She might not smile a lot, but Isabelle Huppert is one of France's best actresses. She's worked with the cream of international directors including Jean-Luc Godard, François Ozon, Curtis Hanson, Hal Hartley.

She originally turned down Michael Haneke when he approached her for his twisted Funny Games. But now with The Piano Teacher and Time Of The Wolf, Huppert is becoming the director's latter day muse.

Do you think Michael Haneke is offering an apocalyptic message behind the movie?

I don't know if he wants to warn us, or deliver any message - it's not his manner. He just wants to make a film about something that is not our reality. We are living in relatively wealthy countries, so he wants to show us what would happen if our privileged reality suddenly disappeared. He just wants to make people think a little bit.

How do you approach ambiguous roles such as this?

I don't think it is ambiguous. He wants to get rid of any fictional tools that most films rely on - he wanted to do something else. My only line in the film was to show tiredness. If you look at photos of refugees of the world, what you read on their faces is immense tiredness. There is no life anymore.

You've worked in two of Haneke's bleakest films; do you think there are any misconceptions about his approach?

He's a more Humanistic director than he seems. Because Haneke always plays with guilt and innocence, and because there is always these qualities, he's a pessimistic humanistic director. There is of course no sentimentality, but there is a belief in mankind, I think.

There's a fear of immigrants expressed in the film. Do you think Haneke is using it as a metaphor for a broader comment on the current world situation?

Yes, of course, he uses it as a metaphor. It's a very primitive instinct, that foreigners bring danger. When you see somebody coming into your own space, you immediately accuse them of taking what you have. Haneke just wants to show the basic mechanisms of humankind: revenge, justice, and power. But some people like my character remain out of that. She's more like a saint figure, she's helpless and more passive - most people are in extreme situations. What can you do? You are helpless.

How does working on intense films such as The Piano Teacher and Time of the Wolf affect you personally?

I think it would affect me more not to be in those movies. Frankly, it would affect me more if I was in bad director's films. What you see on screen, is not what you feel as an actress. Good things are sometimes painful.

Time Of The Wolf is released in UK cinemas on Friday 17th October 2003.