It’s a beautiful October night in Los Angeles and Juliette Binoche walks among the guests at a cocktail party in the gardens of the French consular residence. Champagne abounds and also good food, inspired by the delicacies prepared by the characters in Slow Fire, the film by Vietnamese Anh Hung Tran that will represent France in the competition for the Oscar for best foreign language film.
The actress, who will turn 60 in March, is happy, because several decades after winning the golden statuette for The English Patient, she continues to maintain her validity, not only in her native country or the United States, but throughout the world. , as demonstrated by the Goya he received this year. A few hours earlier, who has also won top honors in Cannes, Venice and Berlin and won a career award in San Sebastian, told us about another of his great passions, cooking, something he links to raising his children. , Raphael and Hanna, who today are 30 and 23 years old, respectively.
How did you get involved with Simmering?
I wanted to work with Anh Hung Tran for a long time because he is one of the best directors at the moment. He has an oriental quality that we all need in our western world. I had seen some of his movies, like Cyclo and The Smell of Green Papaya, and I love his view of life. But when I read the script for the first time, Eugénie wasn’t very present. So I told her that I had to write a little more for her, because I had nothing to do in that version of the script. And that’s what he did. I loved the second version and it was the one we filmed.
What surprised you about him as a director?
It is very precise. He pays attention to all the details. She asked me to smile when she was cooking because it was her way of showing that Eugénie has a great passion for life. I forgot to smile because she was so worried about not burning myself or keeping up with the cooking pace. Luckily we had a wonderful advisor, who was with us the entire time telling us how we should do things. Anh is a very refined person and that is the Asian quality. But you can see his connection with French culture through cuisine and literature because everything was in the text. The speeches look like culinary poems, and our mission as actors was to make them believable.
What elements of Eugénie did you identify with the most?
It is not always something conscious. When you are acting your unconscious plays a very important role. What interests me is letting the character appear inside me while we are filming, because I am always amazed by what happens to me when I act. Obviously I work on the text, and on imagining what it feels like to be in a castle working for a chef. And when I imagine, there is some connection to my own life because memory is very important in acting. But to trust and feel what is happening, you have to have faith. Since the project began I had faith in the film.
How important was Chef Gagne’s assistance in preparing the food on set?
The one who was always with us was Michel Nave, his right-hand man, who has been with him for 46 years and knows everything about his way of cooking and his recipes. The way you do it and the temperature are very important. It’s like architecture or painting. You put this first and then this other, and later the other ingredient. Everything happens through the way of doing things. Michel was very patient and generous with his time. He was a great teacher. When I wasn’t filming, I would go into his kitchen and learn recipes, because it was something I wanted to do at home and share with my family and friends. And that’s what I did after filming wrapped, I tried some recipes at home. Although I never have time and I always forget everything, when filming concluded Michel gave us a small book with all the recipes.
The precision in the preparation of the meals in the film is surprising…
It’s true, it’s all very precise, but we had to make it look natural. I’ve also been cooking my whole life, like Benoit does, because I have children. And if you are a mother, it is your turn to cook.
Also, it had to be taken into account that the story is set in 1889…
It’s true, but I’ve already done other period films, so I felt like I was a sister or a cousin of one of the other characters I’ve already done. But what was interesting about this role is that this woman in a certain way is as if naked, because she knows that she does not have much time left to live, although it is something that she hides. She is willing to give it her all until the end because that is her way of dealing with her illness. But also the fact that she is a cook makes her more interesting as a character. Her room is in the attic and she is the lover of this man, the chef, but at the same time she wants to be independent. You would think that a cook of that era would have to be crude, even in the way she spoke. But she has some education. That was Hung’s idea, he wanted her to be a refined cook, because she also works on very elaborate dishes. What she does is culinary art. It is a combination that allows for many surprises.
Did you learn secrets about cooking that you didn’t know?
Of course, like for example you have to clarify the butter, heat it so that it melts and remove the foam. I learned that French cuisine is full of butter. I generally cook with olive oil because I thought it was healthier. But I learned to appreciate butter, especially if you rinse it first. Although I don’t recommend eating that every day. Not good.
What do you remember about your mother’s cooking?
If your parents cook for you, those are your first memories. My mother cooked very simple things. but they were always delicious. Sometimes she added some herbs, garlic or curry, and that accentuated the flavor of it, but everything she made was healthy. That’s why for me the combination of good food and health is very important because that’s how I was raised, with a lot of organic products. My mother raised me that way in the 1970s.
Are you still eating organic foods?
