Tonight, a one-of-a-kind woman on screen and off... Catherine Deneuve for the hour. She's next on LARRY KING LIVE.

She is easily one of the most incredible stars in film history. She's Catherine Deneuve. And her latest movie is "Place Vendome". The award-winning actress, and many are saying this is... this may be her. She's got some incredible reviews for this movie. We'll talk about it in a while.

But first, I know that you regularly fly the Concorde. Are you worried about going on one again ?
No, I'm not I'm not really worried. I was more, you know. I felt quite... I was feeling very strange yesterday, because I just flew in with a Concorde few days ago, and the memory of the flight, and also there were a lot of children in the plane, you know. I really had a very strange day. But I think it's the first time, you know, in 30 years that there is something bad with that plane. We seem forgetting you know it's incredible plane, so I would I would take one without any... too much difficulty next time.

And you have flown it many times, right ?
Yes.

Did you ever have any problem on it ? Would you ever run into any engine problems ?
Minor ones. I had a minor problem. I know I read yesterday in the papers, you know, when they said little incident they've had over 30 years. I don't think there are many companies who that many little incidents on a plane, you know, ever you know, in 30 years. It's almost nothing what happened.

All right, Catherine, let's... there's so many things to talk about. But let's first talk about the "Place Vendome". Tell me about this movie, how you came to do it, what it's about.
That's a very straightforward question. The director of the film is an actress, Nicole Garcia. She had done two things before, and she asked me, you know, if I would like... if I would be interested to work with her, which of course I said yes, because I had seen the film, and I thought she was a very interesting young director, and a few months later she came with an idea of the character she would like me to play, and which field it could be, and I was very interested because I think it is... only a woman could have thought, you know, of putting a woman in that situation, because dealing with gems and stones, you know, like I do in the film, it's very tough work, very tough job, and most of the time, there are only men working in that area.

What does the story revolve around ?
Around broken promises, despair, love, power. She was very sophisticated, and very obscure, and mysterious world, but in the end, you know, it all go back to money, so it's a very, very tough world.

The reviews... I know you must have seen some. The two I've read have been superb. Are you surprised at how well this film is being received ?
Frankly, I like the film very much. You know, I did that film two years ago. It was in competition in Venice, you know, and the film was very well received. I had received a prize for interpretation in Venice for this film. So it's something I've been living with now for quite a while. And I like the film. It's very mysterious very original in the same time, and my character is very interesting, and I think, maybe only an actress woman, could have thought of that for... to give that part to another actress.

What, Catherine, took so long for it to come to the United States ?
Why ? Why so long ?

Well, it's been shown before, right ?
Oh, because it's French films, and it's always a little difficult for the film, especially if the film are quite special. It's not an evident film for an audience, so I think that's why. And over in Europe, it's an average, normal thing for a French film to come here.

Do you like being directed by a woman ?
No more, no less than a man. Maybe sometime I think woman are a little more in details, you know, in the... a little more fussy maybe. But... and also, it's not same relation, because it's not relation to woman. It's a different relation than a man-to-woman relation. But to be directed by man or a woman, it really depends on the person.

Do you... did you ever want to direct ?
No.

No desire ? Because some actors, as you know, like it. They like because they have control.
Yes. Some do. They like the control. I don't like that kind of control, no. I don't feel... I don't consider that to be directing a film to have a good control, you know. I think I would rather work with someone, you know, and be on his side or on her side, to be in the film, to try to follow the... to follow someone, you know, in the project. You know, I don't feel like I could carry whole project myself. And that is why I don't think I could really direct, or I don't have the desire, you know, of directing. If I had a desire in films other than acting, maybe it would be more like producing, you know, I suppose.

Nor have you worked on stage, right ?
No, only in films.

Why not stage ?
Because I think I'm stage fright, and I've been raised, you know, in films for such long time. I have the impression that I wouldn't be able to really... be able to keep really at level I wish I would, you know, for quite a long time. And especially to do everyday, you know to go back on stage and... the only thing that would appeal to me for theater would be that you present a work that you have been preparing for, that you completely know, because in films, you know, on the set, you have very little time to work, and you feel sometimes that you just have to throw yourself in things, and you don't have much time to work. I know that on stage, you prepare before, and you present to the audience a finished work, and that's the thing that sometimes makes me think twice. You know, but for the moment, I haven't made the step to really decide to go on stage yet.

