5 Off My Head - Juli's Q&A

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It'd been at least four or five years since the last time I watched Kieslowski's Blue, and I'd only seen it twice before total, so watching it for a third time last night (and my first time on the big screen - wow) I was shocked by how deeply embedded so much of it is in my brain. Every scene, every moment, was so familiar. I think for a film so deeply empathetic this can only be the case - it draws you in, subtly but remarkably, under its sad, sad spell.

And of course central to that power is Juliette Binoche's indescribably powerful performance. One of my all-time favorite performances. The twitching of her mouth to keep from crying is why film was invented.

I wish I took notes on these Q&A sessions that I attend sometimes, especially if I end up wanting to write about them. It isn't always the case, sometimes the audience's questions range only from the banal to the offensively self-aggrandizing (I know things! So I am going to stand here and tell you, famous creative-type, all the things I know!), but last night was one of the better Q&A's I've been to - Binoche came off as very funny and very smart and very self-aware... pretty much exactly how you'd expect and hope her to be. And the audience asked terrific questions of her - for the most part (oh just shut up, Lady "I don't have a question, so much as a suggestion," McYapsALot) - that she was able to roll with off into a bunch of different directions. I'm gonna try to recall some things I found interesting from it now. Forgive my brain if things are blurry, it is riddled with holes.

1 - A majority of the discussion centered on her relationships with directors - How could it not? She's Juliette Binoche! - and how she seeks them out because she wants to work with them. She even listed off some names that she wants to work with in the future but the only name I heard was Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata).

There's a director she's been talking to recently (I missed his name, but it wasn't Kurosawa) that she actually went to with an idea that he loved and she said he wants to direct her in it, even though she was thinking of working on the story herself. This was in response to a question about if she'd ever want to direct a film herself; besides this hint she didn't seem especially inclined to do so, and seemed fine with this director taking over her idea for a film of his own (as long as she's the star, one would assume).

2 - She brought up Michael Haneke almost as often as she did Kieslowski, which made this Haneke-disciple grin. She really seems enamored with Haneke. Although she did relate that their working relationship changed from Code Unknown (she kept calling it "Unknown Code" but I imagine that has to do with translation) to Cache - she said on Code Unknown that Haneke seemed to get her instinctively, that he knew exactly where she was gonna take a scene, but on Cache he didn't seem able to get into her at all. She wasn't slighting him, she just found it interesting that the vibe could change like that and that it all depended on the material, the weather, the crew, everything, what the experience of making a movie would be like, and that it's entirely different every time.

She said that Haneke's like a composer when it comes to shooting his films, that he's got everything mapped out beforehand as if hitting emotional beats from moment to moment. But she said he's also surprisingly open to input and change at the same time.

3 - She did a lot of playful ribbing towards Keislowski. Apparently he'd gotten used to shooting just a single take every time when he was directing in Poland because of money restraints and that he kept wanting to work that way even after he'd moved up in the film-financing world. He said that it made it much easier for him when editing - that he'd have one take so no choices; otherwise he'd be sitting there staring at the opposing takes and loving them both and have no idea what to do. But she said they spent a great deal of time in the rehearsal process to supplement the lack of takes and they even went to Poland to hear the score being recorded - the score is so important to Blue - and that hearing that was a great help. Apparently for a few crucial scenes they played the music on set, too.

4 - She said every day, every shot, the only real struggle on the set of Blue was whining at Keislowski to get that second take. But otherwise the set of Blue was great fun, full of jokes and laughter, which is what I always hear about the sets of horribly depressing films. I suppose you're exhausting the misery when the camera's on and there's nothing left but laughter otherwise, right?

5 - And speaking of sadness, someone asked her about her rep for so excellently portraying it. She was coy and gave the Actress answer that she just thinks she's far too in touch with her empathetic side and that everything just hits her with full force. She said her daughter's the same way and she told an amusing story about how her daughter spent a long time playing with some sort of jack-in-the-box toy and screamed like it was the first time every single time the thing popped open. She said that's exactly how she is, too.
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