Bernadette Lafont and God created the free woman © RR
Bernadette Lafont, cinematic muse
Considered a great muse of the French Nouvelle Vague, Bernadette Lafont has left an indelible mark on French cinema. In Bernadette Lafont et Dieu créa la femme libre (Bernadette Lafont, and God created the free woman), documentary filmmaker Esther Hoffenberg examines the extraordinary career of this committed actress, once directed by Truffaut and Chabrol.
How did you meet Bernadette Lafont?
It was during my last film, about Violette Leduc. I heard that Bernadette Lafont was a fan of the author, and we bonded over our shared love of her literature. I then wanted to make a film that would capture her life.
It's a film in the first person, in which you address her directly, without any specialist language….
Yes, I approached this film from a purely personal point of view. It's Bernadette as seen from within. The documentary is based on audio interviews carried out over several months in 2011, and lots of films and archives, mainly provided by the INA.
What were you looking for when conducting the interviews?
Through her films, I had an image of someone very daring and free. I was interested in the complexity of her personality. Her love of artists and her personal, charitable commitments had never really been addressed before. She was a famous actress who conveyed a mixture of boldness, courage, and also solitude.
“A unique voice”.
What aspect of her personality was revealed to you during these discussions?
I discovered that she also has strong ethics and a wonderful imagination. Her numerous charitable commitments made a big impression on me too. She has always been a maverick. She was the only “sex-symbol” in films at the time who wasn’t from the city. And she’s managed to stay simple and down to earth. She has had a go at everything, but always with a goal in mind, and a focus on providing for her family. She has continuously worked on herself, created a personality, a style… never resting on her laurels. Over the years, she has become a great character actress with a unique voice, and characteristics that are hers and her alone. The closer I got, the more I was in awe of this woman. My film shows that she really isn’t like anyone else.
What was her relationship with cinema?
For her, it was a dream come true. I did lots of work on her childhood dreams and on the evolution of these aspirations in her family home in Cévennes, where her grand-daughters live today. The house played a pivotal role in the Nouvelle Vague. It was here that she attracted Truffaut for their first film. They made their debut together. I went to this cinematic motherland, where her dreams began, where she was inspired by major names like Leslie Caron and Brigitte Bardot, her role model.
Which filmmakers did she love?
Obviously, there's Truffaut and Chabrol, but she only worked with people she respected. She recognised originality and a true artistic point of view. What she loved above all was poetry, as opposed to demonstrative cinema.