I can't believe you have stage fright.
Why not ?

Because you're so well within yourself.
That has nothing to do with it, you know. That has...

You always appear... every time I've been with you, you appear so well composed and in control of yourself.
I appear always in control. And anyway, as you said, it's appear, you know, appearance. And I think that when you when you go to do an interview on television, and you are going to be interviewed, I think you try your best, you know, to be at your best and to be able to talk about what you do, what you answer the questions in the most fulfilling way for everybody. And I don't think you really... you can forget, you know, about your fears, your fright, or... you can forget about that, but it doesn't mean you know that you are really in control and very.

Well said.
I don't think I'm a... I'm just making an effort, like everybody.

We'll be right back with more of Catherine Deneuve. Her newest film is "Place Vendome". This is LARRY KING LIVE. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "PLACE VENDOME")

She has appeared in over 90 films, yet...
Really ?

Yes, 90. Yet in a description of you, David Thompson wrote about you, "You're perhaps the movies greatest cool blonde, a receptacle for any imagination". What do you think it is about you ? Do you... I mean you're aware how beautiful you are, right ? You don't look in the mirror and see something ugly.
I don't see something ugly, but I certainly not... don't see what you see, because you know, when you live with yourself for such a long time, I don't think any woman can really, you know, for herself, so I'm not seeing the same thing, you know, certainly not. I don't know who said, but there is nothing easier than to really get used to beauty, you know, in a way, and I think it's true, you know. I don't think you can get used to something someone stupid, but someone beautiful, it's sort of, I don't think it's enough, you know, anyway. But anyway, I don't see myself as an ugly person, of course not, but I don't see myself either as a beautiful person; I just see myself as someone, you know, trying to hold to things that she wants to hold to in the sort of... in the way of being able to go on doing what I like to do. But I know that I'm not, you know, the person that I was 20 years ago, and I have no special regret or anything about that, you know. I just... I'm quite (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for this I cannot really fight.

You are a grandmother.
Yes, I've been for quite a while, you know. People don't know that I've been a grandmother for 12 years now.

You have a 12-year-old grandchild.
Yes, I have two grandchildren.

What does that... what does that feel like ?
Wonderful. Wonderful. It's wonderful to have... I like very much very young children, so I think it's really wonderful to have again around me, you know, very young children.

Do you see yourself... and you've been described this many times... as mysterious ? Do you think that public when they watch you work wonders ? What's with her ? There is something about her we don't know.
I hope. I hope. But I think it's the true for a lot of people, you know. I think that you say what you want or what you can, you try to present the image you want to present and give to people what you want to give, and sometimes you give more than what you want to give, but I'm sure that everybody keeps always a little piece of themselves, you know, for themselves. I think I keep... I try to keep something for myself. It's not something I try really very hard or hold, you know; it's just the way I am. It's my... it's in my character.

Why did you choose to be an actress ?
It happened. You know, I didn't really choose, you know. It happened because I worked with my sister in first film, and I was at school, and then it went on, because Jacques Demy, you know, saw me in a film, in one of my first films, and asked me to do "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," but it's true that I... by then, you know, I was not sure that I would go on making films. See, If I hadn't met Jacques Demy, I'm not sure I would be on screen really today.

Really ?
Well, I'm not sure, no. I was not really sure that was my place, and this thing I really liked to do.

So "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" was the film that internationally made you, right ?
Yes, but also as an actress, you know, as a person. You know, my meeting, and my encounter with Jacques Demy was a very essential thing in my life, yes.

Why do you like... I guess the only way to put this... why do like being other people ?
Why I do like what ? Being other people ?

Yes, that's what you do for a living. You are other people for a living.
Well, I think actors are very much themselves, you know, when... in films. I don't think you do a thing because you want to be someone else. I think also there is a strained balance between being someone else, it's true, but also showing yourself, and presenting yourself, and being watched and being... people looking at you and presenting something of you to people. So it's a very mix, because very often you meet actors who are very shy you know, and in same time, when they're on stage or when they're on the set, you know, they become someone else. But it's not for being someone else. I think it's because basically, it's the pleasure of playing, you know, of... like in life, you see a lot of people that are supposed to do a very serious job, but they play, you know. The character supposed to be secondly. They are activities, you know. A lot of people play. Because you have to present something that is going to please people, that people are going to like, and they are going to receive better, you know what you are supposed to tell them, or sell them, or...

