in this episode of this cultural life, the radio 4 program, juliette binoche reveals her formative influences and experiences, and reveals how it was seeing a play directed by peter brook that first ignited her passion for acting. i felt so much joy watching it. i remember thinking, "if you can give thatjoy, "i want to give it as well."

it's tight. juliette binoche, welcome to this cultural life. thank you for having me. you were born in paris in 1964 and you spent your early years there. both your parents were actors. what sort of work did they do? well, yes, they were actors but they were doing other things to survive because it was hard to be an actor. so, we're not poor but we were very restricted. and my father was a communist and he was, like, fighting for the people, and — but, yes, they were back and forth into directing and writing, as well as acting and travelling. so, they were both very artistic people. yes, and struggling people as well, you know. right. your parents divorced, i think, when you were four years old and you were sent to a boarding school with your sister. so, that's a young age to be sent away. was that pretty tough? yes, they separated when i was 2.5 and then, we were put into different places. one was in a boarding

school and another place was at my grandmother's, who separated my sister and i, and i went to my aunt's house. so, it's been a childhood that has been, you know, travelling and emotionally not knowing where i was, you know, where i was, where i was belonging, you know, why i was there, so it was — and i think it helped me as an actress very much, because it opens your heart in a way. it, it's, erm... it hurts, but at the same time, you've got to find a way to survive inside you. and so, i was a joyful child. my way of surviving was playing and being joy by, you know, feeling joy. and so, i suffered but also, i was happy. even though you weren't, i presume, seeing your parents very often, then? when we were in boarding school, we saw them saturday afternoon and sunday. and sometimes, we were sent sunday night to the boarding school.

so, that was — they were probably rough years, but, you know, children — they don't know that. mmm. they understand that later on, when you have your own children and you — you remember, "0k, "i was there then." you have to deal with it your whole life afterwards. what sort of cultural education did you get at school? a normal one, let's say. but i was educated by the passion of my parents, you know — going to the theatre as well as, you know, going to see musicians or going to see films or, you know, or reading plays during christmas—time. so, it was rich. i would say it was chaotic, but it was rich. and did you say your father was a communist? oh, yeah. yeah. so, there was there was a political dimension to the upbringing as well? yeah, and my mother was a feminist and ecologist in the �*70s, so i was, you know, surrounded by — yeah, the consciousness of what's happening in this world. on this cultural life,

i ask my guest to choose the most important influences and experiences that have inspired their own creativity and you've chosen for us a production of alfred jarry�*s ubu roi, which was directed by peter brook. my mother took me. i remember being with her and seeing ubu roi, and i was probably 13 mm, and i remember following this play and being mesmerised by it. drum hit. woman shrieks. it's a really interesting production — very bare set, minimal props — i think there was a drum kit on the stage — and the play ubu roi is a satire, interweaving some of shakespeare's stories as well. there's a bit of hamlet in there, and macbeth. there was a special spirit in peter brook's plays, you know?

and his way of directing. first of all, is that your imagination really go strong when there's almost no object. it's not, you know, the set is not telling you where you are. you'rejust imagining. so, i felt it was — and it was not that conscious when i saw it, you know, when i was a teenager. you probably haven't seen that production since you were there in that theatre. i haven't seen it since then. you know, there is some film — we found it in the bbc archive. amazing. yeah. let me just — just have a look at this clip here. let mejust press... shivers. shouting. can you see? this is the... he makes the... ..the animal! this is a bear, is it? yeah! isn't it amazing? it's a rug which turns into a bear. yeah, i love that. roars. shouts.

laughter. it was something else. it came almost from — instead of showing off something, it was like going down into something. but i felt likejust — it was working in me, for me, and so — and in the play, it's just the freedom, the — you know, the tragedy and comedy all together. and at the end of it all, i, ifelt so muchjoy watching it. i remember standing up — everybody was standing up and applauding — and thejoy i felt, that "if you can give "thatjoy, i want to give it as well." why does it move you so much, do you think? i don't know, it's the... i think i'm made like that. i'm made like that because it touches me and i'm not controlling it. it'sjust happening. it's — probably it's when you open yourself — it's as simple as that. and that was the moment, seeing that production,

