Ich find viele Sachen von Catherine super schön... ok, manchmal sieht's wirklich schlimm aus. (toutsurdeneuve --> Aktuelles --> lila Satin-Mantel, zum Beispiel) ich finde, ihr steht vor allem Schwarz und Rot. (Auf einigen atuellen Bildern trägt sie ein schwarzes Oberteil mit einem kleinen roten Kragen und dazu passenden Ohrringen... TOTAL SCHÖN!) Also, Leila, so schlimm ist ihr Geschmack auch wieder nicht. *grr*
Die Männer sind wichtig, aber die Frauen sind magisch.
Catherine Deneuve
Re: FANNY ARDANT
ich find catherines sachen im ALLGEIMEINEN eigentlich auch recht schön!
aber fanny hat auch schöne sachen! ich iebe zb das bild mit dem gestreiften pulli, das ch auch ne zeit lang als avatar hatte...
Re: FANNY ARDANT
WAITING FOR LOVE
Fanny Ardant gives a moving portrayal of Maria Callas in a forthcoming film. Unlike the great opera star, whose life dissolved into solitary despair, the French actress has courageously overcome her own tragedy and loss.
Interview by David Wigg
The passion and complexities of the worlds most revered operatic soprano have been captured in a film about her life. Callas Forever is directed by Franco Zeffirelli, who became a close friend of the great opera diva after directing several of her stage performances. But since her death at the age of just 53 in 1977, he had resisted many tempting offers to make a film biography the project would be too painful. He described her life, which ended 26 years ago in a lonely flat in Paris, as an incredible and cruel mess.
She was left broken-hearted after the Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis abruptly dumped her in favour of Jacqueline Kennedy; and her extraordinary voice had gone. Having once been mobbed as La Divina by mesmerised fans wherever she appeared, she closed the door on her life. She became a recluse in her final years, living on a cocktail of pills and wondering whether her status as an operatic icon would survive her silence.
In 2001, Hollywood star Faye Dunaway announced at the Cannes Film Festival how much she wanted to play Callas on the big screen. But Zeffirelli decided there was only one actress who should play her the respected, popular French actress Fanny Ardant, whose enduring appeal in France is equalled only by Catherine Deneuve. Zeffirelli had seen Ardant portraying Callas in Roman Polanskis stage adaptation of the Broadway hit Master Class in Paris.
When Franco asked me, I didnt think about all the dangers and responsibilities, says Ardant. Im a little bit crazy, anyway. I didnt want to think Oh, maybe all the fans are going to hate me. I didnt care, I just had to do it. And instead of filling my brain with too much information, I was free to create her.
Zeffirelli has nothing but praise for Ardants on-screen transformation into a legend of opera, describing her performance as one of reincarnation. She is incredible, heaven-sent. I couldnt imagine finding an actress so close to the image of Maria Callas.
An ugly version perhaps, Ardant jokes. Hardly, I reply, observing this beautiful, dark-haired French woman sitting before me. A tall version, perhaps: at 5ft 9in she is considerably taller than Callas. Upright in bearing, Ardant wears designer clothes with ease. On the day we meet near her home by the Eiffel Tower, she has arrived in an elegant beige Dolce e Gabbana dress, and enormous silver earrings.
In preparing for the role, Ardant studied six photographs of Callas and saw her in concert on video. I never read any books or biographies. They didnt interest me, because that was the point of view of someone else. It was not the truth. A photograph has more value because it is like something stolen. You can see more about the person a gesture, something in the hands. I remember a photograph of Onassis kissing her. I looked at every detail. It gave me a very big emotion.
By the end of the £10 million film, its impossible not to feel a tremendous sadness for Callas, who at one time lived such an extraordinary life but then lost everything, including her voice. For the purposes of the story she is tempted out of early retirement by a pony-tailed entrepreneur and friend, played by Jeremy Irons a character based on Zeffirelli to dramatically mime on film to her glory years of recordings. But at the end she demands that the footage be destroyed, as she cannot live with this deception of her fans.
When an artist is killed by her voice becoming weaker, its like a dancer who cannot work any more because her legs are broken. The sadness is not in her being alone, because as Franco told me, She was not alone. Everyone used to phone her, as Franco did, and say: Maria, what are you going to do for the sumer? Apparently, she pretended she was always going somewhere, but they were invented trips. She stayed alone because she was sad and she was sad because she couldnt sing any more. People remember the complicated love story with Onassis, but the real sadness is not to be able to perform. And as an actress, if Im paralysed or have no voice for the stage, what am I going to do? Play cards with friends? No!
