2013 (Production)

2013-02-26 (Production)

English

Interviewee: Emmanuèle Riva
Interviewer: Laura Dern

Professional production

United States

Actor Emmanuelle Riva is interviewed by Laura Dern at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on February 26, 2013. The interview is conducted in French. Emmanuelle begins with her early years as a theater kid in a small French town in the Vosges before discussing her long film career from HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR (1959) to AMOUR (2012).

Actor Emmanuelle Riva is interviewed by Laura Dern at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on February 26, 2013. Emmanuelle immediately sets the tone of the interview by disregarding formalities and laughing about her foggy memory. Riva shares that the first time she went to the movies was for a school trip, where they saw MICHEL STROGOFF (1956), a film that so moved her she continues to think about it to this day. When mulling over the question of when she started acting, she explains that all kids are a bit theatrical by nature; she just managed to hold onto that childlike feeling of play. She recalls liking in her youth the farcical humor of LES PIEDS NICKELÉS (a longstanding French comic book series) and admiring Hollywood actresses like Shirley Temple and Carole Lombard and classic French actors like Michel Simon and Pierre Fresnay. She insists that her answers are unoriginal and that she’s told them many times before. She then reflects on the plays she acted in before moving to Paris, like ANTIGONE by Jean Anouilh and LE JEU DE L’AMOUR ET DU HASARD/THE GAME OF LOVE AND CHANCE by Marivaux. She recalls in 1959 being asked to screen test for HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR and being cast because director Alain Resnais wanted an “unknown film actress.” When asked to reflect on her favorite role, Emmanuelle states that they all were her favorite, though some of her films stood out, like LÉON MORIN, PRÊTRE/ LÉON MORIN, PRIEST (1961) where she played alongside Jean-Pierre Belmondo or THÉRÈSE DESQUEYROUX. Riva fondly reminisces about working with Italian filmmakers, who apparently allowed her the freedom to play types of characters that French filmmakers didn’t, often typecasting her. On ADUA E LE COMPAGNE/ADUA AND HER FRIENDS (1960) she played a poetic prostitute, a role she thoroughly enjoyed as it gave her the variety she claims all actors crave in their work. When talking about AMOUR, Riva calls director Michael Haneke a visionary and a remarkable director, one whose precision and rigor matches her own. She recalls it being a standard shoot, that they never needed more than four or five takes, and that the intimacy between herself and her costar, Jean-Louis Trintignant, was immediately believable even though the two had never met. She ends by expressing her joy at being a part of AMOUR, a movie she says treats its subject matter with such honesty and tact that it touched everyone around the world.

Emmanuelle Riva (1927-2017) was a French actor born in Cheniménil, a commune in the mountainous region of the Vosges. After beginning as a seamstress apprentice at 15, Emmanuelle decided to pursue acting and took classes at the Dramatic Arts Centre of Rue Blanche in Paris (now ENSATT). After her stage debut in George Bernard Shaw’s ARMS AND THE MAN and acting in several other plays, she transitioned to the movies, where she appeared in 50 feature films over a 54-year long career. She was known for her naturalistic acting style, her poetic sensibility and for often playing emotionally complex characters. She is best remembered for her dramatic roles in HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR (1959), for which she was nominated for a BAFTA; KAPÒ (1960), an Italian film nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards; THÉRÈSE DESQUEYROUX (1962), for which she won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival; and AMOUR (2012) for which she won both a BAFTA and a César Award and was nominated for an Academy Award.

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