All Eyes on Deneuve : French Star Dedicates ‘Indochine’ Premiere to Amnesty International

Wearing a leopard-print suit by Yves Saint Laurent, French movie star Catherine Deneuve gave Amnesty International USA a dose of glamour along with the premiere of her movie, “Indochine,” Monday night.

The woman knows all about her powers. When Deneuve was introduced, she sauntered from the rear of the the Royal Theatre to the screen like a newly crowned Miss America--er, Universe.

When she got there, she didn’t say much except that she hoped everyone would enjoy the movie. And then, haltingly, “Amnesty is very special to me.”

Even if she’s short on explanations, the crowd, which included French director Louis Malle and his wife, Candice Bergen, couldn’t take their eyes off her.

“She’s definitely still one of the few top stars in France,” said composer Jean-Luc Ponty at a reception at the Hotel Bel-Air. “I was always a big fan of hers since my youth.”

“Catherine is such a fit representative--in a way the representative--of the accomplishment and artistry of French films,” said Gregory Peck.

The film, the official French entry for this year’s Academy Awards, doesn’t open here until Christmas Day. It’s a love story set in French Colonial Indochina in the 1930s, at the time when the Vietnamese Communist Party was emerging.

“The struggle of colonial powers with indigenous people is the gigantic struggle that is still going on today in the world,” said John Healy, executive director of Amnesty International USA, a non-political human rights organization that works on behalf of prisoners of conscience and others punished for their beliefs.

The benefit raised more than $40,000, which will be spent in political hot spots like Somalia, Yugoslavia, Turkey and China. The organization also favors allowing Haitians to enter the United States and receive asylum, Healy said.

Deneuve is a longtime Amnesty International member who requested that the premiere benefit the organization, said Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics.

“I would say it’s the main organization I’m involved in,” explained the actress. Her daughter Chira, who was with her, will accompany Deneuve to similar events in New York and San Francisco.

Gerard Coste, the French consul-general, who co-sponsored the evening, pointed out that the French people are big supporters of amnesty in general.

“It’s very proper to show this movie to help Amnesty International because it’s a story of a fight for freedom.”