Dialogue: Catherine Breillat

May 25, 2007 After suffering a cerebral hemorrhage in 2004, the French novelist and filmmaker, known for her daring, sexually and violently explicit films such as "Anatomy of Hell" (2004), "Fat Girl" (2001) and "Romance" (1999), has fought her way back to life and back to Cannes with her 12th film, "Une Vieille Maitresse" ("An Old Mistress"), a period drama based on Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly's 1865 novel. Returning to the Croisette after her unromantic, unabashed evocation of sexuality "Sex Is Comedy" opened the Director's Fortnight in 2002, the controversial cineaste talks about her journey from "A Real Young Girl" to "An Old Mistress." He's also been victim to censorship, so we have a lot in common.

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