Juliette Binoche is a formidable actress, famous as much for her melancholy beauty as she is for her ability to inhabit entirely the often tragic roles that she plays, pushing herself to extremes in order to do so, sleeping rough to prepare for her part as a homeless woman in Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (The Lovers of the Pont-Neuf Bridge) and then nearly drowning in the Seine while filming it. She has won an Oscar for her performance as a grieving nurse in The English Patient, as well as multiple film awards at European festivals. Since she started acting in her teens, she has appeared in more than 65 films, as well as on TV and stage, with masses of research undertaken for each role. Itis an impressive work ethic – some might say punishing. How do you relax, I ask.
‘Huh?’ We’re talking over Zoom. Juliette is in her office in her house in the French countryside, the connection a little unstable. I lean forward and speak loudly at the screen. ‘How do you relax?’
She pauses, momentarily perplexed. She is wearing big, heavy-rimmed spectacles, no makeup,
