You've recently turned 50: what personal ambitions do you still want to fulfull?
"I'd like more children. I had children very young - probably too young. If you have them at 50, you have wisdom to give them, love and security. Which is great."

Apart from more children, is there anything missing from your life now, or have you got everything?
"Life never gives you everything. You have to take what you can from it, but it never gives you it all. What you have to do is cultivate life. It is like love - it's demanding. You have to cultivate it and work at it."

A lot has been said about your own childhood and adolescence. How much of it is true?
"It would take too long to relate my childhood, but it was very happy. Happy because it was free.  Perhaps the only thing that was missing was a set of rules. I didn't have a father or mother to tell me not to do things. I was a street child, a wild child. And I see that as lucky, because if I'd been brought up ill a middle-class environment, for example, I might have turned out differently."

In 1989, you made a film called Trop Belle Pour Toi (Too Beautiful For You) in which Carole Bouquet played your overly perfect wife.
"Yes, and she is very beautiful. And it is true that it's difficult to live with a beautiful woman, difficult to understand her needs and to just love her normally. But then the gift of love is heaven-sent."

What can a man do to demonstrate his love for a woman?
"Give her children."

Are you a romantic person?
"Well, I love people and I love women. I love people who love life."

In one of your most celebrated films, Cyrano de Bergerac, the heroine Roxanne falls in love with your character on account of his words and nothing else. In your own case, is it your mind that women usually fall for?
"I don't know. I do think women like beautiful words."

Has there ever been a Roxanne in your life - someone who has been out of your reach?
"No. I loved the character of Cyrano de Bergarac but, unlike him, I don't have any desire to suffer like that."

Some say that you are the most attractive ugly man in film. What do you think of that?
"It's not bad!"

Has anything been handed to you in life, or have you earned everything you have?
"I think the best thing that's been given to me is good health. The fact that am also good at listening to other people and that I'm not judgmental is also a gift."

What do you value most in life?
"Being able to share the things I like with the people I love, but also being demanding sometimes with them, at the risk of offending them. Giving other people time and attention is important to me."

Apart from acting you are a keen wine producer. What does wine mean to you?
"Wine has soul - it means being with friends and sharing. I don't like wine to get drunk on, or to forget, I like it because it lifts the spirit."

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