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Kristin Scott Thomas, au bout de la passion
A Conversation with Isabelle Giordano
Discovered in Polanski's Bitter Moon and Four Weddings and a Funeral, Kristin Scott Thomas reaches star range with The English Patient. She talks about her role, the shoot, her doubts, her career with Isabelle Giordano.
Isabelle Giordano: What did you feel when you saw The English Patient for the first time?
Kristin Scott Thomas: Lots of things. I had such strong memories of the shoot that every scene was still with me. All of a sudden, I was watching this Anthony Minghella film with this blonde person whom I did not recognize. It blew my mind, it was quite strange.
IG: You cried?
KST: Yes, I cried a lot. It is idiotic because I know the history very well . . .
IG: Does one also cry for the nostalgia of a shoot?
KST: Yes, because I think that one often does not have the occasion to make a film like that, of setting off on an adventure. This whole film was something new for me. The shoot itself was something really extraordinary. To work with Anthony Minghella and Ralph Fiennes on such beautiful text in such a splendid place -- it was really exciting.
IG: How did you become Katherine Clifton; how did you approach this role?
KST: I referred to Michael Ondaatje's book a lot. I always walked around with it. One day, Anthony said to me, "But why do you read that? My Katherine is so different from Ondaatje's!" But I always thought that it was the same one.
IG: From where did this certainty come?
KST: Perhaps because I liked it. I fell in love with it, quite simply, and when one falls in love one cannot imagine that the other is not it. Thus, it was a history of love between me and the character.
IG: Ralph Fiennes, your partner in film, has a reputation of being a very hard worker. How was the environment on the shoot?
KST: I liked working with him very much. It was magic. Ralph Fiennes is a kind of 'reading man' i.e. a man who carries the play. I had only to follow him. I relied on him. I also relied on Minghella, the director. We did many readings and repetitions together, even during the meals. We had lots of things to read on the desert, the explorers, the life in Cairo. Ralph was much more meticulous about it than me -- he read a great deal. I went about it as a dilettante; he was much more serious.
IG: Saul Zaentz, the producer, said that Ralph and you are cut from the same cloth. What do you have in common?
KST: Put aside the fact that we are both the eldest of five children, I believe that we are, in short, that he is very brave. He is not afraid to act. He is not afraid to go further in order to come back later. I believe that I am like that; in any case, I would like to be. Perhaps I flatter myself by saying that, but I believe that I am brave nevertheless.
IG: It is said that one returns different from experiencing the desert. Did you have moments of doubt with respect to your acting?
KST: Yes, all the time, whether in the desert or not. You’re always anxious of what needs to be done or not. But the desert it was a revelation. I had never had an experience like that. The thing that really impressed me more, besides the light -- which is really extraordinary -- is silence. The quality of silence is something that I had never heard. Never, never, never.
IG: Could you speak to us about Juliette Binoche?
KST: Before meeting her, I was afraid of Juliette. I thought I would be meeting somebody serious, the inaccessible sophisticate -- and I met somebody who is not at all like that. On the contrary, Juliette is very light, very cheerful, she bursts into laughter on account of really anything. She is really very open.
IG: The opposite of you?
KST: No, I don't believe so. Perhaps in the manner of working. When she acts you get the impression that all is easy. She is very concentrated and can act a role and its opposite in the minute that follows. It is very astonishing -- she has a great aptitude for acting.
IG: Does this role represent recognition of long work for you?
KST: Not really. I went in search of my role. It is something that I wanted to do for me and not for the trade or anyone else. I very wanted to play this role rather than to interpret all these women full of reserves, very dark and very wary. On the contrary, Katherine is very open, very generous. That was the whole difficulty of the role.
IG: Are you like her?
KST: No, I don't believe so. But I would like to be. Inevitably you draw from details of your real life. But I wanted really to move away me from me.
IG: Was there a scene more difficult than the others to play?
KST: All the scenes were difficult to play. But the most horrible is the final scene where I am lying in the cave and I beg Almasy to return. It was much more difficult than I thought it would be. You know that you shouldn't sink into the sentimental, into the pathetic. It was necessary that Katherine remain dignified and courageous. It was very difficult to retain that and not to burst into sobs. Abandonment it is what everyone fears. I knew that he was not going to return, I had read the scene. Another scene that was difficult to play it is when Almasy was to carry me out of the cave. I felt terrible emotion in him and I was the corpse underneath. It was very difficult to be inert and not to act with him.
IG: The American press compares to you to Marlene Dietrich. You have a responsibility not to develop a swelled head in this case.
KST: It's American flattery. I don't see why they say it.