So there is a... there is you in everything you do, then ?
Of course.

So...
What about you ? Aren't you... when you are talking to me doing an interview, there is something of yourself, I hope.

I'm always me. It's all me. I hope... see, but I don't have to be someone else.
You don't have to be someone else, but you have to present something about you with maybe sometimes nicer, sometimes stronger, sometimes with more humor than you are really feeling deeply in yourself.

True.
So, it's not... you have to be yourself as much possible, but you know, in a way, actors are supposed to be someone else most of the time, and most of the time they present fully 90 percent of themselves in another part. The words are the words of someone else. That's the big difference. But it's your voice, it's your face, it's your moves, your feelings, your emotions, very difficult.

All the world's a stage.
Yes, except in your... at your home. At home, it's not a stage.

We'll talk about Catherine Deneuve and how she has kept her private life private. Her newest film is "Place Vendome". The critics have been overwhelming favorable. We'll be right back with this incredible star for all those years. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE UMBRELLA DE CHERBOURG")

How, Catherine, have you been able to keep your privacy in a public arena ?
I think I manage because my choice, you know, in... when I was not working, or yes, especially when I was not working, or in my life, where very private projects and very simple projects, like seeing my friends, trying not to go to the places where I knew would be crowded, not to go in the summer, places everybody goes. So it was my desire to have a sort of not a secret life, but a private life for me and children. So it's really became something natural to me, trying my best, but I didn't really have to fight that hard, because in Europe, you know, it's not that difficult, you know, if you are aware that you have also a power to have the press... to stop the press at certain limit, because we have very protective laws in France against the press and the intrusion in your private life.

So the paparazzis have not been a problem for you ? Or they have ?
Oh yes, they have. They have. They have. But it's not anymore like that, because now, strangely enough, there are a lot of magazines about what we call magazine for about people, and why they do what they do, and where they move, what they wear, but it seems that people accept, you know, to pose and do the photos, because at least they are better than, you know, instead of stealing the picture anywhere. Now people prefer to accept to do the photos, and they appear like that in magazines. There are more magazines everything is less stolen, yes, more arranged.

So isn't that a hard life ? Aren't there things you would like to do that you can't do ?
Yes. I cannot kiss someone in public. I cannot always show my feeling, you know, in some places. Otherwise, what can't I do ?

Do you have to hide yourself ? Do you have to...
No, no, no.

You don't put on sunglasses, or put on a hat that hides your face.
I put less sunglasses than most people in their life, but no, no, no. I live... (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It's true that it seems all those years now I'm used to sort of choose the right timing, the right places, and the right hours, where I know it's not going to be, you know, too crowded, so I won't take too many chances to be surrounded. But anyway, I live in Paris, you know, and I've been living in the same neighborhood for such a long time. I think also people are used to see me.

To seeing you. Conversely, do you enjoy fame ?
Not always. But fame has been very good to me, and it brought me, you know, more things than it took things of me, so I think I really cannot complain. The only thing is sometimes, some... I wonder, you know, if it was not me and being famous how people would react to me, and sometimes, you know, I like to know how it would be just to be... you know, and just to hear maybe a different voice, but it has nothing do with my personal life, because my friends, you know, are very longtime friends, so I know, you know, it's natural relation, it's not... but sometimes, just in everyday life, in little things, I wonder what it would be, you know, just to ask for something...

Because people do treat you differently, do they not ? They have to.
I'm sure they do. But you know, as it's for me, it's like that every day, you know. I don't think that much about it. So it's sometimes the question I wonder, you know, what it would be like. But otherwise, it's my delight. I try to keep, you know, as much as possible a natural relation with people. I try to put things down, so it won't... the limit, the distance won't be that... too big.

We'll talk about many other things with Catherine Deneuve. She's our guest for the full hour, and her new film is "Place Vendome". She was nominated for best actress Oscar for "Indochine". That was just seven years ago. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "INDOCHINE")

Nicole Garcia is the director of "Place Vendome," and its star is Catherine Deneuve, and she is with us. I'm not going to ask personal questions. That's not our business. But you were married to one of the great directors, Roger Vadim. You had a child.
I was not married.

