Interview with Vanessa Paradis, member of the Feature Films Jury

Vanessa Paradis, member of the Feature Films Jury © Foc Kan / Getty Images

Singer, actress and now jury member. This is Vanessa Paradis' first experience at the Festival de Cannes, where she is a member of the Feature Films Jury. Interview with a beautiful cinema enthusiast.

How did you take on your role as a jury member?

At the beginning, with a lot of nerves and excitement about having my first experience at the Festival de Cannes. What's brilliant is that after a few days, I realised that the other jury members were as nervous as I was. It's such a responsibility and such a privilege, that it becomes difficult to make choices. I wasn't expecting it to be as strong, magical and intoxicating.

What place does music have in your heart as a jury member?

I pay a lot of attention to it but it's obvious that the film is more important, the story, the setting, the actors. Music is like a pretty dress, it doesn't change the person's soul but it makes it more sublime. I don't think that music can ruin a film, and if it does, it couldn't have been good in the first place.

What will you most remember about the experience that you've just had here in Cannes?

It's difficult to say, but I'm really going to miss it! I've never been to the cinema this much in my life before! I'm also going to miss spending time with the jury. I really admire them as professionals and listen to what they have to say, but what made me melt was their personality. There was an atmosphere of respect, generosity and lots of beauty. We really connected with each other.

You've performed music in films, like in Tom Thumb (Le Petit Poucet) in 2001, A Monster in Paris (Un Monstre à Paris) in 2011, or for Fading Gigolo by John Turturro in 2014. Would you like to write a film score?

I already find it so hard to write my own songs, but in any case I'd love to. I find that really great!

In HeartBreaker (l’Arnacoeur), your favourite film score is Time of my Life in Dirty Dancing; what's your favourite music in real life?

I really like Singing in the Rain, I've loved this film since the age of 5, and it's still my favourite today. It's my memory trigger, it's not at all sad but it can make me cry. My favourite song is when Gene Kelly declares his love for Debbie Reynolds.

Your daughter trod the Red Carpet for The Dancer (La Danseuse). Did you help her prepare for this role?

Lily-Rose is a young woman who knows exactly what she wants. She's very intelligent, very determined and, even if we talk to each other as mother and daughter in the same way as actress to actress, and trust each other, she frankly doesn't need any advice from me. I'm not saying that she has no doubts, but she works really hard, she's very focused and not at all a spolit brat of Hollywood. There's a really good reason for her to be here.

We still remember your moving performance of Le Tourbillon de la Vie with Jeanne Moreau at the Festival de Cannes 1995. Tell us about it.

I arrived via the stage door (I trod the Red Carpet for the first time that year), and it was a surprise for Jeanne Moreau. I was really nervous, I didn't know how she'd react and I'd had a really bad experience in the Palais des Festivals at the very beginning of my career whilst taking part in the Music Festival, Midem (in 1988, she was booed whilst singing Joe le Taxi). I started singing in the wings and when I arrived on stage, I saw the theatre. She was the first person I saw. I couldn't stop looking at her, as if I was hypnotised. She walked towards me, I knelt down and she took my hand. I'll remember that for the rest of my life. I really had the feeling of floating on stage. We hadn't yet met each other (Jeanne Moreau was to play the role of her grandmother six months later in Witch Way Love (Un amour de Sorcière)) but something happened between us. I was wrapped in heat. I'd never felt that, despite doing a lot of concerts and having some very intensive experiences, but this is often something that you feel at the end of a concert, after two hours. Here, it was only a song but it's one of the best moments of my life.