NEW HIGH FOR FRENCH DIRECTOR

Coline Serreau is a French film director who relaxes by working out on a trapeze. She likes to perform 30 feet off the ground without a net. “It’s not a matter of courage,” she says. “I’m nearsighted. I don’t see, so I’m not scared.”

Serreau likewise feels no sense of danger in coming to Hollywood to remake her hit French film, “3 Men and a Cradle,” for Disney Studios.

As a director, she also likes to work without a net. “I anticipate a lot of difficulties,” she says in lightly accented English, “but also a lot of enthusiasm. There are always difficulties when you’re directing a film. Why more here?”

An actress as well as a writer and director, Serreau went directly from the “3 Men” editing room to appearing on the French stage nine months ago.

“In France they ask me, ‘After I direct, how can I go back to the theater?’ In France, directors generally think of themselves as God. It’s nice to be part of a troupe. Every night when you perform, you’re in danger. And every night you learn. You learn after each film too, but you can’t make a film every night.”

Serreau, who has come here for a few days to talk about “3 Men,” is returning to Paris to pack up her family and her aerialist gear and move to Hollywood for a year. She says Disney aims to put the American version into production by the end of the summer.

“ ‘3 Men and a Cradle’ isn’t realistic,” she says. “It’s a fantasy. The young children and teen-agers who see it identify with the child. They would like to be loved like that. In the film, these three men keep saying it’s hell (to raise the baby). They don’t recognize it’s paradise until the baby’s gone.”

The remake will be the fifth film Serreau has directed.

“I’m happy to redo this film for Americans because a French film won’t reach a large popular audience here,” she says. “It will be a good challenge for me. I might fail.”

In her view, success can be worse than failure. “I’ve failed many times,” she says. “I think I’ve learned more from failure than from success. I’ve never wanted success or money. I want to reach the people. This is the main pleasure--to talk to the people.”

More than anything--heights, danger, loneliness--Serreau maintains that she fears success. “Success is a very dangerous thing. I wouldn’t like to lose the ability of questioning what I’m doing. Then I’ll be in trouble. My ambition is not to make a career in America. I just want to make films until I die.”

Serreau is a curious mixture. She talks very seriously, but she is a comedy actress. “They always wanted me to play young lovers in classic plays,” she says, “but I’m no good at that.”

In her bulky red sweater, red ballet slippers and black and white vertically striped trousers, she looks more like a curly-haired elf than a Juliet. Yet she apparently wields a big stick when she’s got her director’s hat on. “Actors have asked me if we had fun on the set. I said, ‘The purpose is to have fun in the theater.’

“I’ve been working in the business for many years,” she adds somberly.

When a reporter asks if she’s about 30, Serreau answers, “That’s pretty close.”

“My father was an actor and an avant-garde director. His theater put on the first performance of ‘Waiting for Godot.’ He directed Brecht, Ionesco and Becket. My mother was a theater writer and translated the most important Brecht plays.

“I tried to escape this family destiny by studying music from age 5. I was a professional organ player, but then I went to a state theater school and began acting at 18. My father didn’t want to direct me, and I didn’t want him to. He said to manage by myself. He was not very glad that I became an actress.”

Her parents were even less pleased when she became a trapeze artist. “A famous clown opened a school in Paris 12 years ago,” she recalls. “I went there. The first second I put my hands on the bar, that was it. I’m stupid on the ground, but as soon as I get in the air I’m better. I have my own show, which I do at galas.

“I’m a teacher too. Six years ago I helped start a trapeze school in Montreal. Now I work out on my own trapeze two or three times a week. If I don’t, I’ll lose my callouses.” She holds out one palm to show two neat rows of callouses.

“I’d have loved to paint, but I’m no good at it. As a director, paintings have influenced me more than seeing other films. In Europe, I’m more at the museums than I am at the movies. The way painters use light; they’ve already invented everything.”

“3 Men and a Cradle” owes a lot to the Italian nativity paintings, she says. “You see thousands of them in European museums. I started with one single image--three men and this baby--and I built the story around the image. It’s a myth which is turned and transformed into modern times. It’s an old story about three wise men, but this time Christ is a woman.”

Although the remake will be transformed somewhat for the American audience, Serreau says she and Disney are in agreement on the changes. “I’m quite well-supported. They see what is in the film.”

Serreau was in a strong bargaining position because she wrote the original screenplay. “I could have imposed other things,” she says, “but I just asked to be the director. I didn’t want to pull on the rope too much.

“In France, there are many woman directors. It’s not anything we speak about. It’s just normal. If you know your work, you work. You make good films, bad films. It doesn’t matter if you’re a woman or a man.

“There are no studios in France. We all fight the same battles to make a film. It’s always a battle, and it’s always difficult. I’ve had doubts like everyone has, but I never had any doubts because of being a woman.”