L'Alpe d'Huez (France) (AFP)

Sailing and dark glasses, Isabelle Huppert is an unexpected Franco-Arab court interpreter who finds herself a dealer in the Belleville district of Paris in "La Daronne", presented in competition at the Alpe d'Huez comedy film festival.

Adapted from the eponymous novel by Hannelore Cayre, the film by Jean-Paul Salomé tells the story of Patience Portefeux (Isabelle Huppert), specializing in the deciphering of wiretaps for the Brigade des stups, most often in stories of dealers .

"I had fun reading the book first, firstly, which is a great book by Hannelore Cayre, and then I had a lot of fun making the film with Jean-Paul Salomé. He is a very unpredictable, "Isabelle Huppert told reporters when she arrived at the Alpe d'Huez Festival, which lasts until Sunday, and where she came for the first time.

"We do not think at all that she will find herself confronted with these completely extravagant situations of where she comes from, and especially for what she is, that is to say a fairly effaced character, who rather draws the devil by the tail, who does not know where his existence goes, and who suddenly finds himself embarked in a very exciting way, "she added.

By presenting the film to the public before the screening, Jean-Paul Salomé explained that he immediately thought of Isabelle Huppert for this role, and suggested that the actress had just read the book.

The actress then had to learn replicas in Arabic with a coach for this role. "I hope I got there pretty much," she says.

Imperial as a free business woman who gets caught up in the drug trafficking game and creates an improbable look for herself, foiling the police whose leader (Hippolyte Girardot) is none other than her lover, Isabelle Huppert surprises in the skin of this character .

"It's funny, it's a comedy, that's why we're here," she said. But "to me it's not just a comedy," she added. "There can be depth, emotion, a lot of things that say."

"It is indeed also a destiny that is being fulfilled," she continues. "She is someone to whom something happens that we had absolutely not planned, and that she is ready to face with a lot of freedom, a lot of insolence, a certain transgression".

© 2020 AFP