Colleagues say about her: purposeful, demanding of herself and others, resolute. But there is another Julia Vysotskaya. Deep, worried, sometimes insecure, saying “I don’t know”, but ready to look for answers. Few were able to see her like this. But now we have such an opportunity. In our interview, the actress told what happiness is, why she stopped dreaming and how difficult the role in the new film “Paradise” is.
In the film “Paradise” we will see how Yulia Vysotskaya lives – with other actors and one on one with the camera – the fictional life of Russian aristocrat and French Resistance heroine Olga Kamenskaya. And this image turns out to be so convincing that a clear feeling arises: now we know this actress better, we know about her what was previously hidden …
Psychologies: Was it difficult for you to work on this film?
Julia Vysotskaya: No, I can’t say that. For me, hard work is work that doesn’t work out. When you cannot find the right tone, when there is no common language with partners, when the words in the script or play are foreign to you. This is hard. And here everything went on a very correct path, the whole film. What is perceived by the viewer as a serious topic is not necessarily hard work for the actor.
The higher the creative mood – forgive me such pompousness – the better people treat each other, the better they understand what common cause they are doing, the easier it is. It doesn’t matter if the end result is a comedy, a tragedy or a melodrama. And with “Ray” everything was just perfect, everything worked out very well.
No, it’s not about the difficulties in work, but about the emotional side. After all, you probably prepared, got used to the image.
Yu. V.: Of course, I prepared. Andrei Sergeevich (Konchalovsky. – Approx. ed.) gave huge lists of books to me and other artists. Literature was for everyone. For example, I read a lot of memoirs of Russian emigrants, books about concentration camps, including “Say Yes to Life!” Viktor Frankl. She made a very big impression on me. And of course, all this laid the foundation for the role.
The horror of the tragedies of the twentieth century is that a normal life can become abnormal in the blink of an eye – and none of us knows how we will behave
As for emotions… When I read Jonathan Littell’s novel The Benevolent a few years ago, I thought that I would never smile at any joke about Jews again… Probably, a year ago I would have answered your questions in a completely different way. But the shooting of the film ended a long time ago. And now my main emotion about those shootings: what happiness it was!
In the finale, your heroine performs an incredible, unexpected act. And yet it looks logical in its own way …
Yu. V.: Absolutely. And if it looks logical to you, then I know its logic from the inside, I know much more than the viewer. I only had monologues on the set for three days of 6 hours. (Approximately half of the film consists of episodes in which the main characters talk about themselves, looking into the camera. – Approx. ed.) It was a black box in which you do not see anyone. From time to time the director comes in. And you sit and tell your life.
Each person throws his desires into space when he is painfully lacking something. I don’t throw anything away
The life of the heroine, of course, but it really becomes yours, because after a while you forget about the camera. And so I talked about myself for a total of 18 hours. About childhood, family – none of this was included in the film at all, it all starts with Paris, with the Resistance. But I knew everything from the very birth of the heroine. This is a life that was completely invented, created, and which I retold in these conversations.
As a result, the film included, probably, 15 percent of what I said. But I lived all 100. And the logic of the final act for me followed from these three days too. But I am absolutely sure of this logic.
Have you ever wondered what you would do yourself? On the verge of life and death, when salvation is offered by a person who …
Yu. V.: Oh, we don’t know anything about ourselves! The main horror of all the tragedies of the twentieth century and those that are happening now is that any normal life can become abnormal in the blink of an eye – and none of us knows how we will behave. I want to believe that I could then at least not hate myself.
Your previous film role was in The Nutcracker. It’s been 6 years, that’s a long time.
Yu. V.: Probably, it happens, probably, I am an actress of one director. Perhaps no one believes in me as much as Konchalovsky. Well, and the material that is still offered to me from time to time … I’ll tell you the truth: I haven’t come across anything particularly interesting over the years. On the other hand, I have a serious job in the theater. I have enough difficult acting tasks – the other day I played two Cherry Orchards in a row. And this is quite a tricky job.
I would hardly be in demand as a host of a culinary program if I was a bad actress
You know, every person, as they say, throws some of his desires into space when he is painfully lacking something. And I have not the case, I do not throw anything away. That’s probably why nothing comes up. And then, any role for me is a small life. “Uncle Vanya”, “Three Sisters”, the same “Cherry Orchard”, or a movie like “Paradise”. And I have, probably, some limit of these lives. I accumulate something and then I give it out. And I probably couldn’t do it more often.
It turns out that as an actress you rarely remind yourself. And for a mass audience, more and more become a media person, TV presenter, culinary specialist. Doesn’t it bother you?
Yu. V.: No, I’m proud of it. I would hardly be in demand as a host of a culinary program if I was a bad actress. There are plenty of people who can definitely cut onions better than me. But to make a process out of cutting an onion that is interesting to watch – here you need acting data. It is necessary to interest the viewer, captivate him, make it easy, fun. So that everyone believes that I am the best cook in the world. I’m really a good cook – well, I’m a good cook. I love everything that has to do with food. But, I repeat, love alone is not enough to make a good show.
So you play a great cook?
Yu. V.: No not like this. Of course it’s a role. But for me, the role is the ability to do something better than others in terms of contagiousness. And I know that few people can talk about the simplest pancakes or dumplings like I can. I am aware of this, I do it professionally: I infect you – the viewer – with my love for food. In the end, no one forced me to stand at the stove in front of the camera … And for a long time I learned to be indifferent to grades. Both criticism and praise, by the way.
