Two veterans of the cinema, the actress of the United States Jane Fonda and the German director Wim Wenders, were yesterday the protagonists of a Cannes festival that today will present the award of a 76th edition in which the films of Glazer, Kaurismäki and Triet start as favourites. Fonda, 85, gave an entertaining talk to the audience in a packed Buñuel room that succumbed to the charm and talent of a woman who spoke at length about a career spanning more than six decades that has given her , among other awards, two Oscars for best actress for Klute (1971) and Tornar a casa (1978). Although he is quite a legend of the seventh art, Fonda admits that he does not feel a special passion when it comes to films, “only when he gets involved in special projects”.
And she said she’s surprised she’s still being called to work at her age. “I want to make films that challenge me. Interpreting something really complex”, says the actress, who has the comedy Book Club: Ahora Italia on the bill.
To the questions about what is the secret to being so fit, he admits: “A few years ago I underwent cosmetic surgery “which I’m not happy about, but I take care of my diet, I walk, I sleep a lot – the last night, 13 hours – and I remain very curiousâ€. And he reviewed some professional colleagues, such as Lee Marvin, with whom he filmed La ingenua explosiva in 1965: “He was always drunk, but he was a magnificent human being”. From Robert Redford, with whom she has acted in four films, the last one six years ago in Nosotros en la noche, she reveals that “she was in love with him” and that she did not like kissing at all. “He was always in a bad mood and I thought it was my fault.” “He is a good person and we had a great time, but he has a problem with women.” She has never felt part of Hollywood. “They don’t invite me to parties, and the truth is that my career hasn’t bothered me much. It all depends on the relationships you have, and you have to be very diplomatic. I have never been”.
If Michael Douglas acknowledged in the same room a week ago that he stepped out of the shadow of his father, Kirk Douglas, when he was nominated for Wall Street, Fonda stepped out of that of his father, Henry Fonda, “when he left move to Franceâ€. She shot with Roger Vadim, her first husband, the erotic space adventure Barbarella. Soon after he returned to the US, to protest the Vietnam War and starred in Homecoming. Later it would be the turn of Danzad, danzad, malditos: “I did it because my mother committed suicide and it’s something that also tested my character”. Currently, she does not have any projects underway because she is focused on her fight against climate change. “It is something very serious. There would be no global warming if there were no racism and patriarchy.” And she recognizes that she is focused on activism: “It has given me life”.
For his part, Wenders made a triumphant return to Cannes, where he aspires to the Palme d’Or – almost 40 years after he won it in Paris, Texas – with Perfect days, a simple, poetic and emotional story about the daily routine of a man who works meticulously cleaning public toilets in a park. The film, a Japanese co-production, is a love letter to Tokyo, to nature and to the music of Lou Reed and Van Morrison that the protagonist – magnificent KÅji Yakusho – listens to on a cassette in the van on the way to job An ode to the small pleasures of life.
