Backstage with Isild Le Besco

Submitted by GreenCineStaff on November 22, 2006 - 12:00am. Articles

"I guess that is how people see me."

"Emmanuelle Bercot has crafted one of the most self-assured debut features that I've seen in years," declared Jonathan Marlow in May. "The cast is remarkable. Emmanuelle Seigner is quite exceptional as the troubled singer and Isild Le Besco's performance as an adoring fan is believably overwrought." In September, he got a chance to grab a quick chat with Le Besco about Backstage and more at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Critical praise of your exceptional performance in À tout de suite started to surface in the New York Times and elsewhere last year. Now, with your work in Backstage, you seem on the verge of reaching a large American audience. I wished to briefly discuss your working relationship with Benoît Jacquot. You've starred in three of his films thus far...

It's very interesting for a filmmaker to follow an actress and to come back to the same actress again and again. Many filmmakers are doing that. I'm also appearing, as well, in several films with Emmanuelle Bercot [most recently, Camping sauvage and the aforementioned À tout de suite]. I also directed two films with the same actress [Kolia Litscher]. I think it's nice to see the passage of time on the same face.

Does it create special challenges as you become familiar in the way of working with a particular director?

Yes, because we can go somewhere we didn't go before. We already know each other so I don't have to take the time to understand the filmmaker.

On your latest film, L'Intouchable, for which you won an award at Venice, is there a certain comfort now, working with Mr. Jacquot, that you did not have on your first film [with Jacquot, Sade]?

Of course. It was a challenge to get the money to go to India to make this film. There was a lot of difficulty. It was a challenge to make the film with only a few people and to make it good.