Binoche: 'Certified Copy' character is me

Juliette Binoche's role in 'Certified Copy' was not "a character".

The French actress - who picked up the Best Actress Award at this year's Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal of Elle in the Abbas Kiarostami drama - claims she was stopped from researching neuroses by the director because he wanted her to be herself in the role.

She said: "I thought when Abbas gave me the script that the character was a little bit crazy. I was about to start researching neuroses when he said: 'No, the character is you, she does not have neuroses. Just be yourself.'

"I realised Abbas meant that it has to be true every single moment, so it was not about playing a character. For him it was playing truth."

'Certified Copy' tells the tale of Elle, a young French woman who meets an awkward, middle-aged English writer while he is on a book tour in Italy and Binoche says it is at heart a simple love story.

She told the Times newspaper: "This film is about the difficulty of loving, but for me the message is that there's always hope."

'Certified Copy' does not currently have an international release date.