Marion Cotillard

“Okay, so this movie, Fanfan la Tulipe, by Christian-Jaque. I don’t even know how many times I saw this movie with my two brothers. It was… It’s really, like, the movie of my childhood. You know, it’s adventure. It’s this very strong woman that I admired so much when I was a kid, played by Gina Lollobrigida. And Gérard Philipe, who is obviously… I fell in love with him when I was a kid.”

“Definitely my favorite movie, even if I know it’s hard to choose or pick one movie, but that would be The Great Dictator. This is the most human movie of them all. This is the smartest, connected-to-the-heart movie that I’ve ever seen. And each time I see it, I’m moved the same way, even if I know the story by heart, even if I know the dialogue by heart. I think the last sentence of this movie is, “Listen.” Each time it brings me to tears just talking about it. This is a masterpiece. This is the masterpiece of the masterpieces.”

“Hedwig and the Angry Inch. So I was… John Cameron Mitchell. I was in Deauville Film Festival many years ago. I was in the jury and we saw this movie, and I got obsessed right away. And I was so obsessed with him that, few years later, I was supposed to do a short movie for a brand, and I was asked who I wanted to work with, so I asked for John Cameron Mitchell. He became one of my dear friends. And I love him forever and ever. And I’m so happy that I forced the destiny and that he’s today part of my life. And this is still one of my favorite movies. And the songs I listen to almost once a month, and I sing them, and, yeah, this is major.”

“Thank God there’s Agnès Varda. Agnès Varda, I think I saw all her movies. And actually the one I hadn’t seen I saw last year, and one of them I loved was Lions Love. There’s something about this movie, about the peculiarity of human soul, human relationships, that I absolutely adore. This is a piece of art. And Cléo from 5 to 7 is a game changer. She portrayed women, because there’s, of course, Cléo, but the other women, even the small parts in the movie. Like, I think I remember– was it a taxi driver or… that was a woman. And she… She portrayed those women as if it was normal to be free. And I thought it was so strong to portray women that way, when in the real world it was not the case. But she’s like, “Yeah, look, it’s going to happen one day.” Well, we still have a long way to go though, but… Yeah. This is– I mean, if you want to discover cinema through the eyes of a visionary and a wide and free soul, I would definitely recommend Agnès Varda. And not because she’s a woman. Just because she’s a genius.”