“If you’re true to yourself, to your body and your sensations, you can never lie”
– The iconic actress discusses the less visible aspects of preparing her documentary debut and revisiting her dance piece with Akram Khan
(© Miao Productions)
In her directorial debut, In-I In Motion [+see also:
film review
interview: Juliette Binoche
film profile], iconic actress Juliette Binoche presents, for the very first time, the creative process behind a collaborative dance performance she co-directed and staged over 100 times with British dancer-choreographer Akram Khan in 2007. The two-hour documentary also includes a full recording of In-I as a standalone piece: guided by a few words of introspection from the actress/director, the viewer is given a unique opportunity to experience a journey of experimentation and co-creation, with the entire film remaining true to Binoche’s credo of being truthful through your art and your body. On the eve of a special screening at CPH:DOX, Cineuropa seized the opportunity to discuss the film with her in greater depth.
Cineuropa: You’ve engaged with quite a few art forms so far, and now you’ve made your directorial debut, how would you describe your attitude towards change and transformation?
Juliette Binoche: I see it as more of an ability to be in touch with what’s being offered to me, and saying yes to it. I never thought I was going to co-create with Akram Khan and perform on stage 120 times, but it began with [my trainer] Su-Man Hsu who asked, while giving me a Shiatsu massage with an elbow in my back, “Do you want to dance?” And I just said, “Yes!” It was out of the blue, but it happened because circumstances allowed it. I was excited about learning to move; I’ve always exercised, but I’ve never moved in space. It was only in rehearsals that I suddenly realised how difficult it was…
What were the differences between being a conduit for a character and a conduit for dance? I imagine it involved a lot of unlearning.
That’s where [acting coach] Susan Batson‘s genius helped me, during the first three weeks of rehearsals. She pointed out that I’d have to ‘start from the sensation,’ in order to create a movement that’s true to my story, to my memories, to my body. It really changed my whole perspective on dancing – it wasn’t about learning how to dance or imitating Akram anymore. If you’re true to yourself, to your body, if you always start from the sensation, you can never lie. If you come from a place of sensation, the gesture, the movement of any art form will be personal.
Did you experience your own physicality differently after In-I, especially in your acting roles?
It was more than that, because the difficulty of the show was that it was physically and emotionally demanding at the same time, which is rare. It was rough. Every single time I had to go on stage, I was frightened, I thought I was going to die, that I wasn’t going to make it to the end. But every time I did, I was astonished. It was the joy of giving yourself over and surviving. What it brought to me was a new sense of strength that came from facing my fear again and again. In a way, the experience of the show gives you wings.
There’s very little of your own verbalised reflection in the film.
I wanted to put the audience in our shoes, or in the same room as us, and allow them to experience the blurriness that came with creating. We didn’t have a preconceived idea of what we were going to do: we didn’t have a subject-matter in mind and we didn’t know each other. But that’s why you have to have faith and work hard.
Why didn’t you include more voiceovers?
I didn’t want to explore the subject-matter in a classical way, because we weren’t working on it in a classical way. We put ourselves in a kind of blurry space, relying on patience and faith, and I wanted the audience to see that too; that it’s okay if you’re doing something new in your life or trying on a new art form, it’s okay if you don’t see a result just yet. It’s okay because it’s part of the journey. It’s like navigating on a boat – it’s foggy, there’s no land in sight, but you’ve still got to believe! And bit by bit, as you’re navigating, you realise, “Oh, I can see a little bit of land here!” You see it coming closer and closer until you say: “Here it is!”
What were the most interesting discoveries made through the editing process?
I knew the film’s beginning wasn’t going to help the audience that much, but it would provide them with everything they needed to know about In-I. I didn’t want to lose the audience too quickly with lots of rehearsal footage – not to bore people, but to go through certain steps. It took me a while to strike the balance between not explaining things too much, but just enough for people not to get lost, to preserve spontaneity and some sort of ambiguity too. I didn’t take editing classes but, without being too presumptuous, I felt like I was being guided by my intuition in terms of whether to go for a wide shot or a close up.
How did you work on the musical side of things?
That was my biggest takeaway from the editing process – creating space [through sound], linking music with thoughts or feelings was wonderful. Akram Khan knew Philip Shepherd, who became our composer, so it was mostly the two of them working together. The music you hear in the rehearsal part of the documentary is what Akram and I brought in, in order to improvise and inspire each other during the work process. Obviously, back then, I wasn’t thinking about it, but when we had to look into copyright… it was a lot of work! I even wrote to Paul McCartney about “Ebony and Ivory”, and he was kind enough to give us a very low price!
