Hilferty: What's the idea behind ``Amor, Amor''?

Dombasle: As bizarre as it sounds, I'm American. I was born in Connecticut, and very proud to have my American passport. But I spent the first 18 years of my life in Mexico, as my grandfather was French ambassador there. My first language is Spanish, and my soul is very Mexican.

Hilferty: But you're very French on the surface.

Dombasle: I'm a Mexicana-Chicana-Americana-Gringa -- a mix of French, Mexican and American cultures.

Hilferty: There's a big tradition in France of actor-singers like Jane Birkin, Brigitte Bardot and Charles Aznavour. Do you fit into that mold?

Dombasle: Not exactly. My secret garden has always been music. When Eric Rohmer thought of using me in a film, I was already in the Paris music conservatory. Instead of going into opera, I continued doing movies and theater. That's why I ended up in between acting and singing. But I really think of myself as a singer.

Working With Rohmer

Hilferty: Your first film was Rohmer's ``Perceval,'' a kind of medieval musical in which you sing. You were also in his ``Pauline at the Beach.'' What was it like to work with him?

Dombasle: When you have the luck to be chosen by a master like Rohmer, it's amazing because it's quality right away. It's like being elected.

Hilferty: You appeared in a movie called ``The Libertine,'' a term once used to describe your husband, celebrity philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.

Dombasle: Some people don't care for love. They are interested in other things like ambition, money and popularity. But I always put love, and my love for Bernard-Henri, at the very top.

Hilferty: When BHL, as your husband is known, was writing ``Who Killed Daniel Pearl?'' his life was threatened. Were you worried?

Dombasle: Of course. We had to move several times. We had to hire some bodyguards, which I don't like, but that's the way it is. It was dangerous.

`Savage Souls'

Hilferty: You've worked with contemporary surrealist filmmaker Raoul Ruiz, who directed you and John Malkovich in ``Savage Souls.'' What are they like?

Dombasle: John is someone I adore, such an open and acute mind. I appeared in three short movies he made about Bella Freud, Freud's great granddaughter. Ruiz is like a sleepwalker, sometimes so mysterious that often you don't understand a word he says. He's like a character from a Borges story.

Hilferty: You just wrapped up a film by 80-year-old Alain Robbe-Grillet, whom most people know as a novelist. What's it about?

Dombasle: It's about Gradiva, a sculpture discovered in Pompeii of a girl who walks on the tips of her toes. A novel was written about an archeologist who's haunted by her. Freud was fascinated by this mystery. I play Gradiva, who's a sensual fantasy, a figure of eternal desire.

Hilferty: Have you done any American movies?

Dombasle: I did a series called ``Lace'' on ABC that was seen by 65 million Americans, with Phoebe Cates and Angela Lansbury. And I did an episode of ``Miami Vice.''

Inner Pamela Anderson

Hilferty: Getting in touch with your inner Pamela Anderson?

Dombasle: That was the whole point.

Hilferty: What do you hate most about the French?

Dombasle: At a glance, they can tell whether you live on the Left or the Right Bank.

Hilferty: What do you hate most about Americans?

Dombasle: When they are rude, self-satisfied and narrow- minded. But that could apply to any human being.