Atlantica - 01.03.2002, Blaðsíða 20

patriarchal father (Thórdur) who sum-
mons his children back to their home
town to discuss the passing on of his fish-
ing business. De Fougerolles plays
Françoise, the French wife of Thórdur’s
youngest son, Ágúst.
When de Fougerolles first auditioned
for the film, she wasn’t entirely crazy
about her part, but she was crazy about
the script and wanted to work with
Kormákur, who has recently been named
to just about every directors-to-watch list
thanks to the critical success of 101
Reykjavík. “I saw 101 Reykjavík and loved
it. So I figured it would be more interest-
ing to have a little part in this movie than
a big part in a shit French film.”
SHARKS AND SHEEP HEADS
Acting enables de Fougerolles to live
many different lives. Being transported to
distant worlds and portraying disparate
characters are the aspects of her craft that
she most enjoys. De Fougerolles has
played a prostitute, a 19th-century
Russian and she recently learned how to
ski in the Andes for her part in Le Raid.
Taking on the role of Françoise has pre-
sented de Fougerolles with a close-up
look at traditional Icelandic culture; the
opportunity to experience through her
character what life is like in a small
Icelandic fishing village.
“Even though I’ve told you it can be
boring sometimes, I’m very happy to be
here. In a way I’ve lived a little bit of this
life, of my character’s life. She’s in love
with an Icelandic man. She’s an outsider.
Sometimes you think to yourself how it
would be if I was the one in love with this
man and how I would react going to a
small place like this.”
As for many of her fellow actors, hav-
ing ensconced herself in this inhospitable
18 A T L A N T I C A
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Icelandic village during the darkness of
winter has made the film and its charac-
ters come to life. But it’s been difficult
adapting to the world of The Sea. De
Fougerolles is lonely and feels like an out-
sider. Françoise in a nutshell. De
Fougerolles is quick to point out, however,
that both the cast and crew have been
extremely sweet to her and have tried to
make her feel at home. Still, Icelanders are
notorious for being a tad cool at times (W.
H. Auden referred to this in Letters from
Iceland as the ‘Arctic stare’). Icelandic
compatriots have a tight bond and break-
ing through can be difficult, especially in
group settings where everyone seems to
have known each other since grade
school.
“When I was filming The Beach – I must
remind you, I was just an extra – it was like
a vacation. Everyone in the community
was from different countries so we all felt
like we were not home, so we all became
very close. It’s not like that here. It’s like
they’re all friends. I’m feeling a little lone-
ly.”
De Fougerolles, though, appears to be
the happiest depressed person I’ve ever
met. She’s full of sarcasm and self-depre-
cating wit. She tells humorous stories
about her time spent in Neskaupstadur,
laughing out loud with her French accent
trailing off into a giggle. She understands
that she’s only filming a movie and that
soon enough she’ll be back with her cat in
her cosy Paris flat.
When she returns to Paris, she’ll
undoubtedly describe to disbelieving
friends and family what it’s like to wash
down unthinkable foods such as shark and
svid (sheep head) with a drink called ‘Black
Death’, which is actually brennivín, a ran-
cid-tasting, caraway-flavoured schnapps.
When de Fougerolles recounts how she
had to drink brennivín for the film, her
fragile face tightens like that of a child
who’s been forced to swallow cod-liver oil.
As for shark, anyone who’s tasted this sour
meat understands why sharks don’t devel-
op cancer – cancerous cells would be too
disgusted to multiply on the flesh of this
putrid fish.
“Oh my God, it was awful,” she gags
dramatically, recounting the first time she
tasted shark. “Five takes, and the last one
was an awful one because Baltasar want-
ed a close up and he gave me a yellow dry
piece. I couldn’t swallow that shit. I had to
say my lines with my mouthful, rahw rahw
rahw,” she sounds out with laughter.
“And after I saw the sheep head, that
was enough for me. That’s when I started my
depression.”
Rotten shark? Sheep head? ‘Black Death’?
Remember, de Fougerolles, trying new things
is what you like most about acting. So, what
about the always tasty rams’ testicles?
“No, never. But one actress showed me a
sheep eye. ‘Just taste it. This is the best,’ she
told me. An eye of a sheep? Oh no, never. It’s
against my religion,” she jokes.
THE GAMBLER
De Fougerolles politely excuses herself and
plops a few more giant pieces of bread into
the toaster. That’s a lot of bread, I suggest. “I
know, I’m eating like an animal. It’s the cold –
the depression.”
Another reason de Fougerolles feels so
isolated is that, lately, she hasn’t seen much
action on the set. Thus, she’s been spending
her idle time sleeping and, as we loosely
translate, twiddling her thumbs. “Last night I
slept for 12 hours,” she says in disbelief.
This recent early-to-bed and early-to-rise
schedule has kept her and the crew of The
Sea on divergent paths, as the majority of
scenes currently being filmed are at night.
Her fellow actors are finishing their work right
about the time she’s waking up. When she
does interact with the cast and crew she feels
a bit like a third wheel. “I don’t speak
Icelandic. People will speak to me one-on-
one, but when there’s a group, I can’t expect
them to speak English just for me.”
De Fougerolles is an active woman by
nature. She says that in Paris she always
finds ways to keep herself busy. She’ll go to
the gym later this afternoon, but there won’t
be anyone there except the owner. When she
returns, she’ll hang out in the hotel because
she has no scenes today. It’s this type of down
time that has caused her mind to wander. She
cracks up with the odd thoughts that float
about in her idle mind.
“Even in my dreams, it never stops. All of
my family is dead. Even the ones that are
already dead before, they die again. It’s really
strange. All the problems you had in your
childhood [come back]. Even the ones that
you didn’t know existed,” she says sarcasti-
cally. “It’s the first time in my life I’ve had this
much time to think – I don’t like it.”
But De Fougerolles is not about to start
popping Prozac. She just needs a few more
scenes to shoot, or perhaps a long weekend
spent in any town with a casino. Yes, a casi-
no. It turns out that de Fougerolles loves to
gamble. She recalls her card-playing days on
the set of The Beach with pleasure. She’s
gambled in Monaco (of course), New Orleans,
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