Ten years after her film Blue Is the Warmest Color won the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes, Adèle Exarchopoulos once again finds herself the star of an international film festival hit. In director Ira Sachs’s Passages, the 30-year-old actor plays Agathe, a schoolteacher who finds herself infatuated with a charming but manipulative and narcissistic film director, Tomas, played by Franz Rogowski. The fact that Tomas already has a husband, portrayed by Ben Whishaw, is only part of the problem. Here, Exarchopoulos talks about agreeing to the project without having read the script, the film’s intense intimacy, and quitting her job selling concessions after sudden stardom.
How did you connect with Ira Sachs about this movie?
Ira called me, and we met each other for coffee in France. I knew his work already, but he talked to me about his desire to make a movie about intimacy. It was about how, between a couple, desire can bring chaos, and what comes out from that chaos.
Did you take the film right away?
Yeah, in the meeting. You just feel it. I hadn’t even seen the script before I said yes.
Passages is about a love triangle between a bisexual man and his two lovers. You are the female part of the equation.
My character is really in love with him. That’s what love is about: You take the risk that someone can break your heart. You know it’s valuable if it’s worth the risk.
Your breakthrough role was in Blue Is the Warmest Color, which was about another intense romance. ?
I never knew that I wanted to be an actress. I was like, Okay, I’m making movies, so I’m supposed to be an actress, and that’s what I would write when they asked me my occupation at immigration. But there’s so much insecurity. You never know. You can be in the spotlight on Monday, and on Thursday [you’re not]. Blue Is the Warmest Color was the movie that brought me to this light. It was like Palme d’Or but also polemic. You can feel light and shadow, but you learn fast that you never know in this line of work. You just have to try.
Did Blue Is the Warmest Color change your life?
I don’t think that you are changing. I think it’s people’s eyes that are changing on you. But yes, it affected me. Everyone was talking about my future. I was like, let me enjoy my present! Just after Blue screened at the Cannes Film Festival, I went back to my first job, which was selling sandwiches in a concert hall. I didn’t know about this industry, and I was like, ‘Okay, I have to work. But quickly, I felt it was impossible for me to work there anymore.
What was it like working with Ira Sachs?
He’s chic for making an intimate space. The shoot was a good reflection of the script, because everyone was really in a soft and kind space to give something from themselves to the part.
Exarchopoulos wears a Fendi top, skirt, and shoes.
The sex scenes in Passages are quite strong.
You just want it to be cool, great, and fast—-not spending two hours making this scene, because we all have our complexes! But yeah, I love it because it’s not like an incarnation of perfect sex with the perfect lighting and stuff. Our sex is messy!
Do you have any cinematic crushes?
Jack Nicholson in every movie. Willem Dafoe, Cate Blanchett, and Sandra Hüller.
Senior Style Editor: Allia Alliata di Montereale. Senior Fashion Market Editor and Menswear Director: Jenna Wojciechowski. Hair for portfolio by Mustafa Yanaz for Dyson at Art+Commerce; makeup for portfolio by Emi Kaneko for Tom Ford at Bryant Artists; manicures for portfolio by Michelle Saunders for Chanel. Set design by Peter Klein at Frank Reps. Special thanks to Ms. Bebe at Outfitters Wig Shop in Hollywood.
Produced by Connect the Dots; Executive Producer: Wes Olson; Producer: Zack Higginbottom; Production manager: Nicole Morra; Production coordinator: David Cahill; First photography assistant: Trevor Pikhart; Second photography assistant: Jeremy Eric Sinclair; Digital Technician: Brendan Pattengale; Postproduction by Lucas Rios Palazesi at Quickfix; Fashion assistants: Tori López, Tyler VanVranken, Molly Cody, India Reed, John Celaya, Kaamilah Thomas, Emily Cancelosi, Allie Kessler, Juliana Bassi, Karla Garcia, Jacqueline Chen, Cosima Croquet; Production assistants: Mateo Calvo, Aspen Miller, Nico Robledo, Griffin Koerner, Danielle Rouleau, Nicolo Battaglini, Juanes Montoya, Juan Calvo, Lily Cordingley, Nathan Gallie, Cameron Hoge, Jack Fahey, Cole Ewing, Karlie Ofstedahl; Hair assistants: Takao Hayashi, Andres Copeland; Makeup assistants: Amelia Berger, Willie Huang; Manicure assistants: Rachel Messick, Marissa Asprer; Set assistants: Christopher Crash Richard, Winston Willingham; Tailors: Irina Tshartaryan, Elma Click, Gayane Mnatsakanyan at Susie’s Custom Designs, Inc.