Deneuve and Depardieu delight in comedy Potiche (Feature)

By Peter Mayer Sep 4, 2010, 16:28 GMT

Venice, Italy - France's Catherine Deneuve has strongly staked her claim for the best actress award at this year's Venice Film Festival with a much applauded performance in Francois Ozon's comedy Potiche.

The film, which premiered on Saturday, also sees her team-up with another of France's internationally best-known actors, Gerard Depardieu, her partner in several celebrated French films.

In Potiche, the 66-year-old Deneuve plays Suzanne, the wife of a wealthy industrialist, Robert Pujol, who by marrying her inherited control of her father's umbrella factory in the northern French provincial town of Sainte-Gudule.

During their three decades-long relationship, Pujol, played by Fabrice Luchini, has completely relegated Suzanne to the role of a household trophy.

After rearing their daughter and son to adulthood, Suzanne's life has come to consist of decorating their mansion and writing sickly- sentimental poetry.

Her husband, meanwhile, runs the family business in ruthless fashion, while on the side, indulging in various infidelities, including an affair with his secretary.

But in an almost farcical turn-of-events in which Pujol is taken hostage by factory workers demanding better conditions, Suzanne steps into the fray, unveiling to the surprise of her family, true managerial mettle.

Still, her newly-apprehended assertive role, also forces a confrontation, albeit in keeping with the film's comic tone, with aspects of her past.

These include revoking the memory of an extra-marital fling with the local mayor and Communist Party leader, Maurice Babin, played by Depardieu.

Set in the late 1970s, the film is loosely based on a well-known French theatre play. Ozon, speaking at a news conference in Venice, said he wanted adapt the story in a way in which it could relate to the changing role of women in French society.

Ozon also said he was in part inspired by the French presidential race of 2007 in which female candidate Segolene Royal stood against Nicolas Sarkozy.

'I also thought about the return of machismo in countries like Italy,' Ozon said.

He was apparently referring to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has drawn criticism for allegedly choosing female political candidates for their good looks and whose remarks have on several occasions been interpreted as sexist.

'My mother's generation would have recognised Suzanne's situation, one which is painful, even if the film is a comedy,' the 42-year-old Ozon said.

'Of course the situation for women (in France) has improved since the 70s, but change is still very slow,' said Deneuve, who also spoke at the news conference.

'Women are now more independent and do things that only men used to do, and men are doing things at home that once only women used to do,' she said.

'But women still get lower salaries than men for the same jobs and that is a sign that equality has not been reached,' she added.

Deneuve, for many years considered a 'sex-symbol' was asked if during the course of her career she too had ever been in a position similar to Suzanne's, whose daughter in the film describes her as a 'pretty statuette' - a sort of ornament for her husband to display.

'There have been moments where I felt used because of the way I looked,' Deneuve said.

However, she also said that she never found herself in the 'extreme' situation in which Suzanne is seen at the beginning of the movie.

The Venice Film Festival runs until September 11, when most of the awards, including that for best actress will be announced.