Clear. When I am free in France on Sunday mornings I go to the organic produce market. I love talking to farmers and people who have a connection to the land. I’ve always done it because my mother did it when I was little. It was a habit and I taught the same to my children. My mother taught me to cook so that I would be independent and know how to deal with my health and my life, without depending on others. She told me that when she was 18 or 19 years old she put rice in a bowl and put it in the oven. And after an hour the rice was still there, because she didn’t know that you had to put water in it to cook it. That’s why she wanted to teach me the basics of cooking so that the same thing wouldn’t happen to me.
Have you tried to impress someone with your cooking knowledge?
Of course. I am always interested in showing that I am not only an actress, but that I also know how to cook. Many times I invite friends to dinner and look for recipes, before I did it in cookbooks and now on the internet. It’s very easy because they explain all the steps you have to follow. Sometimes everything involves making a combination of several recipes, and that takes time. That’s the problem with cooking, it takes all your time. If friends come to dinner I know that I have to dedicate the day to it, and put all my heart into it, because if not, it doesn’t work.
There are very risky scenes in the film, like when he has to maneuver a huge pot of hot water…
The steam from the broth is great for the face. I loved. I really enjoyed that huge kitchen. I just bought a small farm and it has a barn that I would like to do some renovations on. After making this film I started thinking that I want to have a huge space to cook, 10 meters by 10 meters, which is crazy. And that there is a fireplace. Because being able to cook in a place with a fireplace, when you live in a city, is a fantasy.
He will be 60 in March. What does she hope the autumn of life brings her?
Nothing very different from what I have always wanted. How can I be as authentic as possible? How to be transparent? I ask myself the same question all the time: what is my truth?
What is your relationship with Hollywood today?
I was never part of the Hollywood game to begin with because I don’t live in the United States, and I have always been very independent. When I participated, Miramax was a very different planet from Hollywood. I never let myself be carried away by the system and that is why I decided to stay in France, because I had children and I wanted to raise them close to their parents, and I was also interested in having an international career that not only included the United States but many countries. That was what caught my attention. Although American cinema is very strong and there are directors who come from all over the world to work, I was interested in flying in a different way.
And with motherhood?
Children are what make you a mother. One is not born to be one. They force you to learn what you have to do as a mother. Anyway, I have to say that I wanted to be a mom since I was little. When I was 10 or 11 years old I was already talking to my son because motherhood was a very big desire since I was a child. He played with dolls, babies, or doctors, and I was always very maternal in my games, so the feminine part had a very big presence in my heart and in my needs.
What was that childhood like?
My parents were very artistic. They didn’t have a penny. They suffered economic difficulties but were very oriented to the arts in general, particularly theater, and my mother liked literature. That made me very happy. I said yes to everything that was artistic. She never resisted what my mother proposed to me because she felt that she fed my soul. On the other hand, the fact that my parents were very involved politically made them very busy. When May 1968 happened, I was 4 years old, so they sent me to a school as a pupil along with my sister, and there was a period that was a little hard for us because we didn’t see our parents that often, and that made me became vulnerable and at the same time independent. This mix of artistic and abandonment made both my sister and I have a lot of determination and a very strong need to create.
What makes you choose a project?
It’s very difficult to say because it’s something that changes all the time. There is no formula, there is no specific thing that makes me say yes. Sometimes it has to do with the script, or it is the topic that invites me. There is an admiration for certain directors and the enthusiasm that working with some actors generates in me is what generates in me a need to participate in a film. I think there is a combination between the script, the theme and the director because he is the one who is going to do the editing and is going to put the heart, the mind and the rhythm that should captivate the viewer. The truth is that it is always a bet. You never know how she’s going to turn out. You can find the best ingredients and the result may not be a good movie. That’s also an attraction, because you want to give it your all in the hope that chemistry appears, but the truth is that it is very difficult to make a great movie. Many strong ingredients have to be added. I can’t make a good film alone, and neither can the director. You have to add enormous energy that comes from many people who are encouraged by the adventure of a shoot.
Have you ever regretted participating in a project?
Never. Many times my agent has tried to convince me to join, I realized that he was trying to sell me the film and I have asked him not to do it. I’m not a salesman, they don’t have to sell me anything and if I say yes to a film I do it because I’m lucky enough to be able to choose. I have never done it due to economic needs or because I thought it was convenient for me. When I was 18 I had the good fortune to work with Godard and I have also made other films with directors I didn’t know, because it was three days here or 10 days there, but for most of my career I have only said yes to projects. in which I believed and in which I was excited to participate.