C.osta-Gavras has a hollow face, gray hair, an attentive and concentrated expression. He is 89 years old, he is charismatic and commands the respect that grown-ups provoke. His films have left their mark: who among us has not been carried away by emotion, by indignation, by the desire to engage in some way to counter the iniquity of the stories told, and to defend the trampled democracy? It was 1969, a very hot year politically, when it was released in theaters Z-The orgy of powerthe thriller-denunciation of the colonels’ dictatorship in Greece (Oscar for best foreign film). The following year it was the turn of The Confession, a sharp look at Czechoslovakia at the time of the pro-Soviet regime; in ’73 with theAmerikano pointed the finger at CIA meddling in Latin America during the Cold War years. And Missing-Disappeared, about Chile after Pinochet, was the first Hollywood film to reveal the military actions of the United States in South American countries. And I stop here.
The director was celebrated with the Leopard for Lifetime Achievement at the 75th Locarno Film Festival on 11 August last. The artistic director of the Film Festival, Giona A. Nazzaro, stressed that it was “a duty”. (Photo by Rosdiana Ciaravolo / Getty Images)
Costa-Gavras hot topics
“Conspiracy thrillers, often rhetorical, or questionable,” they wrote at the time. The great American critic Pauline Kael considered them “intolerably exciting” and, in a long review in the New Yorker in December 1969, she defined Z-The orgy of power “A politically aligned, yet completely commercial film, in the best tradition of American gangster films.”
Costa-Gavras smiles when we remind him of these commentsprefers to talk about her actors, about the long and repeated collaborations with Yves Montand, Jacques Perrin, François Périer and remembers her actresses with affection and empathy: Romy Schneider, Sissy Spacek, Jessica Lange. Because he loves the actors, he understands them, he supports them.
Love and respect widely reciprocated. In this regard, I remember an interview on the film Music Box-Proof of Indictment – of December 1989 – with Jessica Lange, who in the film had the role of the lawyer Ann Talbott determined to defend her father accused of Nazi crimes. She then described her experience with Costa-Gavras as “the pinnacle of a trajectory, the culmination of my work … it is my most important film – she concluded – the most conceptually and morally demanding”. And Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon in the days of Missing they confessed that the film had opened their eyes to American foreign policy.
An inextinguishable passion
Today Costa-Gavras continues to work, with the same passion. At the recent Locarno Film Festival, where his first film was presented, Sleeper for murderershe was given the Leopard to career. Over the past ten years – as president of the Cinémathèque Française – he has followed the restoration of Napoléon by Abel Gance, a 1927 silent film masterpiece. In a khaki jacket and a blue shirt, he speaks to us (on Zoom) from Paris. In the background, two posters: one of Gilda with Rita Hayworth (by Charles Vidor, from 1946) and the other from The Great Illusion (by Jean Renoir, from 1937).
1965. A sleeper sequence for murderers with Yves Montand and Simone Signoret. (Contrast)
He was not yet twenty when he left his Greece for Paris. In France he has become one of the most important directors of his generation. How was your passion for cinema born?
I can’t tell you a precise moment, it was a continuous discovery of the director’s profession: it gave me enthusiasm and satisfaction to work with actors such as Simone Signoret, Yves Montand, Jean-Louis Trintignant. They were waiting for me to tell them what to do and they were happy too (smiles). For me it was a surprising experience.
You have directed Jean-Louis Trintignant – who passed away on June 17 – since his first film, Bed wagon for murderers, and then wanted him in Z-The orgy of power. A character who, unlike the others, “imploded and did not explode” on screen, she commented.
Yes, because Jean-Louis internalized everything. He was a true introvert and you never knew what he was going to ask of you, or what he was going to do. It was difficult to see him smile… It is the mystery of Jean-Louis, he liked to remain secret and to keep his personal, family affairs to himself. But in front of the camera he was extraordinary: it was enough to say “a little more, a little less”, and his reaction was immediate, fascinating. And then that extraordinary voice of him could express drama, action, fear, and at the cinema it filled the halls. Every time I saw him on the big screen it was a pleasure, a continuous discovery.