that changed you as well, that made you want to be part of theatre. it's more an awareness. "i want to do this". and i don't know how or whether it's possible or not because, you know, life is big and you had to — i needed to be found as well, as i had needed to find my road and how to, you know, to realise a dream. but at least i had the dream. so, that's why going to see, you know, arts is so important because it really can transform me — transform you — inside. so, seeing this production was a transformative moment. it made you think, "i want to do that." and then, you started acting. yes, well, i did at school. my mother was my theatre teacher. and it was wonderful. it was very joyful. and then, when i arrived in paris — i was 15 with my sister. when i got my a—level,

then my mother found a class for me where i met vera gregh. your next choice for this cultural life is your acting teacher, vera gregh. yes. vera gregh, yeah. yeah. so, what did she teach you? how did she teach you? well, you know, i when i entered her well, you know, when i entered her class, i was full of will — talk about will. and so, she took me and she didn't allow me to go on stage. and i thought, you know, what am i doing here if i'm not a scene? and so, after three months, she was working on a scene and after a while, she stopped me. like, almost shouting at me. "stop, stop!" so, i was a little surprised. and then she stopped me, like, several times until i was totally lost. and the turning point of being lost is very important for an actor. not knowing. not knowing what you're doing and where you're going but allowing the trust

in you that it's ok not to know. it will find its way. so, when she was saying "stop, stop, stop acting," she was encouraging you to strip away your self—awareness? the knowledge i thought i had, the willingful to — to prove i was a good actress. it was — you know, just a way to — to listen to myself somehow, to listen to what's in me. so, for you, the acting itself is a profound creative act? absolutely. otherwise, it's not worth it. after you left drama school, you started landing some early screen roles. one of the first ones was a part created for you by jean—luc godard in a film called hail mary in 1985. and, of course, he's — he was very much a god of french cinema, one of the prime movers, the pioneers of the new wave.

so, working with him, that experience — was that intimidating, to work with somebody who was so revered at a young age? yes, it was, but at the same time, he was not that reachable. and he would change his mind all the time on the set, and — or sometimes, he would come on the set and he didn't want to shoot, so we had to go back to our hotel and we stayed there for months. but what i felt, he was respecting us because he was paying us quite well. paying you? yeah! and that — it meant a lot to me because i was living, you know, with my little roles, you know, how i could because i was not helped by my parents, so it meant a lot to me. and ifelt, "oh, he has respect in that way." he was not trying to be cheap.

i presume that that style of acting that you developed at school was with a kind of an eye on the stage, primarily. was it very different, the technique of having — that you had to employ in front of the camera for godard? what was different is that my acting teacher — vera orjean—pierre — they were trying to help me. jean—luc godard didn't try to help me at all! he was... i would say he was almost — not that i had a lot of scene in the film, you know — i have very little scenes — but what i recall from, you know, working with him is that he was always trying to shift things so you wouldn't feel comfortable. so, that you would feel a sort of malaise, a twist of not feeling — not feeling at home.

your next choice for this programme is the experience of making les amants du pont—neuf, which is a love story about two young people sleeping rough on the oldest bridge in paris, and it's set in 1989 against the backdrop of the bicentennial celebrations that were going on in paris, fireworks going off. music: blue danube waltz byjohann strauss ii plays. a breakthrough role for you, playing one of the two lovers.

playing, actually, a painter who's going blind in the story. you've made around 70 films in your career to date, so why have you chosen this one? well, i was totally part of it because i was living with leos carax at the time, and we had... who was the director and writer. yes, we had done, the night is young in english, le mauvais sang — and so, we were living together and as he was writing the script, i was painting and drawing him and so, he included that role — and i'm a painter in the story — and you know, we were fighting to, to make it done together. so, it was 2.5 years of, you know, of trying to shoot it, first of all. but before that, there was the writing side and the production side. take us to the experience of the shoot itself. there's a scene —

an incredible scene — when the two characters are in the seine, they fall underwater. it's said that you almost drowned shooting that scene. we were shooting in a swimming pool and i had 14 kilos around my waist and i had a wig on, i had the coat on, i had the, you know, all the shoes. and then, i had to go down with the actor denis lavant. and we had a scene to play and we had two scuba divers, you know, helping us. and i asked for the air and the air didn't come, so i had no more air. and with the weight and the clothes and the five metres, i had to go up. i, like, just fight. i fought for my life. ifelt like, really, that's the turning point. whether "goodbye, life" or whether i was going to survive. and during that time, i really — i really had a sort of a clear idea that i say "yes" to life forever.

