“The most tense elections I have ever experienced”: the view of Julie Delpy, who has lived in the United States since 1992

Currently showing in the film “The Barbarians” which she directed, Julie Delpy, 54, moved to the United States in 1992. The actress and director will vote Democratic, “as always”.

You are a dual citizen, living and voting in Los Angeles, California. What do you think of the involvement of Hollywood personalities in this campaign?

All of Hollywood is not aligned behind Kamala Harris?

More and more people are voting for Trump. The artists who support him are completely uninhibited. It’s unprecedented, a bit like the pros Le Pen in France. This rise in populism, especially among artists, is very worrying. But I hope that artists will mobilize in favor of Kamala Harris during this final stretch of meetings. It’s necessary. You have to take sides, not be afraid of your opinions.

So you will vote for her?

I will always vote Democratic. Always. Already because I emigrated to the United States and the Republicans are clearly against immigrants, not just illegal immigrants. There is a real hatred of foreigners here, even though America is a country essentially made up of immigrants. In France, the left is much further to the left than the Democrats are in the USA. They are more centrists and I will always be closer to a sort of center left.

Your latest film “Les Barbares”, currently showing in France, deals precisely with the fear of the other, of the immigrant, of ordinary racism. Why did you want to address this subject?

The campaigns of Marine Le Pen in France or Donald Trump in the United States are entirely focused on immigrants. It’s pure racism, dehumanization, built on false information, exaggerations, lies to try to scare us. This is what interested me when I started writing my film. I wanted to tell the story of French villagers who had to welcome Ukrainian refugees and found themselves with Syrian refugees. I made it a comedy, obviously, but it highlights the withdrawal into oneself, a symptom of our times. People no longer communicate. This is not a good sign for the future… I think, as an artist, it is important to move the lines through our works. The more I mature, the more I want to make humanist films.

And your prediction?

If Kamala Harris wins, it will be historic. It would be great to have a mixed race, black and Asian woman leading this great country. But seen from the United States, I can tell you that these are the most tense elections I have experienced since my arrival. I’m very afraid this is going to go south. For four years, Trump supporters have been radicalized, they are increasingly armed. They are ready for anything, as we saw with the invasion of the Capitol (January 6, 2021).