You had a child with him ?
Yes.

OK. What were you... how did you feel about his passing ? Were you close ?
No, I wasn't close, because we didn't have a close relation for so many years, and that's why when he passed away, it was very difficult. Because he is my father's son and because when you don't have a very good relation with someone who has been important in your life, when this person goes and pass away, you're finished, and there is nothing you can do to arrange that relation. So it was very difficult time for me.

Did he have a good relationship with his son ?
Yes, much better.

How did his son handle the passing ?
Not too well. He's his oldest son, and I don't think it's very easy. My son is quite... supposed to be grownup person. He's 36 today... 37, or 36. And he is a grown person, but you're always a child when you lose one of your parents. And, but he's a very sensitive and very sensitive man, and I think he's getting better, he's getting better. He's recovering, you know. It's a long time to get over such a thing.

In retrospect, was Roger Vadim a great director ?
I think he was a great director, a very, very good director. And I think, I don't know why, for... he had a very charming thing you know. His life very important to him, and he would accept sometimes to do in works things he maybe shouldn't have done, because he wanted to have a better time with... he had a lot of friends. I was very surprised actually when I went to his funeral, because there were so many friends, and so many people who liked him. His personal life was very important. So I really have the impression that in the last 15 years, you know, of his life, you know, he had more difficulties for work because he sort of let go too much and was not giving enough attention to his work, maybe. And I don't think you can become bad director, but I think you can lose you know the...

Lazy ?
Yes, it's sort of laziness because life is more important than anything. But he had a very happy life in the end of his life. You know, he was married with a woman he was very, very much in love with I think, was in a very, very good relation. So in the end of his life.

He directed you, did he not ?
Yes. I did my third film with him when I was very young.

And he sure appreciated beauty.
Supposed to.

He talked of it often. You are the spirit of Marianne. Marianne is the spirit of the revolution, La Belle France.
The republic, yes.

And you appear on stamps, you're the statuette placed in town halls. So that's... when they look at Marianne, they're looking at you. How did this come about ?
I don't really remember, because that was quite a long time ago.

Fifteen years.
Yes, but it went through a national vote, you know, and I thought it was quite funny that they would choose an actress who was not married and had children to represent the French woman. So it must be a reflection of reality, I suppose. Yes, it's true. It's a true situation, you know, in Europe. A lot of women are not married, having children and working. And it was quite nice. I accepted because it was a symbol of republic, and it's something I feel very much for.

But you were surprised ?
Well, yes, I was surprised, because I wasn't told. I was just, you know, told, when the poll had been made, and they say, so it's you, and they didn't ask before if I wanted to be in poll, and they didn't ask me before, you know, if I wanted to be in the poll. They didn't ask the person they were in the choices, you know, they didn't ask...

Yes, it's a great honor, though, to have people vote for you.
Yes, I was quite surprised, and quite flattered in a way, yes.

We'll back with more of Catherine Deneuve. Her new film is "Place Vendome". Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

You have had a number of successful films, Catherine. Do you have a favorite ?
A favorite... maybe it will be for the reason I told you before, "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" because, you know, it was such an in important revelation about filmmaking, you know, and relation you can have with a director on a film. It really sort of... really give a very important sense to my relation with work and with films.

Also, that great Michel Legrand score.
Yes.

What a brilliant composer he is.
Yes.

You do two films a year, almost every year. Why do you work so much ?
There is the possibility to do differently ? I don't know. I suppose because... I suppose because the film interests me more and sometimes I say maybe I complain to myself, you know, that I should have, you know, a little more time. But it is because my appetite of work... but not of work... you know, involvement, you know, with the film, is... I can't resist.

American actresses complain that when they get past the age of 50, the roles get less and less, they see much less scripts. You...
I think even before that in America they complain.

