`GREAT INJUSTICE'
Ringwald explains why she translated infamous story of exploitation
My Cousin Maria Schneider Vanessa Schneider Translated by Molly Ringwald Scribner
In the three decades since she became a fixture of John Hughes films, Molly Ringwald has built a wide-ranging career: Broadway productions, a Godard film and the TV series Riverdale, among other projects. In 2012, she turned to writing, publishing the novel-in-stories When It Happens to You.
Ringwald, 55, has also translated two books from French. Her latest is My Cousin Maria Schneider, by Vanessa Schneider. The book, originally published in France in 2018, chronicles the life of Maria Schneider, who starred in Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial 1972 film Last Tango in Paris when she was 19.
In a much-discussed, infamous scene, Maria's character is sodomized by Marlon Brando. Schneider wasn't informed beforehand about what exactly would be done to her in the scene — “because,” Bertolucci later said, “I wanted her reaction as a girl, not as an actress. I wanted her to react humiliated.”
After Schneider's death in 2011, Bertolucci pleaded for forgiveness: “She was much too young to have been able to withstand the impact and the unpredictable and brutal success of the film ...”
In a recent video interview from her home in New York, Ringwald talked about what drew her to this book and why she thinks it's important. (This interview has been edited for clarity and length.)
Q How did you get involved with this project?
A My editor came to me with the idea after I had translated the French novel Lie With Me. I had known the story of Maria Schneider a little bit and was already interested in her. At first I said “no, it will take too much time” ... They came back to me during COVID when I had a lot of time, and I was so happy that they did.
Q Maria's story may not be familiar to people. Why do you think it's important to tell?
A She was a wonderful actress, and she was very outspoken for her time. I think this great injustice was done to her, and it's important her side of the story is known. She obviously suffered a lot because of that.
The onus was on her — she was the one who was naked most of the time (in Last Tango in Paris) and she was the “dirty one.” And yes, she knew going into the film it would be daring and controversial, but I feel like that scene was unfair, and I don't feel that was ever really acknowledged.
There haven't been a lot of French #Metoo stories. As a culture, France — and even a lot of women there — have been dismissive of the movement.
Q How did you become so fluent in French?
A I went to a French school, Le Lycée Français in Los Angeles, and I lived for quite some time in France. I started studying French just before filming Sixteen Candles, and my studio teacher for the movie was chosen for French.
Q I found the book emotionally compelling.
A This book was really emotional for me. As an actor ... I was lucky. Not to say I haven't had my fair share of difficult situations and positions I shouldn't have been in at a young age. But I was lucky.
I was also lucky to have the family I had. Maria didn't have that great support system starting out, and was very alone. I was very emotional, also, about Vanessa's story — of loving someone who is so destructive.
Q The author writes of her own apprehensions revealing these details about Maria's life: “I worry that you (Maria) won't approve of the story I'm telling.” Did you have similar concerns?
A ... The book was written with a lot of love and admiration — and sadness — and I feel like she captured a complete human being. Yes, she idolized Maria as a child, but she really loved seeing everything — all of the flaws. I'm not sure Maria would totally love it — but maybe she would.
Q Maria died in 2011, long before #Metoo. What do you think she would make of the movement?
A I don't think anyone can know that. But I think she probably would have been glad that the tide sort of changed. She was recognized before she died, which I thought was really nice. (She received the medal of Chevalier, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2010.) She's complicated: In one way she was wild and without boundaries, and in another she was (politically) conservative, so she was a complicated woman.
Q Tell me how the book connected to your own experiences.
A I know a lot of the players in this book. I even met with Bertolucci; I was supposed to do Queen's Gambit originally when I was younger, so I had this feeling as I was translating of, phew, got out of that one!
Also, just feeling grateful that I am here. It (acting) is a really difficult job, and Maria says that in the book. She's interviewed and says no one should do this job if they're not secure in the head.
Q Given your own experiences in Hollywood, was anything triggering for you while you worked on this book?
A I mostly overwhelmingly felt a great deal of relief — that my story is different ... I wouldn't say that I didn't have some difficult situations, because I did, but I didn't feel triggered so much as relieved. And sadness. By the end of this project, I felt so much affection and care for Maria. It was really sad the way that her life unfolded, even though at the beginning of the book she says, “I had a beautiful life.” She wasn't comfortable seeing herself as a victim.