Working with Henry Jaglom? An exciting ­ sometimes maybe "too exciting" ­ experience in improvisation, a completely different approach to acting and movie-making in my experience. No script to rely on, just a general plot, an outline and some ideas on your character, whom, of course, you do need to do your own homework on. And then on the set Henry says, "Okay, it¹s your turn. In this next scene such and such has to happen;" he knows, of course, why this such and such has to happen, he has the picture in his mind; but you - well, you need to trust him implicitly and simply do as he says.

This can be ­ and was, at times, for me ­ difficult, because you would like to feel a little more "in control;" but, in my particular case, well, I had always admired Henry¹s work, and so I adjusted to his extra-ordinary approach and had faith that he truly knew best and that it could also be a growing process for me, which it was. Even the most accomplished, best-established actors on the set were occasionally puzzled by Henry's methods, and that, too, made it easier to relax: Henry is different, no doubt about it, and asks for your unconditional trust in and compliance with "his way," but if you give it to him, the outcome is professionally and emotionally rewarding beyond one's expectations.

Cannes was unforgettable in more than one way. This adorable, quiet, set-back Riviera town turned itself into something entirely different during the craziness of the festival, something strikingly portrayed by Henry in the movie: it's the merciless, mercenary, unrealistic Hollywood world that moves to the Côte d'Azur yearly, and on this yearly occasion tries to disguise its ambiguousness and unreliability with a thin veneer of Riviera sophistication. I did not "like" it, just as I do not "like" backstage life in Hollywood, which unfortunately coincides far too much with what I had been told I should expect. But I'm fascinated by it just the same, by the huge amount of love, passion, ambition, ego, greed and various combinations of the above, all the stimuli that push drive people to behave the way they do in order to achieve "fame." It's a Vanity Fair that can be entertaining or tragic, depending on how you decide to look at it.

Camilla Campanale