Adèle Exarchopoulos ‘Another Day’ (‘Garance’) interview

Adèle Exarchopoulos caused a sensation at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, when she and Léa Seydoux shared the Palme d’Or with director Abdellatif Kechiche for their performances in Blue Is the Warmest Color. Now she’s done it again, receiving a 12-minute standing ovation — the longest ever recorded — for her role in Jeanne Herry’s Another Day (Garance), which premiered in Cannes Competition on Sunday night.

Exarchopoulos plays Garance, a highly-gifted actress struggling to hang onto some kind of equilibrium in both her career and private life, while seeking comfort from her friend Pauline (Sara Giraudeau). Exarchopoulos says that she’s grateful to play a woman going on an “individual, realistic journey — it’s the kind of cinema I particularly love.”

DEADLINE: Tell us about Another Day, and what was it like working with director Jeanne Herry?

ADÉLE EXARCHOPOULOS: Another Day follows the journey of a young woman who dreams of becoming a theater and film actress, juggling odd jobs, and discovering herselfa as the years go by — it’s a story of identity, love and addiction. Jeanne is a true scholar when she tackles a subject; before coming to see me, she had studied addiction in countless forms — through physical therapies, support groups, academic studies, and more — and the inspiration for this film came from a podcast featuring a young woman discussing her struggle with addiction. 

I immediately accepted because I loved the script’s precision and humanity, and because her films have something mundanely powerful about them; she films the ordinary with profound humanity, and I love that. I’d already had a wonderful cinematic experience with her last film [2023’s All Your Faces], so I was thrilled to work with her again on a fundamentally different project.

You grow up and you make this kind of weird stuff where you’re like, ‘OK, where am I? Am I who I want to be, where I want it to be, and with whom I want to be?’

Adèle Exarchopoulos

DEADLINE: What kinds of conversations did you have with Jeanne?

EXARCHOPOULOS: We talked a lot about addiction, about the extreme highs and lows that withdrawal can plunge you into. Jeanne introduced me to a support group at the Villejuif hospital made up entirely of women — some in remission, some in the midst of withdrawal, some having a relapse — who come to share about their daily lives, their shared pain and their personal journeys. They were all addicted to something — it could be medication, it could be alcohol. It was a deeply-enriching experience. I feel that in every addiction there is immense loneliness, a profound lack of love… It’s hard work for them to love themselves, it’s hard work for everyone, but maybe the most palpable feeling in the room is the lack of love of your family or with yourself. It was really precious to me to be around those women.

DEADLINE: How recognizable is the character of Garance to you?

EXARCHOPOULOS: She falls into alcohol addiction, which in her case is a slow and insidious disease. I think I’m like her in her curiosity, her relationship with her family, and her thirst for discovery.

DEADLINE: Which actresses did you watch to help prepare for this film?

EXARCHOPOULOS: I rewatched all of Gena Rowlands’ performances — because she has this wild intensity and she never looks at herself or cares how she looks — and Raymond    Depardon’s documentaries

DEADLINE: Films like Opening Night and A Woman Under the Influence?

EXARCHOPOULOS: Yes, that was the kind of movie Jeanne asked me to watch. Opening Night at the beginning, because it’s the story of an actress. You have many dreams and expectations, but you are dependent of peoples’ desire… There are so many great actresses, but so many great actresses don’t play or act. And that’s the difficulty for Garance, even if she’s still making different level jobs, like voice work. And also Gena Rowlands inspires me for those moments of intensity because during all of [my character’s] addiction, which continues over eight or nine years, she starts with drinking maybe one or two glasses, and at the end it’s becoming maybe 10 or 12 glasses… I think Gena has this kind of intensity, this kind of originality and freedom of testing a lot of stuff.

DEADLINE: Did you happen upon George Cukor’s 1954 version of A Star Is Born with Judy Garland and James Mason playing her alcoholic husband, a once-famous movie star?

EXARCHOPOULOS: Oh no, I haven’t seen it. But I have seen the one with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.

DEADLINE: I bring it up because it explores the intense pressures of the entertainment industry.

EXARCHOPOULOS: Yes, of course; I think it reflects the fact that she’s losing herself, and it’s her age, also. When you are, like, 28, you are full of dreams, you see stuff for yourself and then you grow up and you make this kind of weird stuff where you’re like, ‘OK, where am I? Am I who I want to be, where I want it to be, and with whom I want to be?’ I think there are a lot of factors that make her fall, but the pressure and frustration of the industry, of course, is playing a part.

DEADLINE: And do you think that the industry itself is partly responsible for those pressures that an actor might feel?

EXARCHOPOULOS: Yeah, I think they created this kind of system and didn’t really care about whether it can affect people or not. And maybe it’s going to be cheesy what I’m going to say, but sometimes just a little more kindness is needed, just picking up the phone and talking to someone. You see, a small gesture like that can change this business. I think it’s hard for everyone; some things are changing, but at the end of the day, it’s always the privileged person on one side and the less privileged person on the other side. We see it with the women’s movement, but I think there is, again, a lot of work to do.

I have something funny to tell you. After I made Blue Is the Warmest Color, I got an American agent that everyone wanted. And so I was happy, but I was really young. My English was really bad, and she told me, “Oh, you have to come to LA and meet all the producers.” And in France, it doesn’t work that way. In France, you don’t have meetings with people if there is no project.

You see what I mean? Of course, you can always call a director that you like if you just want to have a coffee with them, or tell him or her how much you love their work, but we don’t go into a producer’s place just to sell ourselves. And she told me, “Yeah, you must come to, like, Warner Bros. and Universal. I want to introduce you to some people.”

And because I didn’t know the American system, I was like, “Oh, cool. People want to meet me, blah, blah, blah.” So I went to LA with no agenda, work-wise, just people to meet. The first one — I think it was Universal — I went and I met someone there, and they were like, “Oh, we love your work! We love Blue Is the Warmest Color! We can’t wait to work with you!” And when I came out of the meeting, I called my dad in France and I was like, “Oh, Daddy! I’m at Universal, and they want to work with me!”

And then I went to the second meeting, and it was maybe Warner Bros. It was a big company, and it was exactly the same meeting: “Oh, we love your work, blah, blah, blah…” I called my dad back and I was like, “Daddy, no one is going to work with me, it’s just what they do here. There’s no point!” [Laughs.] In France, we don’t do that. For me, it was kind of the end of a fantasy.

DEADLINE: What are your memories of being in Cannes for the very first time — back in 2013 — with Blue Is the Warmest Color?

EXARCHOPOULOS: Cannes with Blue Is the Warmest Color changed my path. My journey was a dazzling transition from shadow to light, especially when you’re 18. I experienced it with immense joy because my best friends were with me, and because Léa and I share a unique bond. And seeing the power of love — what this love story sparked — made me realize the power of cinema.