Singin' in the strange

You’d have to say she’s a brave girl. Playing an icy seductress in Ma Mere, Christopher Honore’s adaptation of the ridiculously scandalous novella by Georges Bataille, the French actress Emma De Caunes was required to cavort with Louis Garrel and inflict pain upon gentlemen who would pay for the privilege. She was delighted to do so.

“I was really glad to get that part,” recalls Ms. De Caunes. “French directors, you know, they can be so blind. If you’re in your 20s you still keep getting offered Lolita roles. It was great to be a funny sadist for a change.”
Strutting about in boots only, with nipples standing to attention, Ma Mere provided Ms. De Caunes with exactly the sort of role you might imagine a young lady would prefer their dad not to see. But then, not everyone has Antoine De Caunes – the Eurotrash presenter and actor – for a father.
Born into a show business dynasty of sorts – her parents and grandparents have all acted on-screen – Emma was raised, as one imagines all French children are, as a film buff. Already schooled in Cahiers-approved classics such as Singin’ In The Rain, The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, Pierrot Le Feu and Vivre Sa Vie, the 29-year-old was particularly delighted to take the starring role in Anthony Byrne’s Short Order, an improbable pastiche of all of the above.
“These are all the films I love,” she coos. “Especially avant garde and nouvelle vague films. When I met with Anthony first that is what we discussed. We wanted that kind of cinema and emotion. I knew, as well, watching his short film Meeting Che Guevara that he had a unique vision and was someone who understands what cinema is really for. Short Order is a very modern film – people talking and finding their way through things.”
Set in a heightened movie universe where Brecht-savvy characters discuss the soundtrack and perform musical numbers, Mr. Byrne’s messy, if breathtakingly audacious, first feature has attracted an impressive gallery of talent. In addition to Emma, the cast for this left-field culinary comedy includes British comedians Jack Dee and Paul Kaye, Grand Old Thesps John Hurt and Vanessa Redgrave and uncommonly attractive Euro-starlets Cosma Shiva Hagen and Tatiana Ouliankina.
“The set was like Night On Earth,” explains Emma. “I loved the sense that people had come from all over to this Irish production. And it was wonderful acting opposite John Hurt. It was a lesson in doing comedy especially.”
Though she has plenty of strings to her bow – writing, directing and raising three-year-old daughter Nina – for the moment Ms. De Caunes is perfectly happy to continue her daring on-screen career. Later this year, you can catch her in The Science Of Sleep, the third feature from music promo maestro Michel Gondry, the director’s dreamy follow-up to Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.
“I have known Michel for a long time – since we worked on the video for ‘Knives Out’. Radiohead did not like it but I think it was beautiful. Michel is a genius and it was so kind of him to bring me into the film.”
She laughs suddenly.
“But I haven’t seen it yet so I’m not sure I can explain it to you.”
We’d expect nothing less.