Interview: A beautiful new twist in Audrey’s sparkling film career

AUDREY Tautou continues to capture hearts with her gamine charm. Albertina Lloyd met the captivating French star.

Audrey Tautou is perched, bird-like, on the edge of her chair, looking exactly like the timid little Amelie she is well known for playing.

As she gabbles away in French to the two women primping and preening her, retouching the make-up she doesn’t need, she bursts into a hearty laugh as she shares in an, apparently, rather cheeky joke.

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This mischievous side is one she has in common with her character in new French romantic comedy Beautiful Lies.

Directed by Pierre Salvadori, who she worked with playing a gold digger in Priceless, Tautou stars as feisty hairdresser Emilie, who is so focused on mending her mother’s broken heart that she doesn’t notice love is beckoning.

Tautou admits Salvadori didn’t have to do much to persuade her to work with him again. “Not at all. He just wrote me a little SMS asking me if I would want to do a second adventure with him and I said, ‘Of course’.”

But after the success of Priceless, in which Tautou relished playing a glamorous Holly Golightly-inspired character, she admits she wasn’t sure Beautiful Lies could live up to the experience.

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“Our experience with Priceless – and the script and the part – was so wonderful that I was scared not to have something that I would have loved as much.

“But when I read the script I loved it so much. I thought it was so funny, and even funnier than Priceless. My part was a real gift so I was thrilled.”

Edgy hairdresser Emilie is working hard to get her new salon off the ground, while at the same time trying to help her mother, Maddy, find love again, just as her father is remarrying. When she receives an anonymous love letter from her handyman Jean, Emilie is too busy to wonder who her admirer is, and gets into a tangle of lies by forwarding the letter to her mother to cheer her up.

It was her character’s inner fragility that attracted Tautou to the part.

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“Emilie’s a woman who is very contrasted. She is very authoritarian, very bossy and selfish, but in another way she’s full of good intentions, she’s sweet and her confidence is a facade.

“And behind this wall of conviction she’s just a tiny little thing, so I like her. I like the opposition in her personality.”

The Bafta-nominated actress helped to style trendy, tattooed Emilie, whose casual appearance and cropped hair seems a world away from her own chic appearance. Today she looks immaculate in a sparkling Chanel jacket teamed with jeans and towering designer heels.

“Of course, it’s a part of the interpretation of the character and I noticed that hair stylists always have a special look – you see on their face that they work in style so it was important to put an accent on that.

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“And as tattoos are very fashionable at this moment, and especially in the south of France, we decided that it would be interesting that she had this little fantasy.”

But the elegant actress, who is the face of Chanel No5 after playing designer Coco Chanel in a film about the designer’s early life, is horrified at the idea of ever having a tattoo herself.

Tautou shakes her perfectly-arranged, glossy hair and wrinkles her nose at the very idea.

“No! Never! I would never have a tattoo. Because I get bored with things very quickly. And also, if at 60 years old you will have a little dolphin on your shoulder... I’m not sure that’s so cool, you know?” she giggles.

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The French star entered the global spotlight following the success of Amelie, and starred alongside Tom Hanks in the film adaptation of Dan Brown’s global best-seller The Da Vinci Code.

Tautou is attracted to playing independent women. “I think that the part I like to play has a lot of personality, or maybe it’s me who gives them more personality than what they can have when you read the script.”

And while she injects her vibrant personality into her roles, she looks for them to complement her in return.

“At this point of my life I think what’s important for me is to grow older with my character. I would like that my parts follow my whole personal evolution as a woman. So I feel that’s a very interesting moment in my work to try to do it a bit better.”

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And despite dabbling in Hollywood blockbusters, she admits she prefers making small, independent films in her home country.

“I like blockbusters because it stays something special and exotic for me. I couldn’t do a blockbuster, and another big movie and another big one... because I think I’m closer to independent-minded movies.

“But it doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy my experience on The Da Vinci Code, and you know maybe one day... But I don’t want to become bigger than what I am today, so I prefer to keep it calm.”

AUDREY’S ROAD TO FILM FAME

* Amelie (2001) Tatou shot to fame after playing the heroine in Amelie, which scooped a collection of European awards and Oscar nomindations.

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* The Da Vince Code (2006) She made her Hollywood debut in the film adaptation of Dan Brown’s novel, playing Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist with the French police.

* Priceless (2006) Tatou played gold digger Irene, a character inspired by Holly Golightly, who mistakenly targets a waiter when he pretends to be a millionaire.

* Coco Before Chanel (2009) In this film about Chanel’s early like, Tatou plays the young designer establishing a business.

* Beautiful Lies, out today.