The Cannes Film Festival opened its 75th edition on Tuesday evening. This year, six Luxembourg co-productions feature in the official selection, including two produced by Samsa Film (via producers Bernard Michaux and Jani Thiltges) and presented in the “Un certain regard” section. Luxembourg actress Krieps stars in both films.
After her nomination at the César Awards at the beginning of the year, her role in US box-office hit Old and appearances in the New York Times, Vanity Fair and Variety, the actress--who rose to fame in Paul Thomas Anderson’s film Phantom Thread in 2017--is once again at the top of the bill.
Last year, you were selected at Cannes with two films and a short film. This year, you are there again with two features.
Vicky Krieps: It's really amazing to me to experience this again. I could even use the word ‘overwhelming’. Because being in Cannes was a dream I couldn't have. When you come from a small country like Luxembourg, it is something that seems unattainable... So, last year, when I was here with two feature films, it was a bit like walking on the moon.
Cannes is an event that has seen so many films that I have loved and that have marked me. To attend as a spectator would already have been incredible for me. So you can imagine, to be invited there with two films in which I play... It was huge in 2021 and it is just as huge in 2022.
At the age of 15, Vicky Krieps read the biography of Sissi, the foundation of the film Corsage. Credit: (Photo: Anna Krieps/FilmAg/Samsa Film)
Here you are, with two films that are set to be outstanding. First of all there is Corsage by Austrian director Marie Kreutzer, in which you play Sissi, empress Elisabeth of Austria. This is a role that everyone equates with Romy Schneider since her performance in the 1950s saga of the same name. Being compared to such an actress can’t be easy…
Indeed, it’s not. Romy Schneider is an actress whose work I appreciate. But Corsage is very different from that saga, which was made almost 70 years ago. Our film focuses on the woman, empress Elisabeth, and in particular her struggle to maintain her public image as she turned 40, whereas 'Sissi' was more in keeping with the image that had been created of her. As a result, I play an Elisabeth who has little to do with Romy Schneider. You could even say that in the end, they are two very different roles.
So you haven’t watched different parts of this saga again for inspiration?
No. But those films inspired me in a different way. When I was young, I saw them with my neighbour. With her family, we watched them every year at Christmas time. I really enjoyed it because it was very different from what I saw at home. I became interested in this princess story, because at home there were no princesses (she smiles). And thanks to that, at the age of 15, I read the biography of Sissi.
At that age, I obviously didn't understand all the subtleties of her life, but enough to intrigue me, to make me wonder. Why didn't she want her picture taken? Not to be painted? Why was she one of the first people to ask for what are now called fitness machines to be made for her? The depth of this story escaped me in part, but it piqued my interest. And in 2015, when I made my first film with Marie Kreutzer (the film “Was hat uns bloß so ruiniert”, editor’s note.), I suggested the subject to her.
So it was you who initiated this film?
Yes, at the time Marie also had these films with Romy Schneider in mind. And what she remembered was their superficial and kitschy side, which made them rather uninteresting in her eyes. So I told her about this biography I had read a few years earlier. And that was that... At least until she sent me the script for Corsage two or three years later. She had researched it and written it down. But you can see why this production is very close to my heart. There are many personal things in this film.
The poster for the film 'More than ever', in which Vicky Krieps shares the screen with Gaspard Ulliel. (Photo: Samsa Film)
The other feature film in which you appear, More Than Ever (to be released on 9 November), is eagerly awaited by the French public and press, as it is the last film of the actor Gaspard Ulliel (who died at the age of 37 on 19 January). It is likely to be a real emotional moment at its presentation on Saturday 21 May?
Yes... Nevertheless, I hope that More Than Ever will not be just expected because it is Gaspard Ulliel’s last film. Above all, it is a very beautiful film, by a director (Franco-Austrian Emily Atef, with whom Krieps shot Three Days in Quiberon in 2018, editor's note) who deserves to finally be selected in this Cannes festival.
The screening can only be a beautiful moment as Gaspard will be alive on the screen for the duration of the film. To be present at Cannes in a last feature film that speaks of a couple’s love and how this love can survive death, is a beautiful analogy. Strong and profound. I hope that we will be able to convey some of that truth to the audience…
The rest of this interview will be available on delano.lu on Saturday 8 am.
This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.