Maybe 40, yes. You don't. Why not ? Is that because Europe is different ?
Yes, very different, very different. I think it is much nicer to grow old in... to get older in Europe than in America. I think there is a terrible stress here about being young and staying young, you know. And I think it is there is the reflection in films. But it... you are not allowed so many things here. You have really to be in a sort of channel of... the style of part... and not only because of the age, but I think, it would have been difficult for me to do the same character that I did in Europe here in America. I am not sure you are allowed to go from one big kind of film to other film, you know, with a young director doing a first film, I think that is difficult. But maybe if I was American, you know, I would feel different, and would act different than. I don't know. I'm European and that is the way I was involved with... the way I feel.

Well, there are stories that Sharon Stone apparently going to do "Basic Instinct 2" and she would like you to co-star with her. Is that true ? Have you heard from her ?
No, I was told yesterday, I was told that, you know, yesterday that she said that. But I don't know how much it is true, because I don't understand how it is possible to know that publicly without the people concerned to... I know it was question that the second "Basic Instinct" was done, but I don't know much more than that.

Now concerning American actors, you have worked with Jack Lemmon. He was on this show last week. What was that like ? in "April Fools".
Wonderful, wonderful, it is wonderful. It is a great... he was a... he is a great, you know, really a great actor, and it was wonderful thing. It was very nice on my experience, you know, such... I didn't have much experience, you know, then, and especially not American films... to be in a production that... the film was co- produced by him, so it was very different atmosphere, you know, of shooting, and filming on the set. It was very nice, very nice shooting.

And now you are a product... do you still have products in your name ?
Products ?

Yes, did you ever have skin products or makeup products ?
No.

But you did work for Chanel, right ?
No, no, I never. I never worked for Chanel. I just did the publicity, the ad for the perfume, you know. And in my opinion, perfume is not a product, you know. Perfume is the advantage of something very, very... it is not concrete, you know, it is something. It has so much to do imagination, and it is not a product for me, a perfume.

Was there a Deneuve fragrance ?
Yes, yes, I was given the possibility to do my perfume in America. And I had a great pleasure to do that.

I remember you were on our show when you introduced them.
Yes, yes, I loved it. And I learn a lot of interesting things, you know, doing that. I got very involved with that.

Are they still being sold ?
No, because they sold they sold... it belong to Evan (ph)... and they sold the company. It went to Europe, but things got spread in a very different way and didn't really work out very well, no.

Our guest is Catherine Deneuve. She stars in "Place Vendome". We'll talk about some of her other roles. And we'll talk the great director. We mentioned one. Let's talk about Francois Truffaut after this. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE APRIL FOOLS")

In "Place Vendome", by the way, Catherine Deneuve plays Marianne, who is in a predicament: possible suicide death of her husband, a posh jewelry establishment, a stash of diamonds, interest in life, reawakening. Was it fun doing this, by the way ? Did you enjoy making this movie ?
I don't know if it was fun, but it was very challenging for me. Very challenging, you know, It's a woman who, when the film starts, who recovers from alcohol. And it was a very interesting part to do, because it was something I felt very different of everything I had done before.

You will also... am I correct... take small roles, right ? If you like something, you will do a part where you may only be on screen for a short amount of time ?
That is what I did, you know. That is what I did last year. And there was a sort of collusion, because a film was postponed and two films came in the same time. And I was really following... I did three films in the year and that became difficult, you know. But it is true that I said that if a part... even a small part in a film, you know, where I think it is an interesting script... would come, I would do it. And I have been doing it, you know, almost all year long last year.

You don't have to be the star-star.
I don't have to be the star. I don't have to be the star, no, to be in a film. But it really has to be special, you know, to accept to be in a film for a small part, or forget it for another main part in a film. I did it with Regis Wargnier because I had done "Indochine", and he wrote this part. And it was very important, you know, in "East-wst". It was a story in itself. It was a small part, but it was also an important part. And I did it for Raul Ruiz for "Time regained" because it was a very important project, and, actually, a project that I followed such a long time. I was offered, you know, to do Albertine, 30 years ago, you know, when the project was to be made in France. So I had to do it one of these days, you know.

What was the impact on you of François Truffaut ?
He was a very important director for me, very important in my career, and very important in my relation. We stayed friends until the end of his life. And, you know, he was someone I admired very much and I liked him very much.

