Last night, under the starry sky at the magical Cinema in the Forest, located in Rakov Jarak, Cinehill’s central location, Catherine Breillat was presented with the honorary Maverick Award to a roaring applause from the spectators.
“We have been trying to bring Catherine to the festival for a very long time, and we have finally succeeded! Her films helped shape my film taste, never bowing down to the imposed boundaries of expression,” said Milena Zajović, Cinehill’s creative director.
Accepting the Maverick Award, bestowed on authors whose personality, free spirit and innovation have expanded the horizons of cinematic art, Breillat reflected on the making of her famous Fat Girl, recalling that preparations started in Italy, but production and logistics problems led to the filming being relocated to France.
“A place is not just a matter of landscape – it is also a state of mind”, Breillat said, speaking about the symbolism of locations, primarily the ocean, in the film that screened after the awards ceremony.
The audience, as is usually the case after Catherine Breillat’s films, was both shocked and delighted, and the ovations lasted until the last letter of the end credits. A little earlier in the day, the conversation with the famous French director in the shade of Rakov Jarak elicited another elated applause. Breillat spoke about her work and censorship, about desire and shame, about the aesthetics of colours, but also her directorial process.
“I try to be aware of what is happening”, is how the legendary director sums up her directorial credo.
In the frank and emotionally meaningful conversation, Breillat opened a door into her world for the audience. One where fiction is not used to escape from reality, but as a means of exposing it.
“I don’t have a moral perspective. I’m just showing what I think happens between two people – and sometimes between a person and their true self.”
Breillat is known for films that explore the boundaries of desire, shame, sexuality, and identity, often from the perspective of a young woman at a turning point in her adolescence. In her early works, she notes, she knew nothing about editing, but she was guided by intuition and drew inspiration from American hyperrealism and painting.
“For me, making each frame – is the same as painting. Colour, texture, framing… all this carries meaning. I like expressionism more than realism.”
The director also told the story of how attempts to distribute her first film failed due to the producers’ financial collapse, but also how, thanks to a retrospective in Rotterdam, and articles published in Libération and the New York Times, the film was saved and digitally restored.
“No one knows that the colour negative was completely destroyed – it was all just green. If I had died before digitization, the film would have been lost forever.”
Speaking about working with actors, Breillat reflected on the delicate process of filming intimate scenes and the often-misunderstood nature of acting.
“Actors can simulate action, but not emotion. They must not pretend to be feeling something – they must really feel it.”
And while many directors use technical teams to shape the visual identity of their films, Breillat is much more hands-on, staying on top of everything herself: from the colour of the dresses to the appearance of the table with a glass of water on it. “I suffer when I notice an object that does not belong in the frame”, she admits. Aesthetics is always in the service of the inner state of the characters.
When asked about desire and shame – themes that permeate most of her films – she offers an almost psychoanalytical answer: “Desire is not under our control. We can control our behaviour, but not what we feel in our bodies and mind. Sometimes lust is mixed with disgust. And film has to show that – without tying.”
Finally, she recalled her own growing up and rebelling against authority while living in the French coastal town of Biarritz, as well as her first film inspiration – Ingmar Bergman. It was, she says, a decision from the age of 12: “I saw Harriet Andersson on screen and realised, this is it, I want to become a director.”
At Cinehill, among the green hills, Breillat once again confirmed why she is still one of the most authentic, brave and uncompromising figures in European cinema.
