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Parker Posey Tribute: Deauville, France, Sept 5, 2008

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September 2008: The Deauville American Film Festival in France presented actress Parker Posey with a retrospective and tribute and invited Hartley to say a few words:

Good evening.

As we can see from the films being shown here this week, Parker Posey has worked with a great variety of people and made many different kinds of films.

I can only speak for myself, but I’m sure these other filmmakers will agree with my admiration for Parker’s unique achievements.

Parker was the first actor I ever met whom I recognized as a movie star. And she hadn’t made any movies yet. She was just graduating from college. But she was unmistakably a movie star.

Apart from her skill and discipline, there is a definite and unavoidable attitude; a stance in relation to the world at large (and the movies in particular) which is an undisguised challenge to a filmmaker like myself – a challenge that says in so many words or gestures: “ok, you may have written the dialogue, and you may be making the pictures, but right now you are making pictures of me and that – more or less – changes everything.”

It’s true and it’s how it should be. It’s scary and it’s fun, and I’ve never come away from shooting a scene with Parker where I have not learned something.

If I had to point out one thing that distinguishes Parker’s performances and makes them so valuable – I’d have to say it is intelligence. Her emotional involvement and identification with her characters is always total. But she also provides a compelling awareness of what her characters might represent in the world where any given movie she is in is being shown. That’s to say, there is a critical dimension to her performances. She’s a good old fashioned modernist. And I like that.

Now, what I’m describing, of course, is also irony. I’m a little old fashioned, so I still consider irony the height of wit. And I think Parker’s performances in any number of films over the last decade demonstrate this wit like no other actor in America.

So, please join the festival and myself in welcoming, and applauding, the excellent and unique achievements of my friend and sometimes accomplice, Parker Posey.