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The
Flipside of the Medal
Director Jean-Jacques Annaud's career ranges
from high-profile literary adaptations The Name of the
Rose and The Lover to studies of nature and primitivism
such as Quest for Fire, and his latest feature Two
Brothers. He discusses instinct, adaptation and high-def
with Paul Farren.
Jean-Jacques: Well that's part of the excitement,
you know. I've seen so many of my colleagues and so many of
the old masters when I was studying at the cinemathéque – people like Hitchcock or Minelli – complaining that they
had to do the same films all over again. They had no freedom,
they said. For me it was quite incredible to hear that people
of that stature could be so labelled. Contrary to that is
someone like Kubrick, who had such diversity in his career;
in a way I found that more inspiring. I also feel that by
changing it gives me the energy to feel like a beginner each
time, to start fresh and say 'I never faced that kind of problem
before, how should I do that?' I can proudly say, if I may,
that my label is the label of unpredictability.
I don't exactly see it that way; to me it's
a way to study the world of instinct – I also put Quest
for Fire in that category. I was sent to Africa at the
age of 23, and I didn't know anything about the world of instinct.
I realised that I could understand people through body language
and non-verbal communication much better than I used to do
in my own language with my friends at university. I realised
I was putting to one side a very important part of myself,
which was the world of emotions and instincts. This spontaneous
intelligence we share with most living creatures became a
real theme and interest for me. [In my office I have about
five hundred books about animal intelligence, animal instinct
and perception.] It's something that fascinates me because
it is a way to understand humans better, you know?
The full article is printed in Film Ireland
102
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