BF As bea'Utiful*H3 evef? Catherine Deneuve, France's greatest actress, Eets animated BY MICIIAELGII.f:IZ I smoking cigarettes.</p><p> And usual- i ly one of those people is actress Catherine Deneuve.</p><p> And in per- son? She waves around a cig- i arette and sips strong coffee. i Quelle perfection. : One ol the most beautifrrl women in ' the world, she broke onto the internation- i al scene playing a charrning strop girl in : 1964's "The Umbrellas ofCherbourg" and I a bored housewile who tumed to prostitu- . tion in 1967's "Belle de.lour." She's been i the face of Chanel No 5 - turning that i perfume into a worldwide blockbuster - : and she's been the face of France itself: : Deneuve was actually the model for one I version of Marianne, the French nalional symbol (equivalent to the Statue of Liber- i ty) that appears on coins and stamps Now6.l,Deneuveisaslovelyasever i i as she talks about "Persepolis," her first l animated film and the latest project that champions the social causes she holds so dear [n the film, due out Christmas Day and based on the autobiographical graph- rc novels by co-miter and director Mar- jilne Salrapi, Deneuve nlays Satrapi's mother, who urges her daughter to flee T'ehran after the Slrah is overthrown il 19?9 "lt's very heattbreaking, and she knows she might not see her daughter ever again," says De- neuve "When Mar- , "l jane comes back once, the moth- er says, 'l don't li want vou to ,l come backhere, \ A fllm filled with humor and drama, not to mention sex, drugs and rock'n' roll fNIa{ane rebels against Iran's lead- ers by embracing ".x*;s$\,;uis: "But I loved it, just doinB tbe voice, : saysDeneuve, whohasbeenmanied I briefly but is more notable for long- term affairs with actor Marcel- lo Mastroiami and filmmakers Francois Trutfaut and Roger -' Vadim, among others. "It's really fun You can oYerdo things You have to play it more because you don't have the face, the expression on ists, something Deneuve .r is proud of but fears may be . slipping awaythanks to eth- nic tensionsco e'{ i:itu;Il;::'* r\ neuve a chance to '* focus completely on i her voice after a career of being both a great actress and a great beauty.' the realJife Salrapi made her movie there , since France has always '" been a sheller for po- liti.al rpfr,ooac 2h.l ^* rrrrru rL'ub!\o orru orr-"Tbat image is suffering even now," says Deneuve, whose recent credits in- clude the whimsical musical "8 Wom- en" n 2002 and rhe Lars von Tn er drama "Dancer in the Dark" in 2000 "Yes, France has the im- age of being open to polit- ical refugees and artists, which is the richness of the country Like America, we let people come from all over It really helps the coun- trv to have that mix lt's veru in- teresting and important to keep the countryfrom being dried out It's alive " Always lovely, Deneuve's beauty, like her talent, is even richer as shegrows older; she has a complete disinter- est in plastic surgery and seeing young- er and younger women going under the knile frightens her. she says She got a chance to skewer that obses- sion with a guest role last year on m episode of the FD( net- work drama "Nip/Tuck " Maybe her continental iconoclast take on life and aft isn't a fit in Holllvood, but in Euope, the great roles keep coming without a break "I work quite regularly, yes," says Deneuve "lt's true it's easier to Srow older in Europe than America, that's for sure There's a cult for youth lrere that is very oppressive " affi 'i'i{l ilil, Eo -c) 6 o c:,'1 the face.</p><p> You have $: to be stylized, It's a very interesting job for an actor" And it's no acci- dent Satrapi took ref- uge in France or that q 3Uz - oo N @ Eo oo E c lE = 6