Although Ardant is charming and amiable, she is known for unsociable behaviour when filming. While making Callas Forever in Bucharest she refused to join the rest of the cast which included Joan Plowright after the days work was completed. Instead, she would retire to her hotel room. She even ate alone.
Every time Im shooting a film, I prefer to be alone, she says. I know that I have to get up in the morning. I dont want to spend hours having dinner. I dont like groups particularly groups of women, clucking about like hens. I cant be in a room talking small talk.
Understandably, Ardant is miming to the great voice of Callas for the operatic highlights of the film. Im a singer in the bathroom, like everyone, she says. But she was no stranger to the operatic arias, because her parents often took her to the opera in Monaco, where she grew up. That experience was very useful, she agrees.
Dramatically gesturing, and breaking into a wide smile as she tosses back her hair, she appears like a woman who hasnt a care in the world. But as she reflects on her life, I soon realise this is not the true picture. Dark moments haunt her: the loss of both her father and her great love, the celebrated director François Truffaut.
I am a melancholic person, she says, openly. I never think about the future. I believe if I still think about the person that I love, they are still alive. If I dont think about them, they will die. I dont ever want to throw away such a memory of such love.
Yet she doesnt display photographs of her loved ones at her home. No, only in my brain. My children knew my father and I talk about him so much, its like he is alive. She has three children all by different fathers Loumire, 27, Josephine, 19, from her relationship with Truffaut, and Balladine, 13, all of whom live with her.
Ardant comes from a comfortably off, close-knit family of the old bourgeoisie with all its traditions. The father she loved so much was a French army cavalry officer before the family moved from Saumur, the Loire château town, to Monaco. There, her father became a governor of the palace at the invitation of Prince Rainier, a friend. After her fathers unexpected death in 1976, the family moved to Paris.
The world clouded over when he died, she whispers. I wanted to bury myself. I had to fight not to give in.
It was her father who infused Ardant with a love of literature and music, and who made sure his headstrong teenage daughter went to university at 18 to study political science before pursuing a career as an actress.
Although she grew up mingling with Princess Grace and went to the same school as Princess Caroline, she was by no means in awe of the Rainiers. When you are young, no one is somebody. Everyone is the same, almost. Princess Grace loved her family a lot. She was very precise, with a very sane mind. When I met her later in Paris and she knew that I had started my career, she was very helpful.
At first her parents were against their daughter becoming an actress, and she admits that her first years as a young actress were difficult. I remember my mother saying, Its a pity. You have a brilliant scholarship from university and you live like a witch.
She was referring to the odd jobs Ardant had to tackle to survive. She worked as a waitress in London and served tea at the BBCs Broadcasting House after a spell at the French Embassy in London. Sharing a flat with two English girls, she recalls: I had a fantastic time. There were so many boys and girls coming and going. English and completely crazy.
Her big break didnt come until she was 30, in 1979. François Truffaut saw her on TV and gave her the lead in his film The Woman Next Door. This unexpected, major career step was to change her life professionally and personally.
It wasnt long before their working relationship had developed into a love affair. On screen, starring opposite Gerard Depardieu, she was hailed as one of the finest new stars of French cinema. But the happiness she shared with Truffaut was to be short-lived; after only five years together he died from a brain tumour in 1984, aged 52. She had given birth to their daughter Josephine only a year before.
The mention of Truffauts name is the only time during our conversation that there is silence. Momentarily, she gazes out of the window and there is a sudden sadness about her dark eyes.
I couldnt describe what that experience of being with him meant to me its too private, its too deep, she says, quietly. It was such a loving relationship. When somebody dies, it belongs to your heart. Its not like when you get divorced. His death affected me a lot. But I always fight when I have dark feelings.
I can only talk about his endless perfectionism. For him, it was a privilege to do his job. He hid his insecurities, his doubts. Even on the set of The Woman Next Door, which is a tragic story, we laughed so much. It was a great role, a great film. It is a great memory for me.
Her grief has never really gone away. It was like I was dead, and everything good was received like a gift. In a strange way, I was light, not heavy, because nothing was very important any more. I was frightened by nothing, because from then on I didnt care. The worst had happened. But I had been privileged to experience a great love and nobody could take that away.
