Alain Delon ‘one of the last real French movie stars’, says film journalist
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00:00For reaction, we can speak to Rebecca Leffler, the France correspondent for film magazine
00:04Screen International.
00:05She joins us from New York.
00:07Rebecca, thank you for taking the time to speak with us.
00:10Just first, what comes to mind for you when you think of Alain Delon?
00:14There's so much.
00:15What a life.
00:16Where do I even begin?
00:18His life and career will actually make a great biopic someday.
00:21I'm sure somebody's already working on that.
00:24He's been known, obviously, in the past few years since his health has declined, there's
00:28been a lot of headlines about his feuding with his family and, you know, in recent years
00:33with that honorary Pomme d'Or in Cannes that kind of unleashed a lot about his, dug up
00:39a lot about his political views and his sort of controversial feelings.
00:44He wasn't just an actor.
00:46He was really a personality.
00:48I would say maybe the last, one of the last real French movie stars.
00:54He was known all over the world, not just in France, even though his career obviously
00:59was really carved out there.
01:01He's been in, you know, some 100 movies.
01:04You're seeing we're watching him on the on the red carpet in Cannes, where I actually
01:08met him in Cannes, and he really was a movie star.
01:12I mean, he looked at you with those, you know, the press is talking about his deep blue eyes.
01:18And he really was known for his looks, but also really respected within the world of
01:24auteur cinema in films that were in Cannes, also in Venice.
01:29You know, amongst all of his films, he didn't win many awards.
01:33He had he was awarded a César award, a couple of honorary Palms in Berlin and Cannes, but
01:39he really was admired by directors, by fellow actors.
01:43He's done a lot of auteur films, I mentioned, but also some commercial films.
01:47The Julius César in Asterix and a few comedies there towards the end of his career, even
01:53TV films, which is quite rare.
01:57And his longevity is also striking.
02:00You said that his life would make a good biopic.
02:03And I know he became a movie star sort of almost on accident.
02:06Can you talk maybe a little bit about about his personal life, his childhood and kind
02:10of his journey to becoming a star?
02:13Well, what is actually really interesting is that he was discovered in Cannes, the Cannes
02:20Film Festival, by a big Hollywood agent in the 1950s.
02:23And he ended up coming back to France and he didn't really pursue that career.
02:29He was starring in different auteur films.
02:33And he came from he had kind of a troubled childhood.
02:36And even recently, you know, he had different many different relationships.
02:40He's known for being a fiance of Romy Schneider.
02:43He's had several wives, a lot of children who apparently were with him by his side in
02:51the end, despite all of the headline making news in recent years.
02:55So yeah, his personal life was very much the subject of interest by the tabloids.
03:00He also wasn't shy about sharing, again, his political views, his controversial views on
03:06things like same sex marriage and women.
03:10But I think he's someone that was still very well respected within within the industry.
03:16And what's interesting is he was discovered by this Hollywood agent, became known in
03:20France and is probably one of the best known actors from France outside of France.
03:26But he is really well known also in Japan.
03:31He had quite, quite the career there.
03:32He starred in The Samurai.
03:35But he he's really more well known for his career in French, in France with Italian
03:41directors as well, of course.
03:44And we are looking I'm looking at him, you know, from as he was growing up younger, even
03:50into his older years.
03:52And he still was considered this.
03:54I think The New York Times headlines.
03:55It was smoldering French actor and everything I'm reading, even though when someone
03:59passes, they're usually focused more on their career, their lives.
04:03And every single article is starting out the handsome French actor, the international sex
04:09symbol. So I think it is rare to have someone that has, you know, that that career and
04:16also kind of is still known, even though obviously his health declined in the end as
04:21this, you know, sexy, smoldering movie star.
04:24Yeah, I feel like his looks are definitely the thing that's getting emphasized.
04:27You mentioned some of his more controversial views and his death does come as French
04:32cinema has sort of finally been having its its Me Too moment.
04:36Do you think that that's going to influence his legacy in the way that he gets
04:39remembered? Well, I do find it very interesting.
04:42You know, this this is quite the time for the politics in general, in France and the
04:48U.S. here where I am and in in within the industry.
04:52But he's someone who's managed and looking at just the different you show them the
04:56homage, the the different words that everyone has been saying about Emmanuel Macron,
05:01calling him a French monument, an icon of French cinema and the head of the CNC today
05:08just just called him that.
05:09And I think even looking, you know, on social media and and talking to people I know in
05:14the industry, actors, directors, these are most kind of like Hollywood in the French
05:20industry is quite, you know, left leaning, very democratic, very much, you know, in
05:25support, as we've seen with this new wave of Me Too and a lot of people facing
05:30consequences for past actions.
05:32That said, everyone is still commending him, his career and his acting.
05:37And he was also a producer and just kind of the mark that he left on French cinema.
05:44I think Francis Husserl put it well.
05:45They've said, you know, he's not dead.
05:47He'll live on on the screen.
05:49And I think his roles, you know, Plan Soleil and The Leopard and Rocco and his brothers
05:55and and even things like, you know, this generation playing Julius Caesar in Asterix, I
06:03think that he that is interesting that he's managed to kind of maintain this ability to
06:10be respected by the industry, even though obviously, you know, he was loved and hated
06:16by by many.
06:17Yeah, despite the controversy, it's definitely been an outpouring of positive support here
06:21in France. Rebecca Leffler, we're going to have to leave it there.
06:24Thank you so much again for speaking with us.
06:25That's Rebecca Leffler, the France correspondent for Film magazine Screen International.