She plays the fascinating role of a woman promised to the convent from childhood and who will experience pleasure with another woman. A bond that will multiply his faith and his thirst for power. A nun inspired by a true story that earned Virginie Efira to be the headliner of
Benedetta by Paul Verhoeven. The feature film hits theaters this Friday while it is presented this week in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
Well surrounded by Lambert Wilson, Charlotte Rampling and
Daphne Patakia, Virginie Efira can already claim an interpretation prize at the end of next week, during the closing ceremony which will roll out the winners of the Croisette. In the meantime, the Belgian actress confided in 20 minutes a few days before going up the steps of the Palais des Festivals.
The film was to be screened at Cannes last year… and here it is finally on the Croisette and in theaters. How did you experience this expectation?
I did not believe it anymore ! I started to tell myself that Benedetta was a cursed work that would never come out after all the postponements due to the pandemic! It’s a good thing that the film is finally making its way to Cannes, even after a year of delay, because it is a singular film that can spark controversy. I do not like the fact of shocking, if there are not good reasons to do it, but the freshness of mind as the relevance of Paul Verhoeven seems to me to be excellent. It’s wonderful that we were able to find the money to make such a free movie in our time.
Is Paul Verhoeven as provocative as his films?
I passed the casting for It, even though I knew it was for a small role because I wanted to meet this director whom I admired since I was 16. I didn’t think I would be taken, but I hoped to be able to spend some time with him and I discovered a sensitive and respectful director who does not have in human and professional relationships the provocative and aggressive approach that his films could suggest. .
Did he tell you that he was thinking of you for “Benedetta”?
Not at all ! The shooting ofIt had gone well, but we hadn’t had a particular connection. He had even passed me one day in a hotel without recognizing me. As I’m fairly playful, my agent had fun making me guess the name of a mysterious director who was thinking of me for a script. I finally found out when I asked if he was French and my agent replied in the negative. I was in total astonishment because Paul Verhoeven is so much a part of my personal Pantheon that I never imagined getting a leading role with him.
Taking over from Isabelle Huppert and Sharon Stone, what impression does it make?
It is becoming a heroine of Paul that made me dream because he very often puts women at the center of his stories. Her heroines seek to assert themselves in cruel worlds ruled by men. And they don’t hesitate to use their bodies and take charge of their sexuality without letting guys decide everything. These are themes that speak to me.
Did you know from the start that you would have sex scenes to shoot?
When we met, Paul Verhoeven was still in the middle of writing. He told me the outline of the story in English. I didn’t understand everything, but I was pretending. I still understood that he was telling me that there would be a lot of sex scenes, which was okay with me. He also told me that these scenes would be between girls and I told him that it was not a problem either.
What was your reaction to reading the script?
I fell into a halt: it is completely the cinema that I love. A film with oblique content with a wonderfully complex character. There was so much to do to give Benedetta its full potential, so many levels of reading to bring out. I found a very powerful philosophical dimension in this story but also a lot of humor. It immediately delighted me because I found there everything I admired so much about Paul Verhoeven.
Benedetta, did you want to make him an angel or a demon?
She is not sympathetic, she has an egocentric background, but she struggles to find a form of freedom when she is supposed to submit since childhood. I needed the character to be as sincere as possible, to be tough, but touching, especially in her discovery of desire, sex and pleasure that she will use as weapons in a world where suffering and pain. hatred of the body are magnified. Once she has enjoyed, she no longer feels farting! She feels the wife of Jesus to the point of ending up thinking that she is God… She reminds me of certain politicians convinced that they will always benefit from impunity and who are caught up in business. Once she touches power, she can’t let go. She uses her faith to submit people to her will.
How did Paul Verhoeven direct you to bring the character to life?
Paul trusts. It does not give any indications. He doesn’t care what we did before or after his film, if we were a TV host or star of big movies. I’m not even sure he saw mine! He treats everyone the same. He gave me a lot of freedom by telling me that I knew what I had to do. So I worked with a coach to build Benedetta’s psychology, to try to understand it as in a kind of psychoanalysis. I was surprised to find out how close this nun’s reality was to fiction. Once nourished by this research, I arrived on the set. He filmed the character as he wanted. He wanted to play on Benedetta’s ambiguity. He needed my sincerity for that.
Were the sex scenes difficult to shoot?
Paul knows that nude scenes find their interest in what they reveal of the relationships between the characters. These scenes don’t bother me when everything is rehearsed and framed. That nothing is shown in a scabrous way. I admit without pride having followed a fitness cure before playing them. I who like to see different bodies on the screen, I chose to normalize mine. The difference between theory and practice struck me when I found myself doing sit-ups like a jerk. But I didn’t want to spend the freediving shoot tucking my stomach in, feeling uncomfortable. The funny thing about filming these scenes is that sometimes you think you’re going to pass out because modesty takes you over the edge. It always ends up passing, but these are funny trips. Paul’s delicacy was precious during these moments of doubt. His youthful spirit too. His constant, sharp humor. He’s not a jaded man. He knows how to listen to you while giving you the impression of participating in something that is not limited to you. It’s wonderful for an actress to have the impression of being an element in a work larger than herself.
Benedetta reminds me of certain politicians convinced that they will always benefit from impunity and who are caught up in business. Once she touches power, she can’t let go. “
Did you also have this impression with Albert Dupontel on ” Goodbye idiots ”?
Like Paul Verhoeven, Albert Dupontel attaches great importance to the aesthetics of his films. Goodbye idiots clearly touched something sensitive in the public. Albert Dupontel knows how to reach the viewer with a mixture of ferocity and unique tenderness. His universe is unlike any other and neither are his characters. By attending the previews, I understood how Goodbye idiots was going to have an impact on people. No doubt because the film is about people left behind with whom it is easy to identify. I didn’t really realize it at the time because, when you’re taking part in a film, it’s hard to take a step back.
How do you see the rest of your career?
In recent years, I have had the chance to meet exceptional filmmakers. It is certain that my meeting with Justine Thiriet for Victoria marked a milestone in the way people perceive me. It’s all the more fun since I thought for a long time that my body type would limit me to playing nice girls. I also have my period when I played crazy that a shrink could have prescribed treatments for serious pathology! Today, I am open to everything. A film is an act of faith and I wait to meet people with whom I will share the same belief.