GAINSBOURG: I hope IвЂ™d have the courage to open my eyes and not close them as my character does. You know what youвЂ™re up for when you read the pitch.Д®HRLICH: I donвЂ™t want to give the ending of Melancholia away, but one thought I had watching the film was, What would I do if I could see the end coming? In Buddhism, we have this idea that we should live every moment with awareness: вЂњThink as though at any moment you might be stuck forever with whatever state of mind you indulge yourself inвЂќ-the idea being, of course, not to allow hatred and obsession to have too much screen time. For my part in Antichrist, I suffered a bit.

Of course, heвЂ™s difficult in the sense that what he asks for is difficult. GAINSBOURG: Yes, people thought I was crazy! I think itвЂ™s a legend that heвЂ™s such a tough person to work with. You may be the only person in history to return for a second time as a leading lady in one of his films. He has been accused of driving his actors to the brink of mental breakdowns. I think I love anything he writes.Д®HRLICH: WeвЂ™ve all heard that Lars von Trier can be. When he sent me the script, I just loved it. I had such a wonderful time on Antichrist that I was going to do whatever he proposed me to do.

GAINSBOURG: Well, Lars von Trier called me last Christmas, and I was so thrilled that he would even ask me because it rarely happens that I get to work again with the same director. First of all, what drew you to this project? ItвЂ™s not exactly light fare. So letвЂ™s talk a little bit about your new film, Melancholia, which I watched yesterday and. Can you hear me okay?Д®HRLICH: Yes, surprisingly well. Gainsbourg recently spoke with us by phone from France.Д¬HARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: ГЋle de BrГ©hat, an island in Brittany. Though she is a master of understatement, as always, her precision, intelligence, and sense of humanity come through loud and clear. In the apocalyptic drama Melancholia, her latest project and second collaboration with Von Trier, Gainsbourg costars with Kirsten Dunst (along with Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, and Alexander SkarsgГҐrd) as a highly controlling woman who must confront her helplessness in the face of cataclysmic events. Her critically acclaimed films include Michel GondryвЂ™s The Science of Sleep (2006), Lars von TrierвЂ™s Antichrist (2009), and Todd HaynesвЂ™s Bob Dylan biopic, IвЂ™m Not There (2007). Onscreen, she can radiate emotions like a filament about to erupt, with a tenderness and honesty that give her work its gravitational pull. Likewise, in GainsbourgвЂ™s other career as an actress, she has managed to avoid all of the ego-trappings of movie stardom, instead working with a seriousness and purity that seem to belong to a different era. Her songs have a quality of relaxed elegance and unerring good taste. It showcases a voice that at times seems to almost hide, never drawing too much attention to itself, but inviting listeners to explore the musicвЂ™s charming, oddball melodies, which draw on jazz, new wave, cabaret, and electronica. Her new album, Stage Whisper (Elektra), is a double CD, one disc featuring live performances and the other previously unreleased material. Gainsbourg completed her debut album at 15, and since then her list of musical collaborators has included Air, Beck, Jarvis Cocker, and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Her first song, a duet with her father, was called вЂњLemon Incest,вЂќ which, not unexpectedly, caused considerable controversy in France. Raised in Paris by Гјberhip pop-star dad Serge Gainsbourg and his muse, the English actress and singer Jane Birkin, Gainsbourg made her musical debut at the age of 13. But if she did, it would be impossibly cool. Charlotte Gainsbourg probably isnвЂ™t the kind of person whoвЂ™d have a rГ©sumГ©.

Antichrist movie scenes