Behind the Lens: Isabelle Huppert on "Claire's Camera" | Interviews | Roger Ebert

I love the naturalistic simplicity and ease of “Claire’s Camera,” which is also true for other Hong Sang-soo films. That was perhaps a nice change of pace for you too after “Elle."

It’s always wonderful to make films with Hong Sang-soo, because he has such an unusual way of making movies that doesn’t resemble anyone in any manner. There is no script [to start with]; he’d give you the scenes one after another each morning. But on the other hand, nothing is improvised. He doesn’t change the dialogue, and there is no improvisation. What’s really fascinating is, (this is my second film with Hong Sang-soo, I did “In Another Country” with him in 2012); he has quite an amazing way of doing things in such a short amount of time. Nothing is fast; we have time to do things, but there is a very slow pace within a very short amount of time. Very interesting.


Does he pull his actors in to craft the story as part of his process?

No, he just says, “this is what we’re doing” and we do it. But it creates a certain atmosphere [among actors]. He’s like a magician actually. Even though there is no script and we don’t know the story, we know enough day-by-day, scene-by-scene and line-by-line. It’s enough for us; we don’t need to know the general storyline. The scenes between all actors are so strong and defined. The way he combines lightness and depth … Sometimes it’s very funny, and sometimes it’s very moving. You feel that in the texture of the film, one scene after the other. It’s very nice on the surface, but underneath, there is always something very emotional and moving. You feel that very strongly and that’s very exciting for the actors. You can stay on several levels, [mixing comedy and drama].