and the art will be second because i think it's — inside of me, there was a sort of a feeling that i'll give myself until the end to the art form, you know, acting. and so, after i came out, you know, of the swimming pool, like... gasps. ..trying to breathe and all, the first assistant came and said, "well, we're going to do "a second take. " and i went, "without me!" because that was just crazy. and i said, you've got to take a professional — this is not my... i'm not a professional for that. and so... and so, after that, i was very — i knew the line, i knew the limit. but with leos carax, who you were working with, being directed by and living with, because there was a personal and professional relationship, i mean, that must have put a huge amount of pressure on the relationship itself, didn't it? well, you know, when you live with the person you're working with, you don't think

a grand director or grand this or that — you're just living together and that's it and there's a relationship. yeah, it did put a lot of pressure. i mean, we separated during the shooting. during? after les amants du pont—neuf, you went on to make three colours blue with krzysztof kieslowski... it's about a woman who has lost her husband. he is a very famous composer, composing an anthem to celebrate european union. and it's about — it's a film very much about grief as well, isn't it? mm—hm, and how do you survive. piano lid thuds. when you're choosing a role — in that case, it was that story and it was kieslowski. it was... yes. ..it was the chance to work

with him in particular. oh, yes. yes, he was wonderful to work with, very easy to work with, and we had a great time — we were laughing, giggling all the time. coming from the east before the wall fell, like, he would only do one take because he didn't have a lot of film. you know, it was expensive in his world for many years, so... he was polish, wasn't he? polish, yeah. and so, i said, "go ahead. "we can do at least two, three, four, maybe seven." but he said, "no, i don't need. "i don't need it." so, i had to have deals with him, saying i had technical problems, that's why, you know, i needed a second take, because it was allowing to do a second take when there was a sound problem or a camera problem, but not when the actor, you know, wanted to do another one. but maybe you were just nailing it first take, every time. yes, but you want to explore. as an actor, you want to explore. it's about being revealed by the scene.

the role that did make you a big international star was in the english patient, directed by anthony minghella, for which you won an academy award in 1997, best supporting actress. it is a beautiful role in which you play hannah, the nurse nursing the english patient — the title character played by ralph fiennes. this will help you. i must be a curse. anybody who loves me, anybody who gets close to me know i must be cursed.

what was the appeal of that role of hannah? you can't explain everything. it was probably a meeting between this role and myself. during the shooting, it felt i was on a cloud of love, kind of. everything was — i was — i was very frightened, i have to say, the first half month. the first month of shooting, i remember being, like, super frightened. and then the second half, it was like, erm, purejoy. i'll always go back to that church plays.

and that was a journey of the complexity of, you know, of what it is to be in a war and what it is to have a patient, and the responsibility of playing this role of many, many nurses. that is such a loved film. and it went on to win so many academy awards. were you aware as you were making it... not at all. ..that something works? just before shooting the production, fox dropped it, so we were like orphans. we were just about to shoot and then, suddenly, the money stopped. so, it was like trauma, and are we going to be able to shoot this film? we had done the rehearsals, we were really ready to go. and saul zaentz and anthony were, like, scratching their heads, not knowing how to deal with it. and so, finally, they called miramax and they loved the script and they started producing and we did it. even when the scenes

were unfolding, when the camera was rolling, i mean, did you not get that sense from anthony that something really special is happening there? no, we were trying our best every day and every second, you know, we were shooting, but no, we didn't know. and we started with the italian site and then, they went to tunisia to finish with kristin, and, and — and no, we didn't know. in your latest film, the taste of things, you play a cook and the lover of a very famous french gourmet. the film is very much a love letter to haute cuisine, isn't it?

so, this film was very special to me because first of all, i wanted to work with tran anh hung, and the fact he wrote a script that is so french and coming from vietnam when he was 12 years old, and he embraced the haute cuisine, you know, the culinary art is a very french thing. so, when i read the script, it felt like it was going into this world that he created. it's a very tender relationship which is explored there and very subtly done as well. and the development of the food and the menu runs in parallel to this relationship, which is not explicit and not full—on, in a way. it's — it's explored in a very tentative way. yes. but you get a sense that he is very, very deeply in love with her. we were looking for the actor, and then finally they asked me, "do you — can we ask benoit magimel to shoot and do

