Emma de Caunes and Louis Garrel in Ma Mère Courtesy of TLA Releasing

It wasn't until he began working with Christophe Honoré that his career moved into high gear. Garrel has just completed his fourth collaboration with Honoré, The Beautiful Person, which the director is now in the process of editing. "It's an adaptation of The Princess of Clèves, a French book written by Madame de La Fayette." But up next Garrel will appear in La Frontière de l'Aube directed by his father. This will be his second film with Philippe Garrel; their first collaboration, Regular Lovers, earned the actor the César award in 2006 for most promising male newcomer. "Of course it's different from working with another director," says Garrel of being directed by his father, "but I can't really explain why. Whenever that question is asked of me, I just can't really answer."

And as more and more contemporary French actors (Marion Cotillard, Eva Green, Mathieu Amalric) land plum roles in English-language films, one wonders if France's favorite heartthrob is currently thumbing through any Hollywood scripts. "I think it's really difficult for a French actor to play in English movies, because we're like 'small cheese', you know? It's not like Spanish people, because the United States was built a lot with Spaniards, with Italians and whatnot, so I think it's different. When you see a Frenchman arrive in movie, if he doesn't play French it's a kind of scandal, no?"