\n<\/p>\n
Some actors come to embody a national cinema through an alchemical combination of demeanor and film choices. You might say that Clint Eastwood is the quintessential American icon, for example, or that Hugh Grant is the embodiment of a certain kind of Britishness.<\/p>\n
When it comes to France, one of the country\u2019s archetypal stars is Juliette Binoche, whose understated elegance and cryptic smile have graced art-house and popular movies alike since her domestic breakthrough playing an ing\u00e9nue actress in \u201cRendez-Vous<\/a>\u201d (1985), followed by worldwide fame a decade later with the romantic drama \u201cThe English Patient<\/a>\u201d (1996), for which she earned an Academy Award.<\/p>\n Now Binoche has two projects arriving at the same time in the United States: Tran Anh Hung\u2019s \u201cThe Taste of Things<\/a>,\u201d in which she plays a self-effacing 19th-century cook, and the Apple TV+ series \u201cThe New Look<\/a>,\u201d in which she portrays Coco Chanel \u2014 meaning Binoche essentially carries the flags of food and fashion, the most visible signifiers of French culture abroad.<\/p>\n During a recent interview in New York, the actress looked amused when asked about being a national symbol. \u201cI\u2019m fine taking on that role,\u201d she said, laughing. \u201cWhat\u2019s important is what people feel, because the audience relates to something that is unsaid, something beyond ideas. Of course, the theme is food in \u2018The Taste of Things,\u2019 \u201d she continued, \u201cbut it\u2019s also love and creating together\u201d (Which, come to think of it, is also associated with the French.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Adding seasoning to the pot-au-feu, the movie paired Binoche with her former romantic partner Beno\u00eet Magimel. Although they broke up two decades ago, the actors\u2019 intimacy seemed to return onscreen, like muscle memory.<\/p>\n Tran recalled that Magimel went rogue while shooting the complex finale. When Binoche\u2019s character, Eug\u00e9nie, asked whether she was his cook or his wife, Magimel\u2019s gourmand was meant to say, \u201cYou are my cook,\u201d to acknowledge her mastery. Except that the actor added \u201c\u2026 and my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhich completely changes the meaning of the scene,\u201d Tran said. \u201cI said, \u2018Beno\u00eet, you\u2019re crazy, why did you change the line?\u2019 He came to me, smiled and whispered \u2014 so Juliette wouldn\u2019t hear \u2014 \u2018I\u2019m sorry, I got lost in her eyes.\u2019 \u201d (It didn\u2019t fly: Tran asked to redo the shot.)<\/p>\n Comfortably tucked into a banquette at a hotel cafe on a quiet cobblestoned street in Manhattan\u2019s Tribeca neighborhood, Binoche, 59, hopscotched between past and present, passions and peeves. There are edited excerpts from the conversation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There has been a controversy in France about the decision to submit \u201cThe Taste of Things\u201d for the Oscar for best international feature, instead of Justine Triet\u2019s \u201cAnatomy of a Fall.\u201d Then your film ended up not making the short list. What\u2019s your take on this brouhaha?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n First of all, we didn\u2019t choose to be selected \u2014 we were chosen in spite of ourselves. We put our lives to the side and gave ourselves fully to doing all the interviews. After not being [nominated], Le Monde doubled down on our movie. It was a really mean take, saying that the movie was conventional and old-fashioned, that it was only about food. Some actors \u2014 famous ones at that \u2014 even liked that article on Instagram. I thought, wow, really? It was tough for Hung, who makes a movie every four or five years. I thought it was harsh, really harsh.<\/p>\n Was it troubling to reunite with Beno\u00eet Magimel?<\/strong><\/p>\n No, no, no, not at all. It was liberating for me. Because things were not stuck anymore. It created movement into expressions, into saying, into feeling, into being in each others\u2019 presence. That was great to feel. The blockages were gone and it felt freeing for me. We haven\u2019t spoken, really, since the movie, so I don\u2019t know about him, and that\u2019s fine with me. At least this happened. I think we should all make films with every single boyfriend we\u2019ve separated from.<\/p>\n A big theme in the movie is the idea of transmission: of love, of flavors, of recipes from one generation to another. What was transmitted to you during your childhood?<\/strong><\/p>\n My mother\u2019s cooking, definitely, but also her love for the arts and her curiosity. She didn\u2019t have a lot of money, but she would make the effort to see concerts and plays. The essence of life for her was the arts. Her cooking was simple, but it was always very tasty. She went to get ingredients in organic farms, and that was in the \u201970s.<\/p>\n You have very little dialogue in \u201cThe Taste of Things.\u201d You have been painting for years, and have done a dance show with the choreographer <\/strong>Akram Khan<\/a><\/strong>. Do you have an affinity for projects that involve wordless expression?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n When I started, I noticed that most of the awards were given to men, and women had to deal with emotions, naked scenes and silences. I remember as a young actress I was kind of pissed off because I wondered, \u201cWhen are directors going to give me words to say?\u201d Women didn\u2019t have the chunks of words that men usually have, and I found it so sexist, in a way. Now I feel it\u2019s really changing, also because there are more women directors. But I think you express so much with silences \u2014 see: Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin or Lillian Gish. Everything was within, you could read on the face so you didn\u2019t have to hear words.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n