n a message dated 16/09/2002 12:09:43 GMT Daylight Time, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

<< And my, what a very very sublime performance from a 4-year old actress. 
Thivisol who also appeared as the daughter of Juliette Binoche in CHOCOLAT 
and LES ENFANTS DU SIECLE, has this rarest of ability among children to break 
anyone's hearts with a quiver of her upper lip and when her eyes well with 
tears. I don't know how she was directed by Doillon because its as if the 
camera is like a voyeur to her subsequent actions. When she tearfully slides 
up and down the car's hood after being told by her father that her mother 
died has got to be the most heartbreaking scene that paralleled Fernanda 
Montenegro's last scene in CENTRO DO BRASIL.>>

A sideline on this observation is that the film was heavily criticised in 
some quarters for precisely that reason: some found that the only answer to 
the question "how did he get such a performance from the little girl?" was 
that he must have made her sad, told her upsetting things, or something 
similar.  I don't know if this is true, although I wouldn't discount the 
possibility.  I do wonder if a child that young is capable of acting.

This reminds me of the story about Bob Ezrin's tactics when producing Lou 
Reed's Berlin album, which, as anyone who's heard it can attest, contains 
some of the most harrowing music of the last few decades.  On the song "The 
Kids", there suddenly appear out of the speakers children's screams, which 
made me look around the room, startled, when I first heard them.  They are 
chilling.  The rumour, which has taken on full-blown myth status, is that 
Ezrin told the children that their mother had died, in order to get the 
horrified reactions, which he recorded.  I MUST STRESS THAT I HAVE NO IDEA IF 
THIS IS ACTUALLY TRUE!

Makes ya think, though.

Azeem in London
NP: Eddi Reader - Angels & Electricity

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