Last week, Gerard Depardieu launched a public attack on compatriot Juliette Binoche. The vitriol spewing from the French actor, perhaps best known in the U.S. for his role in the romantic comedy Green Card, was unnerving.
In an interview with the Austrian magazine Profi, he said: "I would really like to know why she has been so esteemed for so many years. She has nothing. Absolutely nothing!"
A week later, Binoche, gracefully responded. "I don't know him and I don't know what I did to him," she said in a video interview on the website of British film magazine Empire. Like Depardieu, Binoche is one of the hardest working, best known actors from France. She won an Academy Award for her performance in the English Patient and is currently promoting the new Abbas Kiarostami film Certified Copy for which she won the Best Actress award at Cannes.
We hope that this feud has been laid to rest -- we love them both. Depardieu is prone to bad behavior. He has also announced his retirement from acting on more than one occasion in recent years, but continues to do excellent work in such films as Andre Techine's Changing Times and Mesrine (currently in theaters).
Comments
Depardieu has a drinking problem. He has admitted to drinking six or so bottles of wine per day. He even has his own winery. He has appeared drunk on French television; fortunately he was being interviewed along with his good friend and frequent co-star Nathalie Baye at his side, and she managed to make a joke of the weird stuff he was saying on that occasion.
Of course, it would be fairer to this fine actor if you printed what he and the interviewer said prior to his ant-Binoche rant. Can you do that?
Also, no need to give Depardieu’s least interesting screen credit for us American readers. We wouldn’t be reading your blog if we weren’t well acquainted with French cinema and its amazing actors.
Dear Joyce,
Thanks for your fine comment. You are absolutely right that fans of world film do not need reminding that Depardieu was in Green Card. In the article I read, I had no idea that he was also with Nathalie Baye (an actress whose work I love.) Let’s agree that this was a tawdry news story and it was slightly tawdry of us to make this post. I am fascinated and appalled in the ways Depardieu combusts (including the copious drinking). It is also tragic about the death of his son Guillame.
Best,
Marcy
I my humble opinion, “La Chevre” is the best film that Depardieu has ever made. I’ve seen it probably 20 times.
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