Legendary French actress Isabelle Huppert has been acting on stage and screen for more than 40 years.
(The latter two also cited her performance in Mia Hansen-LvesThings to Come.)
And Monday, for the first time, Huppert is a Golden Globe nominee.
Credit: Guy Ferrandis
The actress, 63, spoke to EW by telephone two hours after receiving word of her recognition.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Congratulations, Isabelle.
Where are you calling from?
Now Im on my way to Luxembourg, where Im going to be onstage again.
Its just an amazing few weeks for me.
And how do you feel about this news, your first nomination?
Absolutely, yeah, its my first nomination for the Golden Globes.
I cant tell you how happy and thrilled and grateful I am to the Hollywood Foreign Press.
Have you been to the ceremony before?
I think I was.
It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
We didnt win but I attended and I have a wonderful memory of that night.
It was one of those once-in-your-life memories.
But that was a long time ago.
Isnt it great that a movie as challenging and entertaining asElleis even getting all this attention.
It makes me believe in cinema.
The film is complex but thats what we should always expect from films.
Sometimes things can be very challenging and still work.
And when I hear that its playing well in America, I cant tell you how thrilled I am.
I saw you at the Gotham Awards and Id never seen you so excited.
How could I not?
This is also an extremely challenging female character for audiences to confront.
Shes not the victim nor the classical male avenger.
The more I hear new interpretations of her, the more Im fascinated.
But shes never to reduced to the simplicity of anything.
The movie blurs the definitions of male and female prototypes.
But we also feel like we clearly know who she is.
The film is not filled with all this ambiguity.
By the end, we see what she has done.
I love the character so much because she is very clear.
Thats true, and yet at the same time, people are going to be debatingEllefor years.
Thank you for saying that.
