Valérie Donzelli

President of the International Critics' Week jury at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

[on L'amour et les forêts (2023)] I set out to make a film that felt both highly cerebral and sensual. It was a challenge but that was the whole point of the film. I also challenged the script. I usually write kind of loose scripts because for me a script is a stepping stone to directing - something you can leave behind. Instead, the script for Just the Two of Us was tightly structured. I wrote it with Audrey Diwan who I find is a wonderful partner and has control over the writing. They say that you have to fight against the script when you shoot a movie - it's true of all my films, and even more of this one. Our script was intense, it was a strong foundation, so we had to dance and fight, with and against it. I "tore it up", roughed it up, especially in the editing room where, as I felt we had to put a more cerebral spin on the film, I trimmed it down and cut out parts of the story. Just like Pialat's Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble (1972) which is based on ellipses. Ellipses always get a jump on you - you catch up with what you've missed afterwards, what takes you away from making a message movie.