Dominique Sanda is busy with her theater schedule in Paris, where she is appearing in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband as well as Robert Wilson's production of Stravinsky's opera Oedipus Rex. Ms. Sanda and I did, however, get a chance to chat briefly, and she was gracious and charming.

UD: Ms. Sanda, how do you feel when you see The Garden of the Finzi-Continis nowadays, after all this time?

DS: I haven't seen the film for a few years. The last time was in Chicago a few years ago and I enjoyed it very much. You always feel very attached to a film like this. And every time I see it, it always brings back these memories, and these memories are a mixture of my real life and the story itself.

UD: What do you mean by that?

DS: This film tells a very important story, a very sad one. A very real one, a very true one, and at the same time, it is being shown in a very soft way. And when I was shooting -- I was very young -- I had the feeling I was part of the family of the Finzi-Continis. I didn't feel much of a difference between fiction and reality. While I was shooting it, I was still a child and I did not know how important it would be, nor how graceful the film would appear to be nor that it would be loved by so many people around the world. Of course, it would be loved by most people, because it was a story that everybody knew about and that anyone from any background could learn from. Anyone could see that film and fall in love with it.

UD: I am fascinated by the character of Micòl. Why does she reject Giorgio, when on paper, it seems like they should make the perfect couple?

DS: I think that when you're young, you often go against what's good for you. There's something self-destructive, you can't proceed peacefully through your life. You can't just say, "Alright, I'll do that because it's good for me," even if you know it's good for you, even if you realize the person is a good person, a great person, and could be THE person for you. It would also be too easy a story and no one wants that. And also, who needs a boyfriend when you are 20 and you have all your sexuality ahead of you?

UD: What about the theory that she rejects him because he is Jewish and this is a woman who is very uncomfortable with her own Jewishness and would like to forget about it, which would be impossible in Giorgio's presence?

DS: I never thought about that. It's possible, certainly. I'll listen to any interpretation if it's intelligent and interesting.

UD: And the way she jokingly calls the pavilion hütte -- is there any significance to the fact that she uses a German nickname in this particular historical context?

DS: Micòl is someone who studies and is very interested in foreign languages and cultures. She mixes in foreign words and phrases when she speaks. But also, she is definitely some sort of provocateur. She likes to be a little shocking. Also,when you are afraid of something, you often make fun of it.

UD: Unlike in America, most Italians already knew the story from the book, which is quite well known. . .

DS: Oh yes. And the writer, Bassani, was alive when the film came out. But I don't think he liked it. You know when a writer writes a story, he sees it from the inside and I think it's very rare that he is happy with a movie from his own work. It's very seldom that a writer agrees with the way a director has seen his work. And I heard the same thing about The Conformist. It's very funny, because both of these films were very successful and have been loved by many people.

UD: I think they're both brilliant.

DS: Thank you.

UD: What was the difference between working with De Sica and Bertolucci?

DS: De Sica was much older, so he was more of a father for me. I don't know how old he was, and I don't care much about age anyway. But Bertolucci was only ten years older than me so that makes a difference. He was already on the way to becoming a big, successful director. He hadn't yet had an international success but he was known as a very interesting young director in Italy who would go far but we didn't know yet where he would go. De Sica was very gentle, very soft. I have the feeling De Sica was very happy to work with young people. He seemed quite pleased to be working with all the young boys and girls.

UD: If you knew the story ahead of time, did you ever dream about one day playing Micòl?

DS: I am not Italian, I am French, Parisian actually, and in fact, I never read the book before I actually shot the film. I was like a newborn, fresh, I had no references, no ideas about the story or the film. I was pure, I was! And I never did anything to change that because, perhaps because when I first shot a film, it was with a very wonderful director named Robert Bresson --

UD: Une Femme Douce --

DS: Yes. And he taught me just to "be." And actually, I learned a lot from him. He was not looking for actors who could pretend, but for people who could "be" the role. So I always tried to keep that in my work. Even today, I don't want to know everything in advance and I don't have to read everything about the subject, etc., because I don't believe that helps. Sometimes, yes, of course, I'm curious. I'm very curious, by the way. But I don't have to learn everything about the subject before I do something because I don't believe this is the right thing to do. Bresson told me that, and I totally relate to his way of working.

UD: How did you come to acting?

DS: At first, I was a model. I wanted to get away from my family very young and have my independence. I loved my family but I wanted to prove to myself that I was able to be free and independent and live life on my own. I went to school, but not for very long. At a very young age, I went to New York and I worked for Glamour. And I worked all around the world, Germany, France. I travelled a lot. I was only 15 years old when I was a successful model. And I worked with so many different kinds of people. Because in fashion, like anywhere else, you find a mixture of stupid people and great people, do you know what I mean? But I knew I couldn't do this very long, because I felt strongly that it wasn't for me. And a little voice inside me told me "Be patient and something will come up that you will like." In fact, I was doing photos for Vogue in France and Robert Bresson decided he wanted that girl he saw in the newspapers. So he asked his assistant to find me and it was very simple. He found me very easily through Vogue magazine. He had no doubt I was his girl for the film. And for every film, there was no doubt that I was the one and no one else for the film. It was always wonderful, because I never had to fight for a role. So that's how it was from the beginning. I had so much success so young, it was very bizarre, I didn't like it. I didn't trust myself yet, I had to find who I was. But I wanted to live a real life, not a movie star life. And I wanted to be, to become, a good actress to prove to myself that I could be a good actress without having a great man besides me, like Bresson, Bertolucci or De Sica. And after many years, I realized that I was so happy doing my work that I could not do anything else anyway. Being an actress became my work. For many years I was in movies and TV eventually, and after many years, I decided I wanted to go on stage as well, because I thought if you are an actor, it is very important to go on stage. So I did. And you know, I'm still learning. It's really important for me, my work.

UD: It must be very different acting on stage...

DS: Yes it is. It's very different, and it's wonderful to have gone on stage and now to know what it is and to know that if my body can support me, I can go on being an actress for the rest of my life.

UD: And right now in Paris, you're doing Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband.

DS: Yes, I am playing the very difficult role of Lady Chiltern. For more than a year now it's been a success here, and I decided to go up to the end [of the run]. It's an important experience for a young stage actress like me. It is in fact my fourth experience on stage. And now, I am also working with Robert Wilson. At the Châtelet he's doing [Stravinsky's opera] Oedipus Rex and I am in the silent prologue. And because the opera is quite short, quite strong, he wanted to have something silent before that incredible music. Tuesday is the première, yesterday was thegénérale [final dress rehearsal], and I am so happy we can finally work together because we have been wanting to for many, many years.

UD: Thank you very much for your time, Ms. Sanda. And good luck.

DS: Thank you.