Catherine Deneuve, the grande dame of French cinema, claims there are no longer real stars in the country and has lamented the rise of social media nonentities and selfies, reports The Guardian.
The 71-year-old actor, who won a Bafta for her portrayal of Belle de Jour and has been nominated 31 times for a César – the French national film award – spoke to the Journal du Dimanche days before her latest film, La Tête Haute (Head High), opens the 68th Cannes film festival.
“There are no longer any stars in France. A star is someone who should be seen a little and then remain discreet, reserved. With the introduction of the digital age, the intrusion is into everything, everywhere and all the time,” she told the paper. “We see a huge amount about people who are very famous, who have millions of followers ... and who have done absolutely nothing.”
Deneuve admitted she had a “limited” relationship with new technology. “I find the mobile telephone very useful, but I turn if off when necessary. I don’t dine with my mobile with me,” she said.
“It’s wonderful to be able to take photographs, but I detest selfies ... taking photographs of yourself all the time, showing off on FaceTime ... it makes everything banal. It’s terrible, this notion that we’re always in the process of looking at ourselves doing something and not living.”
Deneuve, for many years regarded as a muse for Yves Saint Laurent, has hardly lived the life of a shrinking violet. Her image was used to represent Marianne, the symbol of the French republic, she has been the face of Chanel No 5 and L’Oréal, advertised Louis Vuitton luggage and in 1986 launched her own perfume: Deneuve.
The daughter of two actors, who made her first film at 13, she became famous in the 1964 musical Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg). Deneuve was nicknamed the “ice maiden” after starring as a cold and murdering Belgian manicurist Carol Ledoux in Roman Polanski’s psychological horror film, Repulsion.