When writer/director Patrice Chereau appears in his hotel lobby for our interview, he appears somewhat tired. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise given that Chereau has spent the better part of a year now, literally traveling around the globe to promote his latest film, a work he is intensely proud of, Intimacy.

Intimacy first made waves in the film community at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival where it picked up the festival’s top honor, The Golden Bear. Following in the footsteps of 2000’s winner, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia and 1999’s winner, Terrance Malick’s The Thin Red Line, Chereau’s film is in excellent company.

Born in France in 1944, Chereau has been a staple of the French entertainment scene for over 30 years. Though he is widely known in Europe for his direction of stage, opera and film (Chereau’s previous project was the Cesar winning film, Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train), he is probably best known in America for playing General Montcalm in Michael Mann’s 1992 film, The Last of the Mohicans. Despite this, Chereau chuckles when I describe him as an actor.

"I don’t feel myself as an actor," he says earnestly. "I’ve done it a few times, but most of the time, you see me when I’m replacing somebody else." Chereau shakes his head, still dismissing the notion that he is a true actor. "Sometimes it’s fun to do," he grins, "but I’m comfortable behind the camera, not in front of it."

And behind the camera, Chereau has had a phenomenal career. One of the few feature film directors who has an extensive background in the opera, Chereau eschews the idea that working in opera has conditioned him differently than other directors.

"I’m the result of everything I’ve done," he says philosophically. "I am the product of my career. I don’t reflect upon what is the weight of the theater or opera on my movies. I have no idea."

Chereau does admit though that his love of theater has helped his relationships with actors. "The knowledge of actors that I have came from the theater," he says. "I’m not scared in front of actors like some directors are. I love them and I’m not scared." He shrugs, "Sometimes you can direct them badly because you are scared or frightened to speak with them." Chereau quickly interjects, "But I’m not afraid. Collaboration is good."

One element of film production that positively fascinates Chereau is the ability to shoot close-ups.

"I’m always interested in being very close in or the faces of the characters because it’s something that wasn’t allowed in the theater," Chereau smiles. "For that reason, the close-up is very important to me. When I was in theater I would go walking around the actors trying to talk with them and trying to mold the faces and eyes and glances from as close as I could, but I could never convey that to the audience."

Surprisingly to Chereau, the main topic of his American travels has been focused on Intimacy’s sex scenes.

"People are very sensitive about sex scenes," Chereau sighs heavily, "It’s a tragedy."

"I’ve heard a lot of opinions," he says resignedly, "and every time I discover that there are as many opinions as there are spectators."

He shakes his head, not understanding why his film is getting such a large amount of press because of its brief scene of oral sex. "It’s much easier to say, ‘Oh my God! There is fellatio! There’s a blowjob!’ than to talk about the film," Chereau says in a pointed tone. He shrugs at me again and says, "What can I do? It comes from the nature of the journalism now."

Chereau returns to the scene in question in Intimacy and continues, "It’s a real problem for the film because a lot of people have come up to me and said that they wanted to see the film but didn’t because of what they read." He smiles again and says, "Then when they see the film they come back to me and say, ‘It was totally different than I was expecting.’" For the record, the brief scene is as honest and unglamorized a portrayal of this intimate act as possible. To Chereau, this was the whole point.

"Many people ask me about possible cuts," he starts. "I think I was genuine in showing exactly what I wanted to show." Chereau looks me in the eye and says, "This scene of oral sex is very beautiful. People talk about it saying that it is terrible, but they forget that not every woman does that for a man." Chereau laughs and asks, "Is that her job?" A short pause, and then, "No."

Summarily, Chereau says, "Where people are seeing provocation, I see the most love. It’s about the difference between the man and the woman. To show how the man in the sexual relationship can be fragile and the woman can be strong at the same time." He pauses. "[The sex] is very difficult position to explain." He laughs heartily and says, "It’s really difficult to defend, and I haven’t discovered the right answer yet, after six months of talking and talking."