It’s not often that I get star-struck, but it does happen. I was star-struck when I met Nicole Kidman, John Irving and Martin Scorsese, but that’s about it for celebrities who have made me forget my own name.
And so, after having slept in that morning, I had reserved my energies for the first priority of the day, enjoying a great lunch and a couple of glasses of rose while interviewing Catherine Deneuve.
I believe I was officially introduced to the cinema of Catherine Deneuve around the early spring of 1988 when I went to see Roman Polanski’s "Repulsion" at the "Old Vic Cinema" on Haight Street in San Francisco, where I lived in the wild and wooly Sunset district. Of course I had seen Deneuve in "The Hunger" (1983) and was mad for her in her scenes with the also terrific Susan Sarandon, but that didn’t count. Anyway, the "Old Vic" is the theater where you sit on old couches instead of in single seats. Pretty cool.
I found "Repulsion" deeply frightening, and I was devastated by Catherine Deneuve’s psychologically damaged character. I was so affected by Deneuve’s brilliant performance and stunning beauty that I still had no compass to gauge her as an artist. All of that changed when I saw her next in Luis Bunuel’s "Tristana" (1970). Here she plays a period character filled with burning lust that is both sophisticated and primal. From this flawless performance, I understood that Catherine Deneuve was a force of nature that deserved my close attention.
I probably learned more about fetish from Bunuel’s "Belle du Jour" than I have from pornography. Here, Deneuve, the Ice Queen, revels in sensual dreams and addiction with a dignity and sincerity that hits like a libidinous H-bomb on the screen. I could watch it right this second.
"Donkey Skin," "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," "The Last Metro," "Ma Saison Preferee," "Indochine," "Place Vendome," and "Dancer In The Dark" are just a few of the 100 films that Catherine Deneuve has graced with her perfect poise and astonishing skill. She is as beautiful today as she was 40 years ago. Yeah, I was star-struck.
