At this year’s Deauville Film Festival in France, Kristen Stewart captivated an audience of fans, locals, and festival attendees during a masterclass titled My French Cinema, organized in collaboration with Chanel. Stewart used the platform to discuss the French films that have profoundly influenced her artistic journey, highlighting how these works shaped her approach as both an actor and filmmaker.
The French cinema that Stewart admires spans various decades and styles, unified by their daring and bold storytelling. Among the titles she selected were Louis Malle’s Elevator to the Gallows (1958), Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), Catherine Breillat’s A Real Young Girl (1976), Leos Carax’s The Lovers on the Bridge (1991), Krzysztof Kieślowski’s The Double Life of Veronique (1991), and Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher (2001).
Kristen Stewart Opens Up on Her Viewing Habits and Cinematic Inspirations
In an honest and self-effacing tone, Stewart revealed to the audience that despite her deep passion for film, she finds it challenging to watch movies from start to finish.
“It sounds fucking absurd coming from me,”
Stewart admitted,
“considering it’s what I want to do with the rest of my entire life. But I have to strap myself into a seat to stick with an entire movie. I drift in and out.”
Her extensive experience includes serving on juries at prestigious festivals such as Cannes in 2018 and Berlin in 2024, yet she confessed to an ongoing exploration with filmmakers rather than claiming mastery. She expressed,
“I wouldn’t say that there’s one filmmaker that (she) can tell you everything about this person top to bottom.”
The Impact of Catherine Breillat’s A Real Young Girl on Stewart’s Directorial Debut
The masterclass began with Stewart’s reflections on A Real Young Girl, a 1976 film by Catherine Breillat that chronicles a 14-year-old girl’s sexual awakening. Known for her subversive filmmaking, Breillat’s work profoundly resonated with Stewart.
Stewart viewed this film shortly before directing her first feature film, The Chronology of Water, based on Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir. Stewart’s film explores a woman’s emergence from trauma through competitive swimming, sexual discovery, addiction, and ultimately finding her voice as a writer.
She noted that A Real Young Girl unlocked inspiration that directly impacted her own filmmaking process.
“It was specifically unlocking in a way that was very actionable because (she) went and made (her) movie like 30 seconds later.”
Stewart highlighted how Breillat’s portrayal of shame in coming-of-age stories is rare in cinema because it combines vulnerability with celebration, creating an intense internal experience for viewers.
“You watch it and you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s straightforward. She gets on a train and she’s going home, and she’s with her parents, but then she sticks a spoon inside of herself beneath the table. And you’re like, maybe this isn’t real,”
Stewart said, drawing parallels with a scene in her own film:
“is reaching deep inside of herself and pulling out a viscous and scented representation of what she is and savoring it and self-devouring.”
She continued,
“When you’re a kid and you’re discovering yourself in all of the soppy, smelly, disgusting ways that you do, it’s so easy to be embarrassed (…) and I guess it’s just very rare in a film to see somebody lap it up.”
Exploring Complex Characters in Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher
Stewart also spoke about Michael Haneke’s film The Piano Teacher, starring Isabelle Huppert as a repressed music instructor who becomes involved in a sadomasochistic relationship with a younger student, played by Benoît Magimel. The film earned Huppert the Best Actress award at Cannes.
“It’s just one of my favorite movies of all time,”
Stewart shared, further praising Huppert’s performance as one of my favorite performances. She was intrigued by the complex psychology of Huppert’s character, Erika, who
“has no respect for anyone. She’s so isolated by her genius and her intelligence and so just completely locked in this body of self-laceration.”
Despite Erika’s isolation, Stewart argued that she’s not unhappy. She elaborated,
“that’s not necessarily true, there’s something about it that’s like, if that’s how this woman was constructed, she’s actually doing a pretty good job. There’s just something about the way that she protects what she wants.”
The film was adapted from a novel by Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek, and Stewart admired the adaptation.
“I think it’s one of the most genius adaptations that I’ve ever had the pleasure of both reading and watching,”
she said, comparing it to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest due to its deeply internal narrative voice.
“It’s a first-person perspective book, and she is consistently rattling off about what she is thinking in all of these environments,”
Stewart added.
The Emotional Depth of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s The Double Life of Veronique
Krzysztof Kieślowski’s The Double Life of Veronique, which tells parallel stories of two identical women living in Poland and France, also left a strong impression on Stewart. Irene Jacob, who played both roles, won the Best Actress award at Cannes for her performance.
“It’s razor-sharp in terms of how it makes you feel,”
Stewart said, admitting she
“almost fell off (her) chair when (Jacob’s onscreen character) sings herself to death.”
She appreciated how the film captures internal experience without needing explicit explanation.
“It’s like you can enter an interior life and make a movie that is hyper specific about an internal feeling and not have to explain it,”
she explained. Kieślowski’s technique of using light and first-person perspective made the depiction unusually vivid and brave.
This film also provoked introspection in Stewart.
“Sometimes you get sad that you’re incomplete or something, and you’ve killed off this old version of yourself. But they still live in you,”
she reflected.
Leos Carax’s The Lovers on the Bridge as a Metaphor for Love and Control
Another film Stewart praised was Leos Carax’s The Lovers on the Bridge, which she described as an intimate depiction of a fragile relationship. Stewart explained the movie portrays two lovers caught in a delicate and exhausting dance of control and vulnerability.
“He’s closed off. He’s afraid that if she can see the whole world, then she won’t want him. He’s running after her. She’s out of reach until she’s so exhausted that he play acts that he’s leading her in this waltz. But then ultimately, she spins off a top,”
Stewart described.
“It’s like, you can’t control the things you love. I’m so sorry but if you did, you wouldn’t want it.”
Stewart interpreted the bridge in the film as a symbol of inevitable change and separation.
“The Bridge is a big metaphor for not just deviation and destruction,”
she said.
“You live in a world with a lot of other people and a lot of beauty that can distract you from the immense passion that is existing in this little microcosm between the two of you. But you can’t live on a bridge forever.”
Festival Highlights: Deauville’s Community and Industry Moments
During the Deauville Film Festival, Stewart participated in a lavish dinner hosted by Chanel and Canal+, the event’s main sponsors. She attended the gathering alongside her friend and producer Charles Gillibert, who worked on The Chronology of Water, together with a mix of French and American stars.
The dinner followed a special screening of Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, an event supported by Chanel, adding to the festival’s vibrant atmosphere.
Under the leadership of Aude Hesbert since 2024, the Deauville Film Festival concluded on Sunday by awarding its Grand Prize to The Plague, the debut feature from Charlie Polinger starring Joel Edgerton, spotlighting emerging talent in the cinematic world.
