A Darker Love Story

No, he didn't tell me anything. Then a few months later, he sent me the novel. So I read it and I adored it. It is so well-written and beautiful. And the characters are all so powerful and strong. So I said yes to him a second time [laughs]. A few months later he began to adapt the screenplay and I said yes to him a third time!

Jeunet has said that when he met you, he immediately thought you would be perfect for the role of Mathilde. Did you feel the same immediate connection to the character when you read the novel and screenplay?

When I read the novel, I didn't think about me because I was so caught [up] in the story...There are thousands of different Mathildes out there. There are so many ways to be moved by this love [between Mathilde and her fiance], to refind someone you loved and lost. There are different ways to behave. But with Jean-Pierre's vision and his script, for him, I was the only who should play it. Jeunet was quoted as saying: "The ability that some have to see what others can't see or, more important, to not look at what all the world sees, is something that moves me deeply." That can be said for both Amelie and Mathilde. Did you see other similarities in the characters?

For me, it was very different. I never thought about finding similarities. But in Jeunet's [lead female] characters there are often some similar little things--they are often orphans, they are very reserved, they are lonesome, strong, and apart from the rest of the world. Mathilde is fighting against people. She is not in the same world with them.

What was the toughest part about playing Mathilde?

The toughest thing was to manage in the long run to keep this suffering inside, for more than just one scene. She is in almost the same mood for almost the whole time, but it's not justified [triggered] by a specific situation. It's a mood she is always feeling because her love is lost. It was difficult to feel that emotion without a concrete reason.