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Oct 13 - Oct 20,2002 |
A French diva by any other name...
Legendary Catherine Deneuve leads an impressive cast in François Ozon's 8 Women
By Angela Baldassarre
Originally Published: 2002-09-29
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Legendary actresses of the French cinema Catherine Deneuve
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Elegant, exquisite, and beautiful. As soon as she walked through the door, French diva Catherine Deneuve lit the room in her Chanel outfit that gorgeously reflected her golden skin and signature blonde coif.
Often referred to as aloof, it was with some awed trepidation that this scribe shook the actress' hand only to be met with a warm and friendly smile. "It's the biggest misconception people have of me," assures me the 59-year-old star. "That I'm supposed me be cold. Onscreen I give this impression of being cool and cold. But I'm really not."
Indeed. But playing into that stereotype is exactly what she does in François Ozon's quirky 8 Women, albeit with her tongue firmly embedded in her cheek.
In this offbeat musical, based Robert Thomas' 1960s play, Deneuve plays Gaby, the matriarch to two daughters, Catherine (Ludivine Sagnier) and Suzon (Virginie Ledoyen), who lives at her country estate with her mother, Mamy (Danny Darrieux) and her insane sister, Augustine (Isabelle Huppert). One day, in the middle of a snowstorm, Gaby's husband is found dead, and the search is on for the murderess. Is it Gaby, who was about to leave him? Or spoiled Catherine? Or Suzon, whose unborn child may be her father's baby? Or Augustine who was secretly in love with him? Or Mamy, whose financial security was in jeopardy? Or perhaps the victim's sister, Pierrette (Fanny Ardant) who shows up unexpectedly? And what of the maids, Louise (Emmanuelle Beart) and Mrs. Chanel (Firmine Richard)?
There you have them. Eight beautiful French actresses stuck together in a room breaking out into song and dance. "It was fun, but also unusual," says Deneuve about working on the film. "It's unusual for an actress to be in the film with other actresses with the same small parts. But it was fun. We were really supportive of each other. We had to create something new. It's very exciting for actresses to know that you're going to be singing a song. And François didn't want us to have any training. He wanted us to sing like actresses and not like singers."
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