“We expect perfection from our spiritual mentors, but they are flawed, human, sex seems difficult even for spiritual masters to resist”, explains Jane Campion, talking about her new film Holy Smoke, in competition today, and written together with her sister, Anna. It is a comedy adventure story set in Australia and India, centred on a girl, Ruth (Kate Winslet), who is searching for answers, and an American investigator (Harvey Keitel), specialised in tracing youngsters seduced by sects and who is put on her trail by her worried parents. But Ruth is one case this expert won’t be able to solve so easily, mainly because the investigator finds himself in an all-out test of wills and a game of temptation. “As Buddha said”, continues the director, “of all the drives, sex is the strongest. If there was anything stronger or even another as strong, he would never have reached enlightenment. I’m also hoping to say with Holy Smoke that there is something to arrive at with the whole spiritual experience. The truth of it lies in continual exploration. The experience takes a whole lifetime”. 

Hey!  Same jacket from when  she showed off her new haircut!

Kate Winslet by Sandra Bordigoni 
Kate Winslet is always lively and dynamic, with a biting sense of humour. Her eyes sparkle when she talks, she exudes enthusiasm and clearly loves her work. She got married secretly a couple of years ago, at the tender age of twenty-two, with her great love, a long-standing boyfriend, a somewhat anonymous figure for someone who is in the spotlights so much. But she doesn't seem to be at all interested in the glamour of Hollywood where anorexia is apparently the password for success, and she's not concerned about being a couple of kilos overweight. After the great success of Titanic, she decided to select quality films, refusing superficial parts in commercial films and took on more interesting roles in minor but more significant films. Specialised in roles "from the past" (to date the only present-day roles have been in Holy Smoke, Hideous Kinky and Heavenly Creatures), and she's comfortable being cramped in corsets, bows and crinolines. In fact the huge famous hat she wears in Titanic apparently modified her movements. It's not hard to believe that she "bowls over" Harvey Keitel, dragging him into a profound relationship out of his control, and against his will. But things haven't always gone smoothly for Kate, and her voice changes when she talks about her old love Stephen Tredre, her boyfriend for four and a half years and who passed away at 28 after a long battle with cancer.