Bird's Eye View

As Coco Before Chanel Opens in Cinemas, BEV Speaks to Director Anne Fontaine

Anne Fontaine

Coco Before Chanel, starring the wonderful Audrey Tatou, opens in cinemas this week. It is directed by French filmmaker Anne Fontaine, for Warner Brothers. BEV’s director Rachel Millward caught an early preview, and had the chance to talk to Anne about her career, the situation for women filmmakers in France, and to get some top tips for any budding movie-makers amongst you. 

Rachel: You started out as an actor. What made you want to move into directing?

Anne: I didn’t choose to be actress, I was chosen by director in ballet class when I was 17, so I wasn’t really conscious of what the job would be like. After 5 or 6 years I was doing movies, theatre, TV. But I was more used to ballet, dancing had felt freer to me. I didn’t feel free as actress, so I quit. Then I didn’t know what to do! I began to write. Once I had a first script, I had to direct it myself, as no one wanted to buy it. I didn’t do film school, I just gave it a go. I had some support from the government and TV, but really the story didn’t need much money – it was very low budget. But that was freeing. I could experiment. I think one’s first movie is something very important in that way. Directing is closer to what i feel about constructing a world from imagination. It’s more comfortable for me.

Rachel: In the UK, only 6 or 7% directors are women. What’s the situation in France?

Anne: I’m not sure of the statistics, but it’s certainly better than that in France. We are really the only European country with a very important new generation of women directors – not like US, Italy, UK etc. This is simply because there is more help to make movies in France. There is more democratic access. The government supports a lot more creativity in film.

Anne:No. It was no more difficult because I am a woman, I don’t think. There is the question of whether the movies you want to make interest a producer, but there’s no real difference in France today. It’s a fight to make a movie – a violent one – but no more difficult for women than men.

Rachel: What about when you’re on set?

Anne: When on set, you have to direct many men – lots of the technicians are men. But i never think about being a woman, you’re not sexual – that all goes into the characters you create. It’s more a question of personality. You just need to know how to express what you want, so that the crew believe that you know what to do. Now they are used to women being in charge in France. It’s almost normal – it’s not equal of course, there are more male directors, but it’s nothing exceptional.

Rachel: What advice would you give to women starting out as filmmakers?

Anne: Don’t think about being a woman or a man, but have your mind on what you write. You have to have something to tell, something to transmit. It’s the strength of the idea of the movie that gives others the belief in you. You have to convince many other people in order to make a movie. They are testing whether you have a vision. If you are strong in what you want to say, your gender doesn’t matter.

Rachel: Coco Before Chanel is your first costume drama. What is next for you?

Anne: I am going to make a film with Isabelle Hupert, a comedy. Whenever I finish a movie, I always think of what I’m doing next. I knew straight away after Coco that I wanted to do something ironical and fun. It’s very difficult to be funny and intelligent at the same time. Oh, and I also want to make a movie about Doris Lessing after that – I’m writing that now.

Coco Before Chanel is on general release from Friday July 31st. For more information see our First Weekenders Club page.