"the male role? " and because i had a relationship with him and we have a daughter together, and i said, "yes, you can try and ask him, but i'm not sure he's "going to say yes." and then, finally, he said yes. so it was like, "oh, wow! "so, we're going to tell that love story, even though we've "been separated for a long time and it was not always easy "in the — in the separation". and so, finally playing two lovers, you know, in this realm of cooking was certainly a challenge. it felt like a challenge before starting. you've made such a huge variety of films and the parts that you play don't seem to get any less interesting. i mean, why do you think that is, in your case? you're the outsider who sees, and i don't — i don't have explanation. ijust have the passion of — of acting.

but you must be aware that so many women, so many actors say that, you know, you get to 40, the phone stops ringing so often. well, i didn't wait for the phone to ring. i also go to the directors or, you know, be creative in my own way, and you have to provoke things to come and choose something that you really want to do and not just do for the outside money or fame or things like that. i think you really have to choose for something that is meaningful to you. and sometimes, you're in a film, you feel, "ugh," you know, the way it's been shot or the way, you know, you're a little, a little disappointed. you have to still give the best you can. because that's the rule. my philosophy, you know, "you go, you fight for it "until the end." and if it's not good at the end, you tried your best.

juliette binoche, thank you so much for... thank you very much. ..sharing your cultural life with us. and for podcaster episodes of this cultural life, go to bbc sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. hello there. we're into fine, settled spell of weather now, just in time for the weekend, and we should see a lot of sunshine around on both saturday and sunday, especially across england and wales. winds light in the south, always a bit fresher further north — that's because scotland is closer to this area of low pressure over iceland, but the azores high bringing plenty of sunshine and lighter winds to england and wales. but it will be quite a cool start to saturday morning — cool and fresh with temperatures in single digits out of towns and cities. but there'll be plenty of sunshine to begin the day. cloud tending to bubble up into the afternoon and that will bring a few showers

to northern and western scotland and northern ireland through the day, where it'll stay quite breezy, but light winds further south. temperatures here 211—25 degrees. mid to high teens across the north. maybe 20 degrees across northeast scotland. now, the showers tend to fade away across most of the north, the odd one continuing across the highlands through saturday night. lengthy clear skies again. light winds to the south, so it's going to be another fresh night to come with 7—12 degrees. for sunday, the azores high across the south just nudges up a little bit further northwards, so large parts of england and wales, maybe northern ireland, southern scotland will see lighter winds. but still quite breezy across the north and west of scotland where, again, we'll have a few showers, and a few showers perhaps for northern ireland, maybe just one or two across western england and wales, but similar sorts of temperatures — mid 20s in the south and mid to high teens further north. now, as we head out to sunday to monday, our area of high pressure begins to get squeezed out in towards the near continent as low pressure takes over across western areas.

it goes downhill through the day across the north and the west, wetter and windier, but central and eastern parts of the country will stay dry. plenty of sunshine and light winds, too. further north and west, it will be turning blustery with that rain, so temperatures here high teens at best. quite warm and turning increasingly humid across the southeast — 25, maybe 26 degrees. tuesday looks more unsettled generally across the country, could even see a few showers in the southeast. it'll be a breezier day to come but the heaviest of the rain will tend to be across the north and west of scotland. temperatures here again mid to high teens, up to around 20—211 in the south. further areas of low pressure will cross the country, bringing wet and windy spells to the north and west, but it should tend to stay largely dry, quite warm, humid and breezy across the southeast.

live from washington, this is bbc news. as fighting rages on in gaza, negotiators present a new proposalfor a ceasefire and hostage release between israel and hamas. ukraine destroys a strategic river bridge in the kursk region as it continues its cross—border offensive. medical workers begin a nationwide strike in india after the rape and murder of a female doctor. hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to this hour. us presidentjoe biden says a deal between israel and hamas is "closer than ever". it comes as mediators put forward a new proposal to try

and bridge the gap between the two sides at talks in doha.