Her children helped her to cope with her grief. In a way my children saved me, because when you have children you have to be strong. A child, she needs a roof, a school, shoes and a coat, and she needs love. And when you have to deal with grief, you cant just lie down on the carpet.
Although she thinks of herself as being traditional, she never married any of her lovers. Neither does she have a theory about this. I could not be a feminist. Im not going to say the woman has to be independent. I come from a very traditional family, where a father and mother were in love with each other. So I had the model of a real couple. I dont know why I have never been able to reproduce this model. I have nothing against weddings. But if I am honest, I am difficult to live with.
I throw things and Im always anxious so Im boring to live with. I have a dark view of life. I am a pessimist. I am tormented, but energetic. So I have a strange feeling that I have to carry on, to fight, but its a battle for me. And I am always indignant. So the man has to be very patient and understanding. But against this, I do have a great sense of humour. And what I love in men is the possibility to make me laugh.
She prefers the company of men to women and she once said she would prefer to have dinner with a stupid man than a clever woman. Why?
Because a man is a man and when you say that, it tells you everything. I realise now what I said was very provocative and it was at the height of the feminist time. They wanted to kill me and they called me stupid. But men are mysteries. You never know exactly what they are thinking.
She likes a man to take care of her. I adore that I love a man to be strong like a tree against this tempest. Its good to follow a man. Like Edith Piaf, I dont regret anything. But every time I am in front of a real couple who are 50 and still in love, I look at it like a masterpiece. I love to see it, because its like a beautiful painting. You look at such a couple and there is something sweet about them.
Although she lives in the heart of a romantic city, Paris, she insists she has no social life and thats the way she prefers it. Apart from my dog a white West Highland terrier named Thaïs I am alone and I dont care because I am really a shy person. I like a relationship between two people, but I dont like crowds.
Its time for me to leave this intriguing French actress. But I have one last question. Wouldnt she now like to have another relationship with someone? Theres a startling revelation.
Im in love with somebody who doesnt love me, she says with excitement in her voice. He makes me alive! Maybe he doesnt know Im in love with him. But as the famous French writer, Marguerite Duras, says, Waiting for love is already love.
Re: FANNY ARDANT
Unter anderem ihre Pelzleidenschaft bringt mich regelmäßig auf die Palme, das ist wirklich so mein Hasspunkt, aber ansonsten ist es ok. Nicht mein Ding aber sie ist ja auch schon älter, von daher...
Wie gesagt grün ist meine Farbe.....
Re: FANNY ARDANT
Das Interview ist so schön! Vieles hätte ich wirklich nicht von ihr gedacht...
Ja, das mit der Pelzleidenschaft von Catherine finde ich auch nicht so prickelnd... aber da kann man wohl nichts dran ändern.
Die Männer sind wichtig, aber die Frauen sind magisch.
Catherine Deneuve
Re: FANNY ARDANT
ich muss gestehen, dass ich auch schon pelz getragen habe..aber nur ein-zwei mal und auf die dauer ist das absolut nichts für mich!
Re: FANNY ARDANT
Ich hab einmal einen Beitrag gesehen, wie die "Pelzlieferanten" gehalten werden... das ist echt grausam und total unmenschlich. Ich glaube, dass hat mich abgeschreckt für mein ganzes Leben... ich hätte schon ein schlechtes Gewissen Imitate zu tragen.
Die Männer sind wichtig, aber die Frauen sind magisch.
Catherine Deneuve
Re: FANNY ARDANT
es gibt allerdings auch pelz"hersteller" die ihre "lieferanten" vernünftig halten!
ich hatte neulich zb auch einen netten kleinen disput mit einer klassenkameradin über tierversuche...grundsätzlich bin ich zwar dagegen, aber andrerseits würde ich höchstwahrscheinlich ohne tierversuche nicht mehr leben...
es gibt bei sowas immer zwei seiten
Re: FANNY ARDANT
Ja klar, die soll es geben... ich denke bei Medikamenten ist das auch was anderes, ob jetzt Tiere dazu beitragen, Leben zu retten und lediglich dazu dienen, dass sich irgendwer nen teuren Schal um den Hals hängen kann, ist schon was anderes.
Die Männer sind wichtig, aber die Frauen sind magisch.
Catherine Deneuve
Re: FANNY ARDANT
was ich damit sagen will, dass es durchaus hersteller gibt, bei denen es den tieren besser geht als mancher milchkuh...und die wird im zweifel auch geschlachtet wenn sie keine milch mer hergibt