Jeanne Moreau

Interview, Sept, 1996 by Molly Haskell

MH: [laughs] That was pretty short-lived. But intense.

JM: I went on the beach and I saw they were shooting on the terrace of a cafe, and it was separated from the beach by a bamboo fence. And I came close and I heard Vanessa's voice and I looked through a little space and saw where the camera was. I managed to watch while she was acting. And I was so taken by it, it moved me to tears. And in the back of my mind came that idea of that mole I'd seen. "Fuck! What - ?" And I realized that what life is about is much more the beauty of what I was watching - her acting. That's what's important. Since then, I don't worry anymore. Finished.

MH: So how did the rivalry between you and Vanessa over Tony Richardson work out?

JM: We didn't meet that time, and she doesn't know about what I just told you. But after his death [in 1991], she came to Paris doing a one-woman show and she rang me. We met, and she wanted me to join her onstage and speak about Tony and sing a song. And that's what I did. And I love her, and she loves me.

MH: Yesterday I showed my film class The Letter [1940], a Bette Davis film I adore. Earlier I mentioned "the male gaze," but Davis outstares everyone in that film. With the great women actresses, their gazes are the ones that are erotic, captivating, mysterious, bold. And I think that applies to you. The fact is that you were beautiful, but not in the conventional pinup way. And this enabled you to do more, don't you think?

JM: Yes. There is that. But there is the fact, too, that you should not separate your life from what you do. Meaning that, at the same time you're responsible for yourself as an actress, you know that your own personal growth goes through that alchemy and you give as much importance to your life as you do to your acting. If you get trapped in the idea that what is most important is what image of yourself you're giving to the world, you're on a dangerous path.

MH: But you have to have tremendous strength to allow yourself to be -

JM: I don't know that it's a strength. I think it's a sort of inner knowledge.

MH: And, like Bette Davis, you weren't afraid of playing unsympathetic characters, as in, say, The Bride Wore Black [1967].

JM: That's out of the question. My aim in life is not to judge. How can I judge a character? That phrase, "Blessing in disguise" - some gods may cross your path, but why should gods be beautiful? They could also be frightening.