The Taste of Thingsis in theaters February 9.
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They have a lot of ground to cover.
Its a lush, mouthwatering, often erotic visual feast, beginning with a carefully choreographed 30-minute cooking sequence.
When did you first become aware of one another?
I met him for the first time at a restaurant with the director ofLes Enfants du Siecle.
There was something sexy, at ease about it.
I was wondering how it was going to be between us.
I felt like he was quite impressed.
With you?J.B.:Yes.
Werent you impressed with me?
Benoit Magimel:Yes.
Subconsciously, I was already in the film.
I felt like I was passing a test.
I was trying to have a big effect on her with the cigarette.
Did it work?J.B.
:It had some impact, I think.
When did you start to develop actual feelings for each other?
Was it that early?J.B.
:On the first day of shooting, we were in the car and you took my hand.
And it shocked me!
I thought,Who does he think he is?So I started to put some distance between us.
:It was just a friendly thing.
A way to get over the discomfort you might have on the first day.
I think I was trying to break the ice, to say, We can do this.
Were gonna do this film together.
J.B.:And I took it personally.
Juliette, what did it look like to put some distance between you?J.B.
:I didnt want to be hurt.
It was as simple as that.
And it can be very hurtful.
And then you took a lot of distance, but very obviously.
You underlined the distance.
I remember it well.
I dont like that theres no substance; its not solid.
I always heard about that happening in cinema, and I was uncomfortable with it.
So that wasnt my goal at all.
Id have preferred for us to get together after the film.
Falling for each other really came as a surprise.
When did you decide,Okay, screw it.
Lets do it?J.B.
:I was ignoring her completely.
I gave the rest of the crew lots of attention.
J.B.:I read so much into what he was doing.
And then I thought,Okay, Ive gotta go for it.
Was that your plan all along, Benoit?B.M.
I thought maybe we could be friends.
That attraction between us was always there.
It had a life of its own.
You have to keep your emotions in check.
So when she said, Back off, honey!
theres nothing worse than hearing that.
I was like,Okay, no problem.
Ill start ignoring you and Ill seduce everybody else!
J.B.:So I called him.
And I said, I think I have feelings for you.
While we were still shooting.
What made you decide to do that?J.B.
:I just thought it was ridiculous.
:I said, Okay, but not right away.
We gotta wait.
J.B.:He made me wait two days.
:I was afraid wed be mixing everything up.
We were trying our best, but we couldnt get the scene right.
J.B.:What scene was that?
:It was in Venice.
You and I were thick as thieves, complicit, laughing a lot, and that upset her.
She got mad at us because we couldnt get it together.
In the movie, theyre having that same argument: Can we be together and also be artistic collaborators?
They attempt to resist each other for half the movie until they finally get together.
Was the metatextual experience something you talked about?J.B.
:I didnt think of that at the time.
Maybe unconsciously it came into my mind.
But as actors, youre always playing so many stories.
It does seem like we were meant to meet.
Because we do have this big age difference.
:Not that big!
No, we were just living life, I think.
The film was becoming secondary to me.
Juliette, did you feel that way too?B.M.:No.
Shes work, work, work.
J.B.:You have to give your best for the best film.
:Doesnt mean that you cant also live life.
You breathe when you wrap the film, but you have to keep breathing during it, too.
J.B.:I remember something that really touched me.
Every Friday night, the production was doing feasts and parties.
I was dancing, and there was an older man who was kind of weird.
He wasnt from the shoot; I wonder if he was homeless.
And you came to save me.
And we were not together yet.
You took me away from this person, and we started dancing.
:Nobody else stepped in?
J.B.:Nobody else tried to help me with this situation.
I was very touched because it felt like you were protecting me.
You came not as a seductor but as a protector.
What was the experience of acting opposite each other once youd decided to be together?
Was it easier or more difficult?J.B.
:The only thing is in intimate scenes; when youre with each other, it feels too intimate.
You dont want to show this real intimacy because it feels not in the right spot.
Its freer when youre not in a relationship.
Because youre not feeling youre showing that intimacy to the camera.
