ANNA MOUGLALIS ON PASSION

By Crash redaction

A PASSIONATE ACTRESS AND THE AMBASSADOR OF CHANEL FOR MORE THAN TEN YEARS, ANNA MOUGLALIS is PRESENTing PHILIPPE GARREL’S movie “LA JALOUSIE” AT THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL. IN AN EMOTIONAL INTERVIEW, SHE Talks ABOUT HER INTENSE EXPERIENCE ON SET AND DISCUSSED HER LONG LIST OF PROJECTS FOR THE SILVER SCREEN.

“La Jalousie” was your first film with Philippe Garrel. What was it like?

It was terrific, a wonderful experience. He told me a few things I’ll never forget. So many times I thought to myself: “If only someone had told me this when I was starting out, just think of where I’d be today!” But I doubt I would have had the maturity level to understand them at the time. Philippe definitely has his own way of working: we rehearse a lot, over a period of months, then we do every scene in one take. With acting, you’re always striving for sincerity, truth, honesty… actually these are three very different words… and then in the end you just have to act! Playing a character, being someone else… At the same time, Philippe doesn’t want you to endlessly try to perfect everything. He doesn’t want the performance to become too mechanical or disembodied. It’s a lot different from the kind of tedious intellectualism people sometimes accuse him of. His work is built on letting go.

Who else is in the film?

 Well, first, it’s a film about Maurice Garrel and his family. His son, Philippe Garrel, is telling a story about people you might call the “artistic proletariat”: people who decide to be artists and who are willing to sacrifice everything for their passion. Louis Garrel plays his own grandfather in the film, and there’s also Esther Garrel, his sister. It was a beautiful thing to see the family united around the central figure of the patriarch, and especially the enormous admiration Philippe has for his father. From the moment Maurice discovered theater, nothing else mattered. Even if he had trouble putting food on the table, theater would still be his life. But, with children, these situations can quickly become pretty difficult… On set there was little Olga Milshtein, who played Maurice’s daughter, and I really took to her. I also play a character who existed in real life: the woman Maurice fell madly in love with, leaving his wife and child for her. There’s often this kind of triangular relationship in Philippe’s films.

It seems like a highly emotional project…

 Very much so. We shot in black and white, on film with CinemaScope. So the photography is stunning. We had a very talented cinematographer who shot us very naturally: no makeup and non-elaborate costumes. It was interesting and I can’t wait to see the finished product. It was an intense experience that reminded me just how much I want to keep acting.

Any other films in the works?

 I was just in New York to shoot two films. I did a short film directed by Bruno Llogati called “Reason”. It’s about transgenderism and was funded by the sexual rights organization GLAD. The film also stars Andrej Pejic, and I play his psychologist. I also acted in Deborah Kampmeier’s next film with Amy Ferguson and the same producer from “Reason”. The film tells an incredible, very powerful story adapted from a Sumerian myth about power and femininity. We didn’t complete the shoot, though, since we ran into a lot of funding problems. Unfortunately this kind of situation is nothing new: the film is so different that we knew right off the bat that we would have to fight to complete it. The crew stayed on site for a week without working, and then Deborah had to give in and halt the shoot until we find some new investors. We really need to finish it. I absolutely want to do this film. Sometimes there are films that start to go south before they make it to the big screen and you just have to say, “Oh well”. But not this time: it’s too good, too powerful on an aesthetic and political level for it to just disappear before it ever had a shot.

Pretty soon I’ll be going to Italy to do a movie about the life of poet Giacomo Leopardi. I’m excited to visit Italy again, especially since I’ll be working with director Mario Martone who I really like a lot. And then in France I’ll be doing the next Philippe Fernandez film. And after that I’m going to Canada to work with director Frédéric Dumont on a movie with a great story and also starring Adrien Brody. It’s a tough and really intense drama. We’ll be pretty close to the Arctic Circle, so I think it will be an extremely demanding experience. But the film is superb, so it will be worth it. So I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire right now. I’ve been kind of off the grid for the past three years because I was trying to direct my own movie, which I wasn’t able to produce in the end. It’s tough to make films that are a little different today, because producers are much more reticent to take on new projects. It’s difficult to find any artistic freedom with so many financial concerns that can quickly become too constricting. You have to find aesthetic solutions today. While it’s definitely possible to make a film with few resources, you can’t do it with no resources. Film is an art, of course, but it’s also a craft. You have to be inspired for a scene when it comes time to shoot it. You’re always between creativity and action. Theo Angelopoulos sometimes managed to stall a crew for an entire year, waiting for the right moment to shoot with no constraints. A whole year… That must be a fantastic voyage, ending up with a very special kind of performance on set. But it seems impossible to do that kind of thing today: there’s just no budget! Work has a certain value: you can’t ask the people who make movies to short change their talent.

You seem extremely passionate about each role you interpret. Do you choose them all yourself?

 I do. Of course I have an agent, but projects can come in from anywhere. I like having direct relationships with people. That has meant that I’ve taken a rather unique path and I rarely ever work in France. I have to say I really enjoy acting in foreign languages. I don’t have the same inhibitions.

How long have you worked with Chanel and what has your time with the brand meant for you?

 Chanel and I go back to 2002. From the outset it gave me a sense of self-confidence, mostly through my relationship with Karl. The perspective he had on me, the advice he gave me about my choices was invaluable. He was very caring. I felt at home with Chanel thanks to the efforts of one passionate individual. Karl designed the costumes for Philippe Grandrieux’s “A New Life” and put his name on the film, even though the style was so different from his own. He made some of the shots possible, like the ones in extremely low light, where the glow of sequins just lit up the screen! And seeing Karl at work, seeing him get inspired, devouring the world, curious about everything and advancing the world of beauty, it was definitely a rewarding experience. Of course, there were some misunderstandings. For example, Chabrol abandoned the idea of shooting a film with me, saying I wasn’t an actress anymore… It may have kept some people from working with me, since they got this idea that I could only play princess roles. But a lot of actresses do these kinds of partnerships today, and Karl was the first to do something different and play around with my look. He photographed me on my scooter or with chipped nails and he let me know that I was certainly no model. It was also kind of magical and touching when I later happened to play Coco Chanel. I was even a bit amazed to see how, perfectly unconsciously, my body was able to change and fit into all the Chanel outfits. Like the way an adopted child ends up resembling their adoptive parents as they grow up. I grew up with Chanel and so did my body. The whole experience helped me mature. I’m quite happy with the work we’ve done together.