Text by Crystal & Qiu San Translation by Bian Jiajin Photos by Chen Huaqing&CFP

lSABELLE HUPPERT THE WORLD BELONGING TO WOMEN AND THE WOMAN BELONGING IN THE WORLD

Text by Crystal & Qiu San Translation by Bian Jiajin Photos by Chen Huaqing&CFP

This June, Isabelle Huppert was invited as one of the most important guest performers for “Croisements Festival”, and she was beyond her expectation heatedly welcomed in China. In Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the box offi ce of Isabelle Huppert Reads Marguerite Duras was a huge hit. This is also not that frequently to be seen in France, where is famous for literature and art. Among the audience, many are very familiar with Isabelle Huppert’s fi lmography. Some of them are also attracted by certain symbol and meanings represented by Huppert. Isabelle Huppert, in this sense, brings some infl uences beyond her the fi lm to China.

1 Perhaps l will remember this night for ever: ln the Opera House, which can hold more than 1000 people, there was only a chair, a music stand, and nothing else on the large empty stage.

Right on this stage, French actress lsabelle Huppert was going to read Marguerite Duras' L'amant for us. 70 minutes later, l was mesmerised by lsabelle Huppert, who is also called “Auntie Huppert” by her fans in China, with tears in my eyes. Tony Leung. There was only simple background music and lighting in the theatre, refl ecting her fl uctuant tones of voice. Nothing else to distract the audience from the performance, and we were absorbed in structuring the continuous scenes and pictures in our minds on our own. This kind of imagination can form the story slowly, and it was even more fresh and lively than a fi lm.

Mrs. Huppert was in a white dress, bringing me vividly back to the famous work of Marguerite Duras with her girl like gestures and mild voice. Even though it was a re-cut version of the book, the mainline of the story, the geographical descriptions, the moods of the fi gures, and the colour, the smell and the sound of the surroundings were all rendered with her voice and lingered in my mind.

The power of the story, the power of the scenario and the power of a performer were in that night magically intertwined. We have had for a long time been so into the fantastic and gorgeous stage settings, while Mrs Huppert just used the simplest and most primitive things in performing: telling a story by reading. This extremely simple and clear way achieved the performance on a minimalistic stage and with the most subtle changes in the body, and meanwhile, it surprised us like it was the fi rst time we were seeing a performance like it.

My attention was busy coming back and forth between the subtitles and her voice, and trying to remember the scenes in the fi lm L'amant starring

And this is also the strength of French artistic fi lm queen.

2 At the press conference, Mrs. Huppert was in a fl oral print shirt and a pair of beige trousers. Her taupe mid-long gentle hair was gently pendant on her shoulder. Her make-up was clean and simple. She didn't wear sunglasses like other super stars or any other luxurious accessories. She was short. She had neat straight bangs. ln her elegant style there was a marvelous sense of maiden.

She didn't smile a lot. Her walking was fast but powerful, led her direct onto the center of the stage. Then she sit down and stared at her audience for a while. There was no embarrassing ice-breaking part, but that didn't make us feel strange. Her gaze was concentrated and peaceful. Regardless of whether she was speaking or listening, she always made her audience feel comfortable and fully respected.

ln fact, she could have been highly looked up by people for a lot of reasons. As one of the actresses who have been most rewarded all over the world, she has shaped so many complicated female roles, such as the teacher who has an unethical romantic relationship with her student in fi lm La Pianiste, and the tough woman who once has a paradoxic feeling for a rapist and fi nally chooses to revenge in fi lm Elle. She loves to take challenges in performing. She said,“these women are panic but really honest“. ln a certain degree, they are warriors. Faced with complicated and paradoxic situations, they never surrender or fl ee away, but choose a female way to fi ght against.

3 The 64-year-old lady is still enthusiastic about new things. Mrs. Huppert said, she wanted to work with other directors, especially with some Asian or Chinese directors. besides Jia Zhangke, An Lee, she also mentioned Diao Yinan. Since some Chinese audience there didn't know who he was, she added that he was the director of fi lm Black Coal, Thin lce.

Her curiosity about China was manifested. Several years ago, she came to China for a photography exhibition. This time, she was invited as one of the most important guest performers for ?Croisements Festival“, and she was beyond her expectation heatedly welcomed in China. Among the audience, many are very familiar with lsabelle Huppert's fi lmography. Some of them are also attracted by certain symbol and meanings represented by Huppert.

At the press conference in Guangzhou, a Chinese audience member asked Huppert in French that many of his female friends in China were called“l(fā)eftover women”, as they were not married until they were middle aged, and what did Huppert think about this kind of phenomenon, and why there was no such kind of saying in France. Huppert, was a little surprised about that question. However, she was still willing to reply to her Chinese fans: Some people want to get married, while some just don't want to. l can't see why people cannot choose for their own.