Theres that old idea that actors have more chemistry and tension if they dont actually get together.
Do you buy into that?J.B.
:Actors re-create life.
Thats what were here for.
So it helps when you have somebody you’re free to work with.
At the beginning, you were quite competitive with me.
Do you remember that?
:Not at all.
J.B.:I thought you were a bit starletlike.
You were afraid you werent getting in the shot.
:I was a total gentleman!
I would always go and see the camera line and say, Is everything okay?
Im not hiding her?
Is the lighting good?
I didnt know that.
:On the other hand, I did do a lot of gesticulating.
Maybe thats what you thought was me trying to ham it up.
I really didnt mean to get in your way.
We both had the main roles, so we both had to jockey for space.
What else stands out from that shoot to you?B.M.
:For me, the film was very important.
It was my first lead role with Juliette, a big production.
I wanted to verify the film was good.
Thats what we were mostly thinking about.
I had such a great time making it.
I have a tenderness for these characters.
For Musset, he never really got over her and he never wrote so well after that.
The big question is, Do you have to suffer to write well?
Do you have to suffer to act well?
What do you both think?J.B.
In acting, so you can become something real and profound, something needs to die in you.
Thats why I often experience depression when I go back to life.
Because you have a perspective thats different.
Your ego isnt going, Im the most this, Im the most that.
You know what it is to lose, to not know, to be lost.
That gives you power in the moment of acting, which is about being present.
Its true to your heart and can be sensual in a way.
:Life experience is what nourishes an actor.
Through living, you understand certain things.
I was struck by that.
Theres no such thing as chance; the roles you get are not by accident.
How can the director know youre going through the exact thing the character is going through?
Sometimes you just say,Wow, this is crazy.
How could they sense that?
So you think you were fated to be in this movie, to meet in this way?J.B.
:Its a choice, but at the same time, its encountering what youre supposed to do.
Destiny, but a choice of that destiny.
Its like having a child together.
When I proposed it to you, you said yes immediately.
It needed to be done.
You proposed having a child together?J.B.
:It was not an idea.
It was a feeling.
How long had you been together?J.B.
:Five, six months?
I was driving in a yellow car, and we were just about to come to a red light.
We passed a friends place, and I said, Id like to have a child with you.
I asked you if you agreed, and you said yes.
And how long after that were you pregnant?J.B.
:[Snaps her fingers.]
Benoit came with a suitcase two weeks after the end of the shooting.
I was living in Vaucresson, 20 minutes outside of Paris.
:We had the same first name in our minds for our child Hana without knowing it.
These things seem to be written.
Thats how I simplify life.
How did you balance being busy working actors while raising a family?B.M.
:Its complicated to have a stable life when youre an actor.
You have to make choices.
The hardest thing is to stay present, because you cant replace your absences.
As an actress, its quite amazing, and Im a theater actress to start with.
Benoit thought I shouldnt do it, and I wanted to do it.
That separated us, really.
Thats where we started to wobble.
Its been about 20 years since your breakup.
:But the thing is most of the time we didnt speak much.
I was trying to get ahold of Benoit more than he tried to get ahold of me.
Thats why starting on the set together forThe Taste of Thingswas very moving for us.
:You were at the origin of this film project.
Then Hung said, Can I give Benoit the script?
I think hed already given the script to Benoit, but he wanted to see how I would react.
I said, Yes, of course, but I dont think hes going to say yes.
He saved the film.
:Cooking was always a thing between us.
We seduce the person we love by making nice dishes for them.
Its something that really spoke to me it was meant to be.
When I read the script, I cried.
This woman is afraid of breaking the magic by getting married.
The film is incredibly moving.
I think I cried through half of it, too.
Knowing they were in a long-lasting relationship, and that we didnt have that …
I was already moved by that.
So it was sort of a fantasy version of what might have happened?J.B.:Yes.
Scientifically, theyve done research that shows your body believes what you believe.
For me, there was also the frustration of not having been able to talk to Benoit.
Especially when you have a child.
I was frustrated and a little hurt by not being able to accomplish that.
It felt genuinely real even though it was re-created for the film.
