by Helen Barlow
Given the 2020 Cannes Festival’s cancellation, Virginie Efira was unable to walk the famed red carpet this year as the star of Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta, and if she had, she probably would have worn a different dress and heels to last year. In 2019, as the Belgian actress and star of French cinema ascended the Palais steps for the competition film Sibyl, she had a shoegate moment as her strappy heels became entangled in her gown. Luckily, her real-life boyfriend and Sibyl co-star Niels Schneider came to her rescue.
In our interview, which took place beforehand, the self-effacing 43-year-old, who started out as a presenter on Belgian television, admits she “never would have imagined having a film presented at the official competition in Cannes.”
Sibyl, which marks her reteaming with Justine Triet, her director on In Bed with Victoria, had huge marquee value as the supporting cast also includes Adele Exarchopoulos, the 2013 Cannes winner for Blue is the Warmest Colour (available on Netflix), Gaspard Ulliel and Germany’s Sandra Hueller (Toni Erdmann, Proxima). Triet refers to both of her Efira collaborations as dramedies and they did very well at the French box office.
In Sibyl, Efira plays a psychotherapist who wants to return to writing, a career she pursued a decade earlier, and she now draws inspiration for her fiction from her troubled patient, played by Exarchopoulos.
“We did many takes for every scene, from the comical to the very dramatic,” Efira recalls. “The main thing was not to be afraid of trying many things and to be able to put myself in Sibyl’s state of mind, because she doesn’t know what’s going to happen.”
Is she in any way like Sibyl? “What I have in common with Sibyl is that I hide my vulnerability and I pretend that I am strong,” she responds.
Efira has a habit of reteaming with directors she likes. “I can feel confident with the way they work,” she says. “With Justine it was great to go back and do a second film as we had become very close friends. For many years, I was only offered rom coms with stereotyped characters. Now that I’m older, the roles are more complicated, so it’s wonderful and I hope it will continue.”
She had also previously worked with Verhoeven, playing the wife of Isabelle Huppert’s neighbour in his award-winning Elle, a 2016 Cannes contender. Though she was already a fan of the director. “I discovered his work with Basic Instinct and saw all his American films. For me, Turkish Delight is a masterpiece. I felt so lucky to get to work with him.
“When I made Sibyl, I already knew I was to do Benedetta. It took three and a half months to film and it’s a very special character with special energy.”
Benedetta, which will premiere in Cannes 2021, looks set to bring her more international recognition, perhaps in the way that Sharon Stone hit the big time in Basic Instinct in Cannes back in 1992. Efira plays a 17th century lesbian nun in the erotic film, which is based on Judith C. Brown’s book.
Does she have to do outrageous things? “Extremely, yes!” she laughs effusively while declining to reveal what they are. Is there anything she wouldn’t do?
“I would do anything for a director like Paul or Justine, who are intelligent, interesting and passionate about their work. I have my own opinion about the parts and what I’m asked to do, and I think as actors we are responsible for what we choose. But I have no consciousness of what my limitations are. If someone asks me to do something and I’m confident and like the proposal, then I’m just going to go ahead.”
Sibyl is now available on DVD and Video On Demand
