Hostage star Julie Delpy argues France is ready for a female leader - but not Marine Le Pen

“I think possibly the French are ready to elect a woman president,” says Delpy, speaking to me on a Zoom call from Paris. “But not Marine le Pen.” Le Pen, the far-right candidate, ran last year, but her campaign has been somewhat derailed by financial irregularities. That, as far as Delpy considers, is le fin. “The French are more horrified by a money scandal than a sex scandal.” Well, of course.

Delpy smiles. “Everyone thinks the French are very sexy, but it’s not that true. It’s not about having more sex. It’s more about the French public being more relaxed about their leaders having affairs.” Indeed. One thinks of President Mitterrand’s secret daughter, or President François Hollande on his “love scooter” coming from his love nest, or President Macron and his one-time drama teacher who is now his wife. Ooh la la, the heady stories within the Élysée Palace.

“There are, however, some amazing female politicians out there,” Delpy adds, “such as Christiane Taubira (former minister of justice under Hollande). She’s my favourite person.”

The strictures laid on female politicians resound with Delpy, who is a lauded screenplay writer and director. “In politics, women are far more quickly judged than men.” Perhaps this is intimated by a translation of her character’s name; Vivienne Toussaint (literally: living as a complete saint).

“People forgive women less. In the film world, it’s the same. As a woman on set, you have to be perfect. Men are excused all sorts of behaviour, but a woman can never have a tantrum. I’m not a difficult person, or easily in a bad mood, but I know that, as a director, I can never raise my voice. It’s the same with politicians. Look at Chancellor Rachel Reeves when she cried in the House of Commons. In the UK, you reacted as if it was something truly extraordinary.”

Delpy, who has performed in or created over 30 movies, now lives with her family in New York and Paris, with a joint French/US citizenship. Where is her heart? “My heart is in my chest,” she says, laughing. “I am very practical in that way. My son is at school in the US. But the situation is changing day by day in America, there are arrests every two minutes.” Will she and her family stay there? “I never cave into panic. I’m the kind of person who stays calm until there is reason to be anxious, but I like to prepare. I have a French passport and an American passport, my husband is Greek and my son is half German.

“I don’t know what is going to happen, but I’m keeping calm. In the US, the structure of democracy is… wearing out. I am a Democrat, and when that is not legal any more, I will reassess whether it is safe to live there.”

She was brought up in a politically and culturally aware environment. “My mother was a campaigning feminist and my father was a hippy who was born in Vietnam. It was a household where culture and politics were of equal importance. My parents had no money and they didn’t give a fig about money. There were four of us, me, my parents and my grandmother, living in a tiny apartment in the 15th Arrondissement, with no bathroom. We would wash in the kitchen sink. When I tell people in New York that they think I’m joking. But my parents took me to concerts, galleries and the theatre all the time. I was exposed to so much culture as a child.”

Perhaps it’s not surprising that her career, which began at the age of 14 when the director Jean-Luc Godard cast her in his film Detective, has been distinguished by eclectic choices and a refusal to conform. “I have old enemies in the industry,” she says. “As a young person, I never complied to the rules of the patriarchy. I had a reputation of being strong-headed, because I said ‘no’ to so many directors. I was not, and am not compliant to the rules, in a sexual way.

“When I was very young, I was constantly approached. I said no to everyone. That sort of thing stays with you. You get called difficult, but I refused to comply with the system, with the idea of women being the muse to the male director. I remember when I was about 20, one man approached me. He must have been about 60. He said: ‘Are you a prude? Are you frigid?’ It was disgusting. It was the same when I got to the US. Less overt, but it was still a very difficult, long road to keep my integrity.”

There were exceptions. Krzysztof Kieslowski, who cast her as the star of his 1993 film Three Colours: White. And, mercifully, Godard. “He wrote me a letter when I was 15. He said: ‘Remember you are like a river. Stay strong and be the river, and remember that your enemies are like the riverbanks, they will try to control you.’”

Regardless of the critical acclaim (three César nominations and two Oscar nominations), Delpy thinks her stance has affected her career. “It’s had consequences for me. It takes more effort to make films. I am banned from certain festivals. There will always be people trying to hurt my work. I earn less; I will get $3 million per film, whereas someone else might get $5 million.”

Does she care? Pas du tout. “I need to look at myself in the mirror every day, and I’m with people who care about me. My life is full of love. I see people around me who have complied with the system and their personal life is a bit… empty. Because they have followed a certain road, which comes with a cost.”

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