And she said, Yes.
But just after she watched the film, she was overwhelmed.
She hid in the restroom.
And we cried together.
:I never wanted my daughter to see my films, actually.
And we havent spoken about it.
When she was little, I was always afraid I would take up too much space.
We already take up so much space as far as who we are, being public figures.
And we talk a lot about ourselves.
To see the film is one more thing.
If she wants to see it, great.
If she wants to talk about it, great.
But of course I can only imagine for her, seeing her parents, must be something …
When did you realize she also wanted to be an actor?J.B.
There was something natural in her wanting to be an actress.
Shes now writing her own films.
Theres pressure, having parents like us.
Shes finding herself in there.
She needs to find her own path.
J.B.:But at the same time, its important to face the fear of having well-known parents.
It was important for her to have the courage to do it.
My parents were actors as well.
I didnt say, Oh, will I be able to?
I was like, Fuck it!
Im gonna do it!
You see what Im saying?
It gives you more strength.
:Thats your story.
J.B.:But its amazing that she was brave enough to say, Yeah, Im gonna try!
:You became an actress because it was down in your guts.
To see if she was brave enough to do it.
I believe she wanted to doHamletbecause theres a strong connection she feels with this character.
:You cant have an 18-year-old kid play Hamlet.
She did it because she wanted to get closer to you.
Closer to her parents.
Theres something about Hamlet that speaks to her.
Its to do with the relationship to the father, to death.
I never said anything aboutHamletto her.
Shes the one who wanted to do it.
:Its because she wanted to impress you.
I asked her about the auditions, and she said she felt sick for three weeks.
I said, Then you mustnt.
If you do it, itll make you feel bad.
J.B.:You dont act to feel good!
:No, but she wasnt connected to it.
J.B.:Shes different, thats true.
The desire to be an actor needs to come from deep down inside.
You were born for it; there was no question.
Not many trajectories are like yours.
You did it out of necessity.
J.B.:Out of joy!
Hana wanted that joy!
She wanted to experiment with that.
:And she realized it was not a joy.
J.B.:Yes and no.
You have to enter into a certain form of pain, but then it becomes joy.
Acting is about that transformation.
:Shes not cut out for it.
When you tell her, You gotta be into it …
It was too soon for her; she wanted something she wasnt ready for.
J.B.:you gotta ask her again now, today.
Was it too soon or not?
Im not sure shed say it was.
Thats how you grow up.
And she wanted it!
You know how stubborn she is.
Are you going to smoke a cigarette now?
I love to hear a debate about art.J.B.
:Yeah, its about art and trusting your child!
Trusting the strength you have.
But he thinks he needed to protect her.
Not that I dont want to protect her.
But she wanted to do it so fiercely.
There was no way I was going to stop her.
So did she do Hamlet?J.B.:Yeah!
She came back and had a big awareness of who her parents were.
And her need for art became bigger.
Was this the conversation you had at the time about it?J.B.
:No, because he didnt want to speak too much.
Theres a big philosophical difference, but youre also sort of saying the same thing in different ways.
Did making the film together allow you to have conversations you previously werent able to?J.B.
:No, because we were concentrating on making the film!
And also because we didnt speak that much for a long time.
So I was cautious about what subject matters we were going to talk about.
:Id decided to set this discussion aside.
We have some different points of view.
But thats a good thing, too.
So this is the first time youve talked about it?B.M.
:We talked about it a bit.
J.B.:Not that much, though.
Because he was upset and I didnt know how to deal with it.
J.B.:I miss the conversations.
:I miss it, too.
J.B.:But at the same time, its not easy.
:At least we have a daughter were very proud of.
Thats the most important thing.
How has your dynamic shifted after making this film?
Do you feel closer?B.M.
:Yes, its been very positive.
For me it felt very natural.
We know each other well.
And there was a modesty between us, too.
J.B.:We did have a certain modesty or reserve between us.
It helped to create the timeless feeling in the relationship they had.
Do you think youll work together again?B.M.
:We need to do it again.
And not wait as long this time.
J.B.:Maybe not when Im 80.
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