He also cast you, differently, did he not ?
Well, yes, because when I did "Last metro", you know, he said that he wanted to give me a part of a woman, you know, with responsibilities, and it is not that simple. It was not that simple at that time, you know, to find parts for an actress where you would be something else than just a mistress, you know, or the wife or... he wanted me to have... and also to have a tough part, because in the last picture, it was some time, you know, the character is a little... she has to say things. She has to hide things as well. So sometimes her behavior is a little stiff and hard and that was interesting, you know. He wanted me to have a different kind of a part, not just the beautiful blonde woman.

Was he good to... did you enjoy working with him ?
Yes, very much, very much. He was a very... he loved, you know, films, but he loved actors and actresses. And I remember that, after doing the film with Spielberg, he told me, he had even more respect with actors than before. He it's said so difficult and so hard to have to wait for so long, and then to arrive and do things, and be there, and immediately... he said he even had more respect after shooting, you know.

You were also in a movie with your daughter, right ? I mean, your parents acted. Your children act.
My children are both actors, yes. My daughter did her first film with me of Andre Techine called "My favorite season", yes.

What was it like working with someone you gave birth to ?
I never thought of it that way...

No ?
...because the first time she did it in that film, we didn't have any scenes together. We just had the Christmas dinner, you know, in the film. And, I don't know, I was just around, you know, when she was shooting, you know. She knew that I would be around, but I wouldn't be, you know, on the set or too close to her... not to... not for her to have the feeling she was my daughter, you know, and she was trying to become an actress. But I never thought of it that way, you know. No. And even with my son, I had to scene with him in "Time regained", but he has, you know, he had a costume. He was wearing a mustache. And he had the little eyeglasses. I almost didn't recognize him, you know, he was someone different.

The most tragic moment in your life was the loss of your sister ?
I suppose so.

You were very close, were you not ?
Yes.

Is that something you never get over ? We hear of the deaths of parents and the deaths children, which is something that... tragedy beyond belief. But the death of a sibling ?
I think it is... I think it is something that can take a very long time to recover. And I think that, even when you recover, you have to learn to live with that. But it is like... it is like something that will never... you will never have back or that you have to live with. It is like a pain that you will feel maybe less, but the pain will always be there, you know.

Always there.
Yes, I think so.

You have also had to play roles... you have played prostitutes. You have played lesbians. How do you... assuming you are neither... how do get the feeling to do that ? What do you think about ?
A prostitute is not difficult. It is not difficult, because it is an extreme thing that has to do with seduction, love, sex. It is... I don't know, you know... anyway, in the film I did, it was a very sort of... it was not a very... there were not hard scenes to shoot. lesbian, I find it more difficult, because in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) film I had to play a woman in love, you know. And actually, she is not a lesbian. She is a woman that had children that was married. And she falls in love with that girl.

Right.
So falling in love, you know. I was very worried at the beginning, because I said, but how is to be in love with a girl, to have someone to desire ? And I realized that, in the end, when I had the final script, with the dialogue, you know, that falling in love with a man or woman, it's the same thing. So it had to do with love, you know, more than anything.

So you treated it as falling in love. The gender didn't matter. You had to act.
In the film, you know, the character I'm playing that... is it is not that she loves women. She loves that woman.

That woman. We'll be right back with Catherine Deneuve. She stars in "Place Vendome," her 90th film, we believe... maybe 91. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

We're back with Catherine Deneuve. Probably... we'll discuss it... your best-known film was made 33 years... "Belle de jour", right ? Wouldn't you say that is your... that has held up. People think of you first, they name that movie ?
Yes. In America, they name "Belle de jour" and the ad I did for Chanel. Even, you know, I have seen all those things. You know, and they are major things that they remember about me.

But "Belle de jour" seems to have legs. It seems to grow, right ? I mean, people say that it makes a statement today.
Yes, because it deals, you know, with a woman's phantasm, and I don't think that I've changed over the years. So the film is shot in a very modern way. You know, it's a very surrealistic film sometimes. So, there is no there is no fashion about that.

In fact, the fashions are back in style, aren't they... in that movie.
Yes, also, yes.

Yves Saint Laurent, right ?
Yes, Yves Saint Laurent.

Have you ever been asked to model ?
No, no, I did some photos with my sister when I was quite young, you know. Maybe we had already start to do film. But no, because I started to do films very quickly. And I did modeling only like actresses do, you know, to ask to do photos for our fashion magazines wearing clothes, that's all.

