French actress Berenice Bejo (R) is in a still from a film. (Courtesy of Les Compagnos du Cinema/Philippe Aubry)

by Grandesso Federico

CANNES, France, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Berenice Bejo, French actress presenting in competition the movie "Redoutable" at the ongoing 70th Cannes Film Festival said "I really liked that I was playing the older stronger woman that it was helping the young Anne to become a woman."

"I liked my role then because it has a strong character, she speaks up loud and she is very important for the movie because she is the only one to say to the male movie director (Godard) 'stop it, you are wrong.' Then we live in such a male world that when you say to a man to 'shut up', this is always good," Bejo said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Cannes.

Portraying a strong character even in period in which women were gaining respect and recognition was in any case a challenge for Bejo "I worked hard to construct a tough image studying also on how to talk accordingly."

Bejo is the daughter of Argentinian filmmaker Miguel Bejo. She won both Oscar and a Golden Globe nominations for her role in The Artist, a movie written and directed by her husband, Michel Hazanavicius. She also won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 for her role in Le Passe.

The movie tell the ups and downs about the legendary French film director Jean-Luc Godard (portrayed by Louis Garrel) who, during the making of one of his films, falls in love with 17-year old actress Anne Wiazemsky and later marries her.

Asked about the difficulties of this project Bejo clarified that the only moment which was difficult was when Michel took the decision to do this movie. "The risk was to have strong reactions from the critics but Michel wanted to do a movie not about Godard but about a man with strong convictions and ideas, even if everybody is against him at one point, he will still go and follow his ideas," Bejo said

Questioned about the message for the society of the movie Bejo said "He wanted to make a film for the people, this is the story of a young boy who saw the killing his family and beside that he is able to find a way out, this is very romantic and the universal message is that at the end life is stronger than anything else and happiness is the most important element."

Talking about future projects, the French actress said "I'm doing a movie ("The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir") with the Ken Scott, who is the director of Starbuck, it is a comedy and they are travelling all around the world while I will be shooting in France and Brussels."

Asked if she would consider to work in Asia, for example China, Bejo said "why not? I was never in that part of Asia, I never thought about it but if they are going to propose me something interesting I will consider it."