Tuesday afternoon, Peter Weir has just landed in Paris.
He's coming from Sydney.
The Australian director is the guest of honor at the 11th edition of the Festival de la Cinémathèque française, a feast of restorations and incunabula until March 17.
This is the first time that the institution has paid tribute to him.
At 79, Weir maintains a slim figure.
That doesn't make him an ascetic.
He is desperate to find a smoking room in the hotel where he is staying.
He orders a glass of red wine at tea time.
And is voluble when talking about his first Australian films as well as his big Hollywood successes (
Witness
,
The Circle of Dead Poets
,
The Truman Show
,
Master and Commander
).
He interrupts once, when Jeremy Thomas, the English producer of the films of Bertolucci, Cronenberg, Wenders and Glazer, walks by.
The two men give each other a warm hug.
“We had a project together, it didn’t happen,”
Weir tells us.
Does he hope to tour again?
“No, I’m retired.”
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