“One of my favorite French films from the wartime is Les Enfants du paradis, Children of Paradise, with Jean-Louis Barrault and Marcel Herrand. There’s a scene in this film where Jean-Louis Barrault, he has… he’s in love with Arletty, who’s this wonderful actress playing a girl in this, and she has an affair with Pierre Brasseur, and Jean-Louis Barrault, he’s a mime, he’s on stage and he’s doing his mime thing, very funny and everybody’s laughing, and then he looks to the left. He’s all white, in white paint, and he looks to the left side of the stage. I’m pointing to the right, but you always say from the audience, the left side. And in the wing, he sees Arletty and Pierre Brasseur, and he understands immediately they have an affair. And he’s still performing, and he’s got a smile on his face, but it cracks, and his white makeup cracks in that moment. And, in a way, it’s a good image of… of acting for me, because it’s always about showing the crack and what happens behind the makeup.”
