Cannes, the world’s most prestigious film festival, is as of yesterday in full swing. Art Film Fest’s organizers are present as well. Another point of interest is that at the helm of Cannes’ main jury, which determines the winner of the pre-eminent Palme d’Or prize, is the French actress Isabelle Huppert. The same Isabelle Huppert who in 2007 personally attended Art Film Fest and accepted the Actor’s Mission Award. And who on Trenčianske Teplice’s Bridge of Fame personally fixed a brass plaque bearing her name, which will forever commemorate her. “It is a form of appreciation, a gesture, which brings me joy. For me, the plaque on the Bridge of Fame is just as precious as, say, one’s name on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood,” she acknowledged at Art Film Fest. Huppert has also been awarded at the festival on the French Riviera whose jury she is heading this year. She is most noted for her performances in Claude Chabrol’s pictures and for role as alleged murderess Violette Noziére in the film of the same name, for which she won an award at Cannes. She received yet another award for Best Actress at Cannes in 2001 for the role of Erika Kohut in the drama The Piano Teacher from director Michael Haneke, where she portrayed a spinster music teacher who has an affair with a student. It is surely an award in itself to chair the jury at Cannes. Huppert had already stepped into the limelight in the 1970s. She worked with the renowned exponent of the French New Wave Jean-Luc Godard. Choosing the right films brought her awards from film festivals in Berlin, Cannes and Venice. She became the representative actress of her generation, and she has been nominated for the French César film award twelve times. In 2002 she appeared in the film 8 Women from François Ozon, where her performance of a neurotic woman earned her a European Film Award. “I play women who are unusual. Their behaviour is interesting, even controversial. I have a stronger bond to these kinds of roles, because they connect opposites within themselves; they are victims, but on the other hand they are also aggressive and mean,” says the actress, who in addition to European cinema has also experienced working in America.
