Fanny Ardant: «My hymn to the wolf (and to freedom)»

«CDo you know this fairy tale of La Fontaine? One day the wolf – thin, with wasted fur – meets the dog. “Ah, you are handsome and fat: why?” she asks him. “I eat every day, and sleep at home”. Then he notices the collar: “What is this chain?”. “I can’t go where I want.” “No ???”, and then he runs away, runs away, runs away… Do you want to be a wolf or a dog? Do you want freedom or security? In politics they oppose them, but if you lose your freedom you cry, for safety you somehow manage ». How do you end up talking about apologists & power with Fanny Ardant? In truth, it only takes a few moves starting from The Palace by Roman Polanski, which will be presented out of competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival with an assorted cast: in addition to her, Oliver Masucci, John Cleese, Luca Barbareschi (also producer), Joaquim de Almeida and a revived Mickey Rourke.

Fanny Ardant in The Palace by Roman Polanski

«Everything takes place in one evening – New Year’s Eve 1999, with the year 2000 looming, full of unknowns – in a luxury hotel amidst snow-capped mountains» explains – in her excellent Italian – the actress, not at all thrilled by the idea of event (“Festivals are like a game for children”). «You will come across various types of people, customers and staff – it’s the comedy of life, of us poor human beings with weaknesses, ridiculousness, mistakes. There is an intelligent and ironic look at our society: materialistic, greedy. Grotesque”.

Does he find himself in the spirit of black comedy, black humour?
No, I’m a romantic, I only think about love. But I like to enter a universe that does not belong to me. You learn more from this insolent vision than from a moral lesson… What a nuisance!

No doubts about working with Polanski after the protests of 2020, when they awarded him the César for The officer and the spito?
Not even half. Roman had already directed me to the theater in ’96 in Master class, on Maria Callas: finding him was a great joy, he is a master. And a passionate man, he throws himself into films with enthusiasm, almost as if he were a beginner: he doesn’t impose, he asks for participation.

She impersonates “the Marquise”.
A lady out of touch with reality, crazy about the dog (laughs): she reserves all her feelings for him. An attitude that is not far-fetched, even if Pope Francis has warned those who treat animals as children. The Pope is right, and yet… There is an old joke: “The more I know men, the more I love my dog”. In the past I’ve had both dogs and cats: I love them because they don’t have their heads stuffed with what conformity imposes. My favorite though is the wolf. I want to meet Francesco to make him appreciate it. (laughs)

That love for the wolf

The wolf?
He represents the pure animal, he has never let himself be tamed and, for this reason, he has always been considered an enemy: in stories, in fairy tales… Almost as if we projected any demon we have inside onto him, as with Dracula.

Not even in philosophy does it enjoy a good reputation: «Homo homini lupusThomas Hobbes decreed.
Mah… When we translated Aesop’s fable of the wolf and the goat in class – he invites her into the meadow and she doesn’t fall into the trap – I immediately found her stupid, not smart: danger is fascinating, exciting. For me, it’s better to be eaten by the wolf than to remain quietly in the enclosure. Well, frankly I don’t know why today I’m throwing myself into this hymn to the wolf! (laugh heartily)

Fanny Ardant is in good company: Clarissa Pinkola Estés wrote us a longseller, Women who run with the wolves, inviting us to rediscover our wild side, usually “suffocated”. But is she never afraid?
Never. I realized that fear is the worst opponent. I am a fatalist: what will be, will be. The pains, the sufferings, the abandonments, the sense of lack… Sure, they come! But bon, it’s part of existence. Otherwise everything is the same. Dish.

When did you gain this awareness?
Oddly enough, when she was very young, at the time of university. I was very politicized and, if you wanted to participate fully in the adventure of life, you didn’t have to fear.

What did “being politicized” mean to you?
Questioning any form of authority. Already when I went to school with the nuns I objected to everything. Jesus walking on water? Come on, impossible!

