The timeless beauty of Catherine Deneuve

Catherine Deneuve is 70 years old, has been on the screen 57 years, and has made more than a hundred films. In her early years, she became known as the Ice Maiden. She was elegant, distant, reserved. Then she skipped, with apparent delight, into films packed with passion, often with some pretty kinky sex. Her personal life was always interesting, but never scandalous. Love affairs in France are rarely scandalous. And she had them with some of the most brilliant directors and actors of her time. Her message was clear. If you want me, you've got to deserve me. And if you do, welcome to paradise. What is it like to be hailed as the most beautiful woman in the world? Well, I don't hear that. Sometimes people say, you know you've been quoted to be called. I don't know. It's not something I live with, you know. It's just that something, I thought was a nice compliment. It's more than a nice compliment. I mean, it's nice to be told you're beautiful, but the most beautiful woman in the world. Yeah, but what I mean is, a lot of good-looking women have been called like that, as far as I can remember. No, no, no, no. Oh yes, oh yes. I'm sure I've read it with... Name a few. Name a few? Um... You see? It's not always easy being the most beautiful woman in the world, but Catherine Deneuve has toughed it out. I read an article in which you were quoted as saying, beauty has always been a burden for me. Now, I told several women at our office this morning that, and they said, give me a break. Yeah, they're right. I never said that. Okay. No, I said that it can be a burden because there is a certain expectation, you know, so it can become a burden sometimes, but to really be a burden, you know, no. I never said it was only a burden, certainly not. She changed her name from Dorliac to Deneuve for her second film, Ladies' Men, and fell for world-renowned Ladies' Men director, Roger Vadim. Their son Christian was born when she was 19 and speeding towards stardom in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. I remember reading you saying that Umbrellas of Cherbourg is your favorite film. I suppose it is. Did your life really change after The Umbrellas of Cherbourg? Oh, yes. The film got the prize at Cannes Film Festival and traveled all around the world. I went to a lot of countries with the film. In 1965, Deneuve and photographer David Bailey were married. During those years, Deneuve flourished, taking both risky and risque roles. She starred in a horror flick, Repulsion, directed by Roman Polanski. At 22, she was in theaters around the world. I have an idea. Two years later, she appeared as an elegant, affluent woman who does tricks in the afternoon. What was it like for you when you acted in your first really steamy movie? What would be a steamy movie? A steamy movie would be Belle de Jour. Ah, sex. In Belle de Jour, she's a very restrained, sophisticated person, you know? I don't think she's doing things that is a big contrast with who she seems to be. It was a new kind of role for you. Yeah, but I think that was part of the attraction to the character of Belle de Jour. The attraction transcended her beauty. There was something distinctly, inevitably French about Catherine Deneuve. If France is known for its cuisine, its wine, and its women, what is it about French women? I don't know what to say. I read that French women are able to do the life they want and eat what they want and still stay not putting on weight and things like that. You're not mentioning anything to do with a certain kind of flirtatiousness. No, I don't know. I wouldn't think of that. Oh yes, no, I didn't think of that. In 1971, she appeared for the first time with Italian idol Marcello Mastroianni, who would become her lover and the father of her daughter, Chiara. They never married and the affair lasted four years, but trying to get her to talk about it is like squeezing water from a stone. Marcello Mastroianni has always been a very, very big deal in this country since Dolce Vita. Yes, it was an incredible film. Indeed. What can you tell us about him? Not much. I mean, not much I would like to say. A great personality and a very shy actor, a very modest person with a great sense of humor. The reigning king of French cinema, Francois Truffaut, was also her lover. He's said to have broken down when she left him. But ten years later, Truffaut directed Deneuve in the critically acclaimed The Last Metro. She plays a Parisian movie theater owner hiding her Jewish husband during the German occupation. Deneuve won the Cézanne, considered the French Oscar. Do you have to be a tormented person to be a great director? In a way, I think so, yes. Truffaut? Yes. I think if you are a very sort of quiet, happy, fulfilled person, it's more difficult to put it in words and to want to have the desire to put it in images and tell a story. I think it's more difficult Most of the directors I've known were mostly tormented persons, yes. Nearing 50, she played an unmarried plantation owner who raises a Vietnamese orphan in French Indochina. She was again awarded the César and received her first and only Oscar nomination. Would you like a shot at another Oscar or does it not mean anything to you? No, I wouldn't say it doesn't mean anything to me but there is no chance that it can happen. It's very rare that a French-speaking actress is nominated in a film for the Oscar. I know it has happened, but it's very rare. We just have to do more English-language films. Yeah, I'd like to. But her latest film, On My Way, is in French. She plays Betty, a former beauty queen who renews ties with her estranged grandson. She still dreams about Hollywood but will never be able to act with the actor she likes best. I would have liked to work with Gary Grant. I think he's such a great, great actor. Gary Grant to me was really a summit of what acting can be for a man. Looking at Catherine Deneuve today, you can understand what it is people really want to know about her. And it's neither her talent nor her love life. Both women and men insisted I ask you that what is the secret to ageing well aside from starting out beautiful? I think it's different for men and women. I think for men it has a lot to do with the fulfilment of what they do in their life, their social life, their work. I think for women it's more private. It has more to do with personal fulfilment with life, love and children and work also, but not as the first main thing, I think. Do you find ageing difficult? I think it's difficult for everybody. It's difficult, it's the energy, you know, that you miss sometimes, which is a problem. You're still going. Going well. Very strong. Yes, I mean, you're turning out movies. And the only reason I mention that is that French people, as you know, have this reputation about being passionate about retiring. It depends on what you are doing in life. As an actor and artist, you don't retire, you know. It's not your decision, it happens. But you were blessed then, weren't you? Quite.