsehood in art and in relationships, marks Binoche's second collaboration with Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami.

It also marks the feature film debut of her co-star, British opera singer William Shimell.

Binoche said that although Shimell had no previous acting experience, his years as a baritone had helped to prepare him for the rigours of filming.

"He has experience of being on stage and having a relationship with an art form, and a character," she said.

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