Gérard Depardieu discusses Russia in Cannes: 'If Crimea had been American it would have been a different matter'

Gerard Depardieu has expressed solidarity with both Russian president Vladimir Putin and former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko at the Cannes film festival. Asked his feelings about the current dispute over Ukraine, Depardieu said: “I’m like everybody – I think conflicts are a terrible thing. I know Mr Putin well; I like him a lot and I still go to Russia.”

Depardieu, who was awarded Russian citizenship in 2013 and owns several vineyards in Ukraine, said that country’s “complicated history” meant “nobody understand much about it”. He had often been there in the company of Yushchenko, he said, whose relaxed approach he admired. “What can I say about such a conflict? If Crimea had been American it would have been a different matter … There’s so many different ethnic groups in Russia. But I wouldn’t venture to be a spokesperson. Like everyone else, I was shocked. I don’t like war, I don’t like conflicts, people die.”

The actor was speaking at the Cannes film festival, where his new film, Valley of Love, is playing in competition. The film reunites Depardieu with Isabelle Huppert, his co-star in 1980 Cannes contender Loulou. In their new film, both actors play versions of themselves, with their own names, but imagining they were once married. Their characters meet in California at the request of their son, who promises in his suicide note that he will reappear to them should they travel to Death Valley during a particular week.

Depardieu said he was drawn the the script’s combination of “simplicity and violence”. “It’s shrouded in a very disturbing mysticism. There something quite fantastic in the film about the notion of what happens after death, which we cannot answer.”

In 2008, Depardieu’s own son, Guillaume, died aged 37 following a motorcycle accident. “I can understand mourning for a child,” he said, but added the role was made “no more difficult” for his personal tragedy.

Depardieu, whose controversial Dominique Strauss-Khan biopic Welcome to New York premiered at the festival last year, spends much of the film naked save for underwear, due to the extreme temperatures in Death Valley. His character professes dissatisfaction with his weight, asking “how could I be happy like this?” and Depardieu, now 66, spoke of “bodies that are old or sick becoming a burden”.

Shooting in the raised temperatures was a challenge, he said. “You just have to try to survive, to have quite an intense inner life. You mustn’t ask too many questions, just bear with the situation and emerge alive.”

The shoot had been a happy one, however - as almost all of them are, he said. “I wanted to be an actor because I didn’t ever want to work. I fell into it by chance. I realised I love living with people who do this job. We’re fed, housed and people do our laundry - although I don’t get my clothes very dirty and I have several suits. Acting is for me pure pleasure. It simplifies my life and you earn a lot of money. That’s rather vulgar but it’s the truth.”

Valley of Love is one of nine (of 19) films in competition which are French productions or co-productions - a higher proportion than in previous years. Yet Depardieu professed himself relatively unfamiliar with contemporary directors from the country of his birth. But he did say he was increasingly keen on the work of Bruce Willis. “I didn’t know him to start with but now I find him quite extraordinary. Films with these crazy special effects and totally unbelievable characters really appeal to me. I don’t want typical cinema-buff things. I like rather banal things.”