“Isabelle Adjani was atrocious”: this film which the actress no longer wants to hear about

A film that has not left only good memories. Thirty after the film’s release Toxic Affair, director Philomène Esposito returned to the difficult filming with Isabelle Adjani. A romantic comedy that ended their friendship, as she revealed to our colleagues from BFM.

A romantic comedy that she literally erased from her filmography. In 1993, Isabelle Adjani is starring in the film Toxic Affair directed by Philomene Esposito. In this new feature film, presented at the Cannes Film Festival, the actress plays Penelope, a young woman who tries to find a taste for life after a painful breakup. A story that echoes her tumultuous relationship with actor Daniel Day-Lewis and which is at the origin of his beautiful complicity with the director. “We met, we never left each other!”said Isabelle Adjani in the columns of the magazine Studio in February 1993. And to add: “We carried around with our toothbrushes, our things and our things, we slept at the hotel together, we slept at my house, we slept at her house.” A “connivance”as described by the chief designer of Toxic Affair Thomas Chevalier to our colleagues from BFMwhich very quickly took another twist.

After the complete rewriting of the scenario, the shooting turned very into a nightmare. “I have absolutely no good memories”told Philomène Esposito to BFM, thirty years later. And to add: “I can only speak with horror of what happened to me. Adjani was atrocious. The producers were atrocious.” During these ten weeks of takes, the director had the feeling of being “dispossessed” of his film, his screenplay, “of all”. “They destroyed my film career. (…) It was toxic from all sides.”, she lamented. A situation that did not escape Thomas Chevalier. “I imagine it was all the more dreadful for Philomène, thatIsabelle had played it to him in friendship.” A film that marked the end of the friendship between the two women. “She completely zapped me”regrets the filmmaker to BFM. “I became the nerd of the cinema. It was over.”

© ANGELI-RINDOFF / BESTIMAGEIsabelle Adjani climbs the steps of the Cannes Film Festival to present the film Toxic Affair, in May 1993.

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Isabelle Adjani “not on a whim” during filming

While Philomène Esposito remains deeply marked by her collaboration with Isabelle Adjani, the teams have only good memories. Although he acknowledges that some “tension” were palpable on the film sets, a technician wanted to clarify things with our colleagues from BFM. “And I can tell you that he’s a very direct person. When she doesn’t like something, she says so. It is much easier than they say. She is not in caprice.”, he revealed. Close to the team, the mother of Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis even organized “a sumptuous party at the Épinay studio at the end of filming”. “She had Berber tents set up, she served the couscous herself. It was magnificent. She is really very generous.”concluded the technician.

For Thierry Jault, chief operator, Isabelle Adjani and Philomène Esposito did not know how to make sense of things, thus generating a certain animosity. “At one point, Philomène and Isabelle may not have made the difference between this ‘friendship’ which had settled during the preparation, and the work between an actress and a director”. And to conclude: “Everything was mixed up. There was too much affect to work calmly afterwards.” Little praised by critics, this film was indeed a professional and friendly failure for Isabelle Adjani and Philomène Esposito.

Photo credits: RACHID BELLAK / BESTIMAGE

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“Isabelle Adjani was atrocious”: this film which the actress no longer wants to hear about