‘I hate superficial matters. I don’t spend time on looks’

Julie Delpy, who captured hearts in the Before trilogy, is back ... but don’t expect a love story. She talks to Hannah Ewens about her role in Netflix’s ‘Hostage’, romance and #MeToo

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The world, according to Julie Delpy, is becoming a hateful place.

“I think there’s sadly more violence to come our way and there are so many wars everywhere,” the French actor-writer-director says. “It’s stressful to be a witness of that, but we need to all keep our cool and just be rational and listen to one another, even people you disagree with.” There’s nothing inherently wrong with what she’s saying; she is not incorrect when she talks about how easily influenced people are now by fear. Or how concerning it is that not only in her home country, but globally, there is a slide to the far right.

It’s just striking to hear talk of fear from a woman who has spent the past 30 years bringing its opposite to life on screen: love.

World events are on Delpy’s mind thanks to her latest role, as a fictional French president in the Netflix drama Hostage, in which her icy President Toussaint is blackmailed and corrupted by the system. “I’m a little concerned with leadership and how easy it is to manipulate,” the 55-year-old explains, as she gets comfortable on a sofa in Netflix’s London headquarters.

Delpy, in a navy pinstripe suit and thick black glasses, with two structural tendrils of blonde curls framing her face, looks every bit a leader, albeit a beautiful, almost handsome, one. Gone is the rosebud-faced ingénue of romantic comedies, whose natural wisdom gave characters like Céline in Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy their quiet charm. So is the abrupt impulsiveness she brought to Marion in her own romcoms, 2 Days in Paris and 2 Days in New York. As the French president, Delpy is cold, hardened. “It was interesting to do something so opposite of what I am,” she says.