"Hollywood didn’t click for me"

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: Yves Saint Laurent’s muse, the face of Chanel No. 5 in the 1970s, her image was used to represent Marianne, the national symbol of France, from 1985 to 1989. Noted French actress Catherine Deneuve, best known as Luis Bunuel’s blue-eyed star, graced the latest edition of India’s leading film festival at Goa, where she was felicitated by IFFI and the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG). She shared experiences of working with some of the masters of global cinema, from Bunuel to François Truffaut to Manoel de Oliviera with Pradip Biswas. Excerpts:

Can you recollect your first appearance in a routine film like Les Portes Claquent (1960)? You were not noticed in your maiden film...

I don’t remember very much of my first movie, a passable one, except that I was approached by the director to play a role suitable for me. Well, that was just the beginning.

Jacques Demy’s musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) turned you into an international star. How was it to work with him?

I remember Jacques Demy as a free-mixing kind but he was tough while tackling artists in his films. He is very serious on the set though he allowed free space for actors and actresses to find their feet. He is one director from whom we could learn a lot.

How was it work with Luis Bunuel, who made you famous with his two films, The Golden Bowl (1967) and Tristana (1970).

I was only 25 when the great Bunuel, then a citizen of France, called me to meet him. He was planning to make The Golden Bowl but was in quest of a new face, not very familiar on the screen. A screen test was done and I passed the ordeal. It is a difficult character of a call-girl, strewn in many images. There was so much contrast in the character and to do it the way the maestro wanted was hard for me. Several takes followed and I was fired. But at the day’s end he patted me and said “perfect”. That was Bunuel.

Bunuel was a known task-master. But he also loved to scandalise the pastors, the Church and the bourgeoisie. How was it to work in Tristana?

In Tristana I had to do a character of a maid possessed by a rich man of fatherly age. Bunuel hated the bourgeoisie and my master represented this class. So I had to play my role with two shades, as a maid and a temporary wife. Tristana, that is me, disliked both. She had to flee with her lover at the end. For me it was a strong positive character.

Then you acted in Roman Polanski’s Repulsion (1965), which became greatly controversial. Did you like working with Polanski?

Repulsion is a film of a different genre. While working on the film, I found nothing wrong though. Yes, Polanski, the Polish director in exile, did not do films like Luis Bunuel, Truffaut, Andre Techine or Godard. My one film experience was not bad, I must say.

How was your Hollywood experience?

(Laughs). The films I worked with are The April Fools (1969), Hustle (1975) and The Hunger (1983). In terms of reputation and box-office, I lost my ground while in Hollywood. It did not click for me. So I had to get back to the eminent directors of France and other countries. When Truffaut made The Last Metro (1980), I was offered a big opportunity. The film deals with a story of theatre activity during Nazi era. This was a great film for me.

Two of your great roles were in The Convent (1995) and Place Vendome (1998), directed by the veteran Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira. His Talking Picture (2004) also you put you in the race for the Academy Awards. What was your experience?

While working in his films, I felt it was sheer luck that I came into his keen notice. Manoel de Oliveira is as great as Satyajit Ray whose films ‘are always original and yet modern’.

How do look upon cinema now?