Completely indifferent?
Yu. V.: I say this without any slyness or hypocrisy. Earlier, in my third year, I could not sleep for three nights, having learned that some director sees me as promising. Her heart was beating so fast that she couldn’t sleep or eat. And now the impression from such a phrase is enough for exactly as long as this phrase lasts. “You did great today.” – “Thank you”. I guess now I know my opportunities and problems much better. And I evaluate the profession more objectively. You know, once a wonderful actress Irene Papas said an amazing phrase to me. She starred in Konchalovsky’s Odyssey, and I worked there as a stand-in. This is such a ridiculous position – a person who puts out the light. So that when the actors came to the site, everything was already ready. After one of the takes, I approached her, unable to contain my delight, and she whispered in my ear: “Well, I deceived everyone again!” Do you understand?
I am insecure in the sense of work and, I am not afraid of this word, a cowardly person
We all, people of this profession, know something about ourselves. If I heard that today I did something well, then I understand: this does not mean that I can do the same thing well tomorrow. In general, in this sense, I am insecure and, I am not afraid of this word, a cowardly person.
Are you unsure of yourself?
Yu. V.: Yes, for me every time is like the first. I’m probably brave, but this is precisely the courage of a person who is very, very scared. Who closes his eyes and jumps into the abyss because he is afraid of heights. From childhood, I deliberately turned off the light in my room at night – because I was afraid to stay in the dark. This overcoming is still in me. The desire to prove to myself what I myself have doubts about. I remember the first time I ran 10 kilometers – I was 14 years old. Everyone has long gone home, and I kept running circles around the stadium …
Isn’t it sad that your heart doesn’t beat like it did in your third year?
Yu. V.: That there is no more enthusiasm, expectations, great prospects? Yes, it’s probably sad. But it inevitably comes with age, I guess. You understand that you will never play any roles. And some wonderful adventures will not drag you out, because you know perfectly well how everything will end in the end.
Of course, this sobriety does not add delight. But what can be done here? I think the last “crisis of the genre”, if we talk about dreams and impulses, was in my life at the age of 26-27. After that, I ended up with great expectations. I think it’s important to stop waiting in time. Otherwise, you don’t live, but do what you expect when you start living that amazing life that you yourself invented. Living in expectations is not a very happy life.
Psychologists say that it is important for us to have some kind of plans, dreams, expectations, projects. And the older we are, the more important it is. Otherwise, as soon as we begin to live in the interests of children and grandchildren, our life ends, turns into an epilogue.
Yu. V.: Of course, I do not call to live in the interests of others. But if someone is happy that he lives in the interests of his children and grandchildren, and realizes himself in this, then there is nothing wrong with that. If this person has the warmest and most comfortable home, if his grandchildren are dressed in the most beautiful knitted sweaters and they have the best gifts under the tree, if the whole family is in a hurry to go home, where vanilla smells from the kitchen, and the cleanest and freshest linen on the beds in the bedrooms, then this is also a talent and also self-realization. But this is not a story about me.
I always wanted to be an artist of one director. What I wanted, I got
I love my house, very much. But I like the active life that takes place outside the walls of the house. I love the theatre, I love my culinary studios, my restaurants. And she spoke about expectations in a different sense. First, do not wait for it to come by itself, but do something. And secondly … I am also a superstitious person and I am afraid of these high expectations.
Probably, if I had always dreamed of playing Juliet or Anna Karenina, then now I would only do what I would bite my elbows. Because instead of Juliet she played Galya from Rostov-on-Don in Glyantse, and instead of Karenina, well, probably Olga Kamenskaya in Paradise. And I sincerely think that these are wonderful pictures.
Yes?
Yu. V.: Happiness is a very short-lived state. Pyotr Ershov, a remarkable theater theorist and psychologist, said that the moment of happiness is when the set task is completed, and a new one has not yet arisen. It just seems to me that I’m doing something all the time, I’m not messing around. You know, I often hear – even from young people – how they, being in some process, scold him. Everything is bad for them, long, uninteresting. Two months pass, they meet and – “Do you remember how cool it was?”. I don’t understand this at all. I don’t remember how cool it was, I feel now that it’s cool. And I take it as absolute happiness.
You said, “Be careful what you wish for.” Can you confirm from your own experience?
Yu. V.: I always wanted to be an artist of one director. I always wanted to be what Giulietta Masina was for Fellini, what Bergman’s women were for Bergman, I wanted to be – a muse, yes, no more, no less. Well, that’s what I wanted, and then I got it. Probably, to your question why I rarely shoot, this one phrase could have been answered.
Paradise found
Julia Vysotskaya was born in Novocherkassk. As an actress, she made her debut in Minsk. Known as the host of culinary TV shows, the author of cookbooks, a restaurateur, and also as the wife of director Andrei Konchalovsky. The list of her film roles was replenished with another role – the Russian emigrant Olga Kamenskaya, who ended up in a concentration camp during World War II. This new film by Andrey Konchalovsky “Paradise” in 2016 received the “Silver Lion” for directing at the Venice Film Festival, was shortlisted for the “Oscar” in the category “Best Foreign Language Film”, received a lot of flattering reviews from reputable critics .
The film takes place in France during the Second World War and tells about difficult choices in difficult living conditions. The picture once again reminds us all that Yulia Vysotskaya is not only a talented TV presenter, but also a great actress.
“Paradise” is in theaters from January 19.
Other cast: Christian Klauss, Philippe Duquesne, Viktor Sukhorukov.