Key to enjoying life is being in the present
In Olivier Assayas’ new drama
Clouds of Sils Maria, France’s Juliette Binoche plays Maria, an aging actress who faces being replaced by a younger, hotter sensation (Chloe Grace Moretz) in the iconic role that launched her career.
Maria is joined by Kristen Stewart as Val, her intense assistant, and the film feels reminiscent of older films from the time and sensitivities of Ingmar Bergman. The star/ assistant dynamic also rings true for Binoche, who has a personal aide in real life.
“Oh, yes!” she says with a smile during TIFF 2014, where Clouds had its North American premiere. “I understand it, all the time!” Binoche chatted with the Star about time, reality, fiction and the inception of the project.
One theme in Clouds of Sils Maria is aging, and reflecting on moments we’ve lived. Having just turned 51, how do you come to terms with that in your own life?
The key is to be in the present so much you don’t feel the weight of the years. Because you’re so into what you’re doing you forget yourself, and you’re entering into a world that fulfils you and you can give things back. When you’re in the movement of receiving and giving or giving and receiving, you are never in the old.
But how do you maintain that?
The horrible feeling is when you get stuck. Then you feel the weight of the years, and the happiness of being doesn’t go with years. It goes with what relationship you have with yourself, and it’s a hidden place. And it’s a special place you’ve got to cherish and roll with. I want to be in the present, because otherwise you have the vertigo of: “Why didn’t I do this at the time?” or “What about in 10 years?” It’s no use to go into those places. That’s why you have to build your inside world so you’re fulfilled. For me, I’ve always worked and I have been working non-stop lately and I think it has to go with my passion.
It seems you have a better handle on accepting reality than your character Maria does.
She’s going through a period of time that she feels like she doesn’t know where she belongs. She doesn’t belong in the system. She has to go back to a place that she feels very uncomfortable with, and she is alone: she doesn’t have children, she doesn’t have a partner. I would say as an actor, if you don’t accept that first step of being nothing, you cannot (surmount it) through big, high places.
You’ve described Clouds as a collaboration with writer/director Olivier Assayas, your friend. What was the conceptual process like?
I had this idea of these three characters, and I missed (Ingmar) Bergman films. I had the idea that these characters would replace or take the role of somebody else, to have different points of view. Three different points of view. I was missing the director loving the feminine, and trying to understand what it is, this mystery of the feminine energy in the world. And so I called Olivier and I explained that to him. And he really built the script from himself and out of this first idea I had.
Real versus unreal is another major theme in the film. How do you define reality?
I think there are different realities. What you feel can be a reality. What you live can be another reality. What you’re dreaming can be another reality. What is real? We’ll only know at the end of the day, because we can feel something. But you can grasp it. You can just surrender to it. But I think as an actor, you have to be in touch with the reality in order to really give information. This interview has been edited and condensed.