Madame Binoche Will See You Now
Town & Country US|March 2024
From her role as Coco Chanel in a thrilling new series to her latest rather complicated, très Frenchturn as an international cinema sensation, bringing charisma to complexity is what Juliette Binoche does best, onscreen and off.
MARISA MELTZER
Madame Binoche Will See You Now

Getting to Juliette Binoche’s house feels a bit like walking into a fairy tale. Off an average Paris street, you head behind a nondescript building and across a cobblestone courtyard before going through a doorway and into an enchanted-­looking garden with a winding path that leads to a freestanding stone house. Once inside, things are no less bewitching.

Binoche greets me wearing sweatpants and a V-neck sweater, but she still has the magnetic pull (not to mention luminous skin and tight jawline) of a movie star. A wood-burning stove crackles, her cat Bacchus naps in front of it, and we sit at a low coffee table dotted with bowls of lychees, chocolate, madeleines, and a pot of herbal tea.

It’s fitting to see the star—who has appeared in nearly 100 films, from art house fare like Olivier Assayas’s 2014 Clouds of Sils Maria to popcorn movies like Godzilla, and who won an Oscar for The English Patient—laying out this kind of spread, considering her latest project, The Taste of Things, may be one of the most hunger-­inducing movies in history.

“It’s about passion,” she says of The Taste of Things, which is France’s Academy Awards entry for Best International Feature Film. But she could be talking about her entire career. “Sometimes I just throw myself into it.”

The Taste of Things is based on a cult 1924 Swiss novel by Marcel Rouff, about a gentleman gourmet chef named Dodin Bouffant living in a Loire Valley château. The movie is a sort of prequel to the novel, focusing on Dodin, played by Benoît Magimel, and Eugénie (Binoche), who is his cook, muse, occasional lover, and friend. Director Tran Anh Hung won the best director prize when the movie premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last May, and the film has been making waves on the awards circuit ever since.

Denne historien er fra March 2024-utgaven av Town & Country US.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra March 2024-utgaven av Town & Country US.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA TOWN & COUNTRY USSe alt
Jersey, JE ΤΙΜΕ
Town & Country US

Jersey, JE ΤΙΜΕ

Nearly 50 years ago a museum opened in Paris.

time-read
2 mins  |
Summer 2024
THE HUNGER GAMES
Town & Country US

THE HUNGER GAMES

Two former bons amis grew up in the same expensive suburb and cut their teeth together in the Paris nightclub scene. Then they launched competing restaurant empires, and the gloves came off. Now one of them is facing a suspended prison sentence and a huge fine. Welcome to the city's most delicious grudge match.

time-read
7 mins  |
Summer 2024
HIDDEN in Plain Sight
Town & Country US

HIDDEN in Plain Sight

T&C was invited into the private archives and secret workshops of Paris, to glimpse the treasures that have made this city famous for its style and craftsmanship. It's a reputation worth fighting for.

time-read
8 mins  |
Summer 2024
GUARDIAN of Objects
Town & Country US

GUARDIAN of Objects

Laura Kugel is the go-to art dealer for the world's most discerning clients, but her family's Paris wonderland is open to all. Come inside, won't you?

time-read
9 mins  |
Summer 2024
Ecole! Elysée! SCANDALE!
Town & Country US

Ecole! Elysée! SCANDALE!

The path to the French White House requires a political education at one of the country's elite universities. As controversy swirls around Sciences Po-class treason, #MeToo à la française, creeping le wokisme-will its grip on power finally slip?

time-read
8 mins  |
Summer 2024
Are There Still Mysteries in Paris?
Town & Country US

Are There Still Mysteries in Paris?

Surely not, in the world's most visited city! And yet: Why is the Louvre called the Louvre? Why do the upper stories of its 17th-century buildings tilt in? Why do even familiar streets feel so enticing, unknown? One thing is clear: So many of us return because the City of Light is really one of mesmerizing shadows.

time-read
7 mins  |
Summer 2024
High SEAS
Town & Country US

High SEAS

How seductive is a cruise on an ultraluxury ship (yes, that's a category) like the new Regent Seven Seas Grandeur? So much so that a 132-day sailing sold out in three hours. It was time to investigate.

time-read
7 mins  |
Summer 2024
The Cruise Cure
Town & Country US

The Cruise Cure

One definition of bliss at sea is padding down a ship's hallway from your suite to the spa in a robe and slippers. Here's what awaits.

time-read
3 mins  |
Summer 2024
Only a Day to Spare?
Town & Country US

Only a Day to Spare?

These hotel spas-mini-me's of destination, health retreats punch way above their weight. So, if you're in the neighborhood...

time-read
1 min  |
Summer 2024
So, Where Do You Ride in Paris?
Town & Country US

So, Where Do You Ride in Paris?

A fancy equestrian's guide to the best of Gallic galloping.

time-read
2 mins  |
Summer 2024