Juliette Binoche (Paris, 1964) is an actress, but, on one occasion, she danced. She is an actress, but, on one occasion, she directed. She is an actress, but, on more than one occasion, she was also an activist. Juliette Binoche is now more Juliette Binoche than ever with a career that does not admit definitions, labels, or barriers. Her recent screen works have been signed by directors such as Uberto Pasolini, Tran Anh Hung, or Claire Denis. And so she has traveled to festivals around the world until not long ago she was the face of the French Cannes festival alongside photographer Brigitte Lacombe. Now, in San Sebastián, she presents herself renewed. The same actress, the actress since I salute you, Mary (Jean-Luc Godard, 1984), is also the dancer alongside British choreographer Akram Khan of the show In-I that toured the world in 2007 and that, now, in the film she directs under the name of In-I In Motion, reveals the long, tortuous, fun, and fascinating, all at once, creation process. And it is the San Sebastián Festival that unveils it to the world from the tentative and clumsy first step to the dazzling final show, from Juliette to Binoche.
The first question is mandatory. Why? Where does the need or curiosity to move to the other side of the camera come from?
I prefer to think that I go where life takes me. I never decide in advance what I am going to do. Life is more mysterious and surprising than that. I am not a civil servant, but an actress. Furthermore, who said I will be an actress for the rest of my life? I don't know; everything is possible. While performing the show, on more than one occasion, I thought about making a film. It so happened, in New York, that Robert Redford was in the audience, saw the performance, and insisted that I should film it. I said yes, that I was thinking about it. And it was true, but I had no idea how to do it. We had one month of performances left. We were returning to Paris, and that's when I asked my sister to film the last seven performances. We did a total of 100 and toured everywhere. Then I stored those tapes in a drawer. The tapes remained there for 15 years. Two years ago, a producer wanted to meet me and asked if I had any projects. I replied that the only thing I had was a series of recordings that I truly didn't know what they contained. I hadn't watched them again.
But in the film, the most surprising part is everything related to the creation itself, to the rehearsals.
Yes, we had that too, but as actual working material. In total, I estimate that I had 170 hours of rock and roll. So, I told the producer that it would be enough to buy editing equipment and hire an editor. Of course, we would work at my house. And that's what I did for two years.
The film ends up being a work about the creation process itself. How different is it to create in a discipline that may be foreign to you like dance, compared to creating in film?
Creating as an actress, as a dancer, or as a meteorologist is always creating. It is a process of listening that must be shared. It is always a job of making concessions while being able to express your desires clearly enough to be understood, heard, accepted... That's what experimenting is about. In reality, everything in life is about trying. Trying and seeing if it works. I don't consider myself a dancer at all. My body is quite heavy and not made for dancing. So, the six-month training, which is how long it all lasted, was very tough. I forced my body to change to be able to express what I felt. I went through many states of frustration, moments when everything was confusing, everything was useless.
Did you ever feel like a real dancer at any point?
Yes, there comes a moment when you enjoy improvising because you feel free and very creative. Both Susan Batson (acting coach) and Akram Khan were clear, and they told me, that it is in deciding the movements and during rehearsals when something real starts to emerge. That's when you begin to understand the harsh reality of a discipline like dancing. But it's not just about repeating. It's about questioning yourself. You ask yourself 10,000 questions and share them with tension, with laughter... Sometimes you think you're touching the sky, and other times, you despair.
Did you ever consider giving up? What was the most difficult moment?
I couldn't say. There were many challenging moments. What I can say is that every time I went out to perform, I trembled with fear. I felt like I was going to die every night. The physical intensity matched the emotional intensity. That made each performance for me an Everest. The contradictory part was that everything seemed like a huge mountain when, in reality, it was more of a descent into the deepest.
How much of your own life is in the show?
Everything is linked to both my life experience and Akram's. He was attacked in a mosque. And I fell in love with a 14-year-old boy whom I barely knew and wished to live with him. That happened to me. And I was mugged and strangled... All of that happened to me.
What would you say the film is about? About creation, about the discovery of love...?
About hope, about hope in art, about the possibility of doing something new.
In a world like the one we live in, talking about hope seems more like a provocation.
Now more than ever, it is necessary to proclaim and reclaim hope. And even more than hope, truth. Only if we are honest with others and with ourselves, can we achieve hope. We are immersed in a world of lies, and it is only through art that some truth can be reached. That's why we continue making films and trying to create new things, real things.
I remember when you got involved in support of Iranian women... Are those the truth and hope you speak of?
Undoubtedly, artists can do something when a man or a woman is deprived of freedom or dignity. It is good to commit to causes that you believe are just. But the pressure is enormous. I see fewer and fewer committed artists because the level of violence is immense. We are criticized whether we defend what we believe is right or if we do nothing. We are criticized for speaking up and also for staying silent.
You have worked with directors ranging from Godard to Haneke, passing through Leos Carax or Isabel Coixet. What have you learned from them that has helped you in making this film?
Well, since it is a documentary, the work is different. But in the editing room, you seek a balance, an inner path that is common to many of the great filmmakers I have worked with as an actress. It is important to be honest and not betray yourself. For me, it was crucial to convey the idea that it is necessary to try to achieve the impossible. We live in a world of crazies, of mentally ill, of cruel, excessive, and horrible egos, and that is why it is urgent to reposition ourselves, to find that balance through art. The hope of creation.