Catherine, I guess you'd have to guess this. But when someone is very beautiful... and maybe you don't think you are, but let's say society treats you as very beautiful. Do you think that it's inhibiting the men sometimes ? You're a famous actress, and you're also beautiful, that men maybe have been over the years afraid to ask you to dinner ?
Yes, not to ask me to dinner, but I'm sure it's... there is something to overcome, you know, when you have to deal anyway with someone, with a woman which she who is known. I think it's sometimes it is a problem for man. But I don't think it is a problem only for the first time. I think it's even a problem afterwards. you know, because in the... let's say, imagine that there is a relation with a man, you know, in the everyday life and in public, it's difficult for a man to stand for the position of a woman who is always looked at, and to be always looked at, you know, in private situations sometimes. It's very difficult to live.

So in other words, you could be with a man a long time, and you walk into restaurant, and he's Mr. Deneuve.
No. No. I don't think men, you know, it is not that he's Mr., or... it's not that; it's the fact that you have to be under eyes of public, you know, audience, all the time. Some men, you know, cannot stand just to have... it's not question of being Mister or you know, to be behind that woman. It's the idea of being looked at, you know, in situations where you would like to be private.

And now what's next, by the way ? You're always working. There has to be something that's next.
No. You forget something. You forget something. I come to the states, you know, maybe once or twice. Meantime, I do films. But I'm not working all the time. For example, this year I haven't been shooting one single film. I have been going all over... almost over world to present films. In Russia, and in the states, I went three times,. I went Italy, Spain. Anyway, I went to a lot of countries, some I never have even been before, but I didn't really make a film. And I'm not shooting all the time. I will come back in the States for the New York Film Festival because I will present with Bjork the film that we did with Lars von Trier.

That was done when ? Last year ?
Yes, you see, that was done last year. It's the last film I did. Last year. Last summer.

Are you anxious to work ?
No. I would be happy to work, because I like the project I have. But I'm certainly not anxious to work, no.

We'll be back with our remaining few moments with Catherine Deneuve. She stars in "Place Vendome". Don't go away.

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We have a few minutes remaining, Catherine. You said you'd visited places you hadn't been before. What impressed you ? Was there a city that impressed you a lot ?
Impressed me. I went to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) where I had been only once, you know, briefly before, and I find it quite impressive, yes, because also, they have been doing a lot of work, you know, about the buildings and the palaces, and it was very, very beautiful.

Do you like the Russians ?
Yes. I like the Russians, as you say it. I like the spirit of the... I don't know how you say.

Hearty.
You know, I like the mentality. They are rough, but they are very romantic at the same time.

Do you have a favorite American city ?
Favorite American city, maybe San Francisco.

Everybody's favorite, right ?
Really ?

I think, yes.
But I like New York very much. I like New York very much.

You're a New York kind of girl.
Yes.

You know, I mean, it's... you know, you're Fifth Avenue.
Not really. I'm more a country girl, you know, you would be surprised.

Oh come on.
Oh yes.

Yes.
What I liked, you know, when you're in New York, you can go in and connect and get so quickly, you know, very close to the country. I'm very much a country girl.

Really ?
I mean by that, that I like very much the country. Yes, absolutely, it's true. I spend a lot of time in the country.

So you like throwing on jeans ?
You see that's a very bad question, because everyone will tell you that you can really, you know... climbing up a ladder, jeans are not best thing to work in a garden. You have to kneel. It's not comfortable for kneeling. Jeans are not made for kneeling really. They are made to protect legs for thing that can fall over you. It's not the best. But I'm a gardener, yes, I'm really a gardener, and my hands show, you know.

Are you in a happy state of life now ? Are you... have a good relationship ? Everything going well ?
Yes, my children are fine. I still have my mother. My sister are fine. My friends are fine. I haven't lost many friends in those last few years.

Is there a man in your life ?
Men. Men.

Oh, you have men ?
How you put it, men ? I didn't know that it could be men in my life. Well, I have a lot of friends. I have a lot of friends, and I have a very little man in my life. He's 3 years 1/2.

Thank you, Catherine. Always good seeing you.
Bye-bye. Thank you.

Catherine Deneuve. Her new film is "Place Vendome". She's never dull, and not too bad to look at. Thanks for joining us on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE. Good night.