The Cinémathèque française recently dedicated an exhibition to Romy Schneider, 40 years after his death. You directed it in Chiaro di donna in 1979. How do you remember her?
So fragile… She always had to be reassured and be close to the director. And do you know the first question she asked me after reading the script? “But are you going to make this film for Yves Montand?” “No, for you two,” I replied. She knew that Yves and I were friends, and we always tried to be close to her on set. But she hated showing her vulnerability in her and, when she had to face reporters, she was strong and purposeful.
1979. The dramatic Chiaro di donna with Romy Schneider and Yves Montand. (photomovie)
His films have often dealt with burning topical issues. As an outside observer, how do you see the world today? The world today?
It is a big mess, we are living in a very dangerous period because no one has any idea where it will end, and what will happen. My generation was convinced that when the Soviet Union regime collapsed, the world would become a paradise. But now, 30 years later, nothing has improved. It would have been good if the forces of east and west and the two Americas had created some sort of balance, but it didn’t; instead there seems to be a general paralysis. I have no idea how it will end, who could have imagined a war in the heart of Europe, destroying people, a country …
You have always been called a political director. But what does it mean?
All films are political because they speak to thousands of people, sometimes millions of people, and provoke reactions. Politics isn’t just about talking about leaders, or making films about them. Politics is how we behave, it is what we do every day, and it is also what we discuss right now.
A scene from Z-The orgy of power, thriller-denunciation of the dictatorship of the colonels in Greece.
Are the traditional concepts of “right” and “left” still valid in today’s world?
The world has changed and changes every day. The digital revolution is an irreversible phenomenon and politicians should govern their countries taking it into account, but they don’t. They have limited, particularistic visions, not a broad and inclusive horizon. Money is the new religion. We don’t think about anything else: money, success and who cares about our neighbors or those who suffer? Individualism is the worst thing that can happen in a society.
The disastrous conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been going on for months. She was a child during the Second World War in Greece. Are particular moments of those times re-emerging?
I lived in Greece. People were starving, so my father sent us to a village near Athens. It was a beautiful time because the war was far away and we lived like the local peasants. I learned a lot about life in those years: how much wood we needed to survive the winter, how much oil and how much grain to make bread. Of course, I later learned what really happened during the war, with thousands of deaths, and then the civil war. Horrible, but those years in the country were perfect.
And when he got to France was it easier?
It wasn’t any easier, yet I lived with a feeling of happiness because we were free. I wanted to study cinema, I became a director’s assistant, and it was a wonderful thing because I didn’t think it was possible for a foreigner. At that time only French directors worked in France. And right after my first film they offered me to work with the studios, but I refused. I was happy in France. But after Z-The orgy of power I accepted the US offer to direct Missing-Disappeared.
1982. Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon in Missing – appeared. (Contrast)
Why did he change his mind for Missing?
That film was a tribute to the Chilean people who lived under a terrible dictatorship, supported by the American government at the time. They accepted my conditions to let me free to make my film as I wanted: I wrote the screenplay and did the post production in France. Everything was easy, without complications. I don’t think today it would be possible to make a film like this anymore. They were different times, there was a great political ferment in the universities, a strong participation and interest in certain political themes.
In addition to an enviable career, she also has a beautiful family with three children, who have followed in her footsteps.
I was really lucky, I have an amazing wife and I believe I am one of the few couples who are still together after almost 60 years. My children, to tell you the truth … I really hoped they would choose a different career, they would become doctors, engineers because as an immigrant I wanted a solid, safe job for them. But they decided to make films, in their own way, and I tried to help them. Besides, I also have a brood of grandchildren!
What about the next project with director Park Chan-Wook?
I saw him again a few months ago and he’s always interested in the remake of my movie The Ax (a 2005 crime comedy, ed). I told him: «When you want, as you want. It’s yours. I made my film, you make yours. And make it yours ».
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