Julie Delpy Has G?teborg Crowd in Stitches as She Accepts Honorary Dragon Award Despite Claims She ‘Lives Like a Monk’
Julie Delpy had a G?teborg crowd in stitches on Wednesday as she accepted theHonorary Dragon Award.
“I am filming it so that my son believes me,” she told the audience which welcomed her with a standing ovation.
More from Variety
As an actor, Delpy collaborated with the likes of Linklater, Kie?lowski, Volker Schl?ndorff and Agnieszka Holland. Her very first film, “Detective,” was directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
“It was really exciting to work with them. What’s happening?! I thought they were all going to come out now,” she said, startled by a technical glitch.
“I also did a few bad films, but nobody has ever prepared THAT list. Everyone has forgotten about them, because that’s what happens to bad films. Which is good.”
Eager to pursue directing from an early age, she quickly ran into a wall.
“I was born into a feminist family and raised with this idea that I’m 100% equal. I was like, ‘What’s happening?’ There were a few pioneers, but I was pretty and an actress. For me, becoming a director was like climbing a mountain.”
Not all her illustrious collaborators were encouraging, she admitted.
“Volker was married to Margarethe von Trotta, Kie?lowski was friends with Agnieszka Holland. They knew female directors and they were supportive. Bertrand Tavernier told me I was never going to work again as an actress if I become a director, because I won’t be ‘desirable’ to filmmakers. Which was such a vile thing to say. There is this cult of Pygmalion in France,” she said. But she “refused to feed toxic system.”
“It hurt my career, for sure. There was Harvey Weinstein, who was a predator, but there was also a lot of manipulation [from older directors]. They would send poetic love letters, but I never fell for that. Me and my mom were like: ‘Look at this. He’s trying to get in your pants.’”
“When I was young and going to school by myself, my mum would say: ‘If a man opens his coat and shows you his pee-pee, go for the balls. Pull them all the way to the floor. I exuded that energy and men never showed me their, you know. It was good advice.”
Delpy has directed multiple films, from “Looking for Jimmy” to “Lolo” and “Two Days in Paris,” where she cast her own parents.
“My father, my mother, my cat. His name was Jean-Luc. I love comedy. I’ve done dramas as well, but it wasn’t the same. It’s not always rewarding and you don’t always go to festivals. There’s this idea that comedies are a lesser genre. But it’s a happy feeling, to make them.”
In her latest film “Meet the Barbarians,” presented at the fest, a small French town is preparing to welcome Ukrainian refugees. But they are in for a surprise.
“My starting point was being outraged by the lack of empathy of certain people, closing borders or seeing others drown in the Mediterranean Sea and not being moved by it. Then I started to think: ‘How can I make a film that’s not teaching lessons or making big statements, but addressing it all in a light, funny way?’ There’s been beautiful films made about refugees. I thought it would be good to have another take,” she noted.
“Most of the film is based on real meetings we had [with refugees] and stories we were told. It’s not a fantasy. Right now, France has really slid to the right and the right doesn’t necessarily like refugees. People have this idea they’re taking their jobs and taking over everything. It’s not true. They’re struggling. It’s a myth that’s been fed to us so that others can get rich while you are busy being angry.”
Now, Delpy wants to finish eight screenplays, 10 short stories and she’s working on an album: “I just have to take singing lessons, because I lost my voice, and lose 10 kilos, but I probably won’t.” But she still doesn’t see herself as a role model.
“People think we hang out by the beach and drink martinis. I work all the time. I wake up at 4am, I start writing, do business calls and my taxes, because it takes me a whole year to figure out how to do it. I am like a monk. I have no fun,” she joked. But the award came “at the right time,” she confessed.
“When you are in the middle of the eye of the storm of making movies and financing, it’s so hard. You forget your achievements.”
She wished for more films to come: “If fate and film financing allows me.”
“It’s getting more difficult to live in this world and we all have to fight barbarism, barbarism that’s trying to destroy our society and our planet in the name of profit and power. We have to use all the tools we have to fight back. Films are one of them. I just wish for this little dragon to come to life, fly around the earth and neutralize everyone that puts power and money before human life.”
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