Remarkable self-esteem for a little girl.
Oui, oui. I think it depended on dad (cavalry officer at Palazzo Grimaldi, in Montecarlo, ed). I remember that sometimes, when I reported what the teacher had said, she would come out: “She’s an idiot”. And my mother yelled at him: “Nooo, you can’t express yourself like that!”. (laughs)

When does your passion for acting go back?
As a girl, when I lived in Monte Carlo and often went to the opera, I used to say to my brother: “One day I’ll be on the other side of the curtain!”. And he: “You’re stupid!”. (laughs) After high school, I communicated to my parents that I intended to become a theater actress (never imagined cinema). And they: “Bah, in the meantime the university”. To please them (I loved them so much!), I enrolled in Political Science in Aix-en-Provence and as soon as I finished – buuuum! – in Paris! The degree was a passport to freedom.

Although the director also exercises a form of authority…
Yes, an actress is chosen, but – even if I didn’t go looking – from the very beginning I only did what I wanted. Never for the money, never for the strategy, never for the career. Ninth!

The love for the theater and then…

What drove you towards this profession?
A dark force. Or, perhaps, the love of the word: I read a lot as a young man and I understood that beauty should be shared with an audience, not kept for itself.

What did he read?
Grandpa’s library was packed, I proceeded in disorder. The Greek tragedians, the French of the 19th century (Balzac, Flaubert, Stendhal)… The Russians were the most formative. The figure of Prince Myshkin in The idiot by Dostoevskij was the indication of how one should behave: good, open, at the cost of passing for a fool. And the poets of the Stalin era, art as a form of resistance to the dictatorship. Curious.

Why “curious”?
I don’t love poetry so much, but for Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Osip Mandel’stam it was a matter of life and death, there was urgency, it didn’t serve to show off in a living room.

His verse of the heart?
One by Vladimir Mayakovsky, in the poem Of this: “But no matter what, / death is always death. / It’s scary not to love, / terrible not to dare anymore“. And I make many “journeys” through music.

Predilections?
Wagner, Mozart, Schubert, and Mahler with all those who punch in the gut. Or on the contrary, to be reassured, Bach: he was the first one I practiced on the piano with and I still play it. However, I have no preclusions: the gypsy, Arab rhythms, the fado, the songs where a little story is told in three minutes. I have records by Celentano, Mina, Battisti, Dalla… And the sadder the songs, the more I appreciate them.

Do you know Francesco Guccini? In Incontro she sings: «Dear friend, time takes, time gives».
I don’t know him… He’s right: time takes away and gives away, takes away and gives away. When you suffer you think it takes, but maybe it gives you more. Difficult to draw two columns: “advantages / disadvantages”.

Incidentally: his Italian is perfect.
When I came here to work, I met Ettore Scola, Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman and I was fascinated by how well they spoke French. I found it wonderful to be able to speak the language of a country you love. And I jumped in, not fearing clumsiness or mistakes.

Here he turned The familybut it was The lady next doorCallas… Is there a common thread among your characters, so many and so different?
They are passionate women, never cold or cynical or interested in power. Women who have lost themselves out of love, who have exaggerated, who perhaps – out of anxiety for life – have also made a mistake.

Speaking of exaggeration: he has a whopping eight films coming out.
It was a good year, as they say of wine. The wine, the wine… (he hums laughing)

What are you particularly fond of?
Completely burned! And I don’t evaluate based on the result: for me what matters is only the present moment, the happiness on the set, and acting with John Malkovich gives happiness: he’s intelligent, ironic but, after the clapperboard, he makes you forget the camera, a little ‘ like Gérard Depardieu. Like one who invites you to dance…

She dances?
Seldom. I love doing it with a rider, not alone.

How do you answer yes or no to the proposals?
It’s easier for me to explain the “no”: it has to do with rationality. The spring of the “yes”, however, is mysterious. From this point of view I am not “professional”: there are never professional reasons why I accept.

Pure instinct?
Oui, like the wolf! (big laugh)

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