16/05/2002 - When Catherine Breillat opened the two week festival for the Directors, the «first time» resulted in a burst of laughter.

«Makings of reveal the appearance of a film but never its heart». That was Catherine Breillat´s (Romance) inspiration for her latest film, Sex is Comedy, chosen to open Directors´ Fortnight in Cannes.
Sex is comedy is Breillat´s return to the set of A ma soeur!, and is a self-portrait rather than an autobiography about a forceful but sensitive film director (Anne Parillaud) and her relations with two young actors ((Roxane Mesquida and Grégoire Colin) who hate the sight of each other but must play intimate love scenes.
«On the set of A ma soeur! I hardly spoke to the actor and I don´t remember his name. But that doesn´t matter because the actors must understand the film and not each other,» Roxane informs us. (The actor in question was Libero De Rienzo - Editor´s Note).
Breillat calls Sex is comedy an impure comedy and emphasised the funny side of human sexual relations with hilarious gadgets like the enormous fake penis that the boy wears to deflower his girlfriend. «Laughter is the most basic kind of shyness, but film is an impure art form,» she said.
Produced by Jean-François Lepetit , Sex is comedy will be released in France on June 5 and shortly after that in territories that include Japan and the U.S.
Breillat `s film was not selected for competition this year, «If it were not for Directors´ Fortnight I would not be here. Thank goodness there are people willing to showcase different films that have every right to exist too.»

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(Translated from Italian)