One is so trained by film these days that a woman has to be one thing or the other. This woman is both. She's sort of helpless and at the same time infinitely manipulative. On the surface she's intelligent, capable, educated and self-motivated. That to me was my take on the character.
Ivory believes the actress struck just the right pitch in a complicated portrayal.
It didn't frighten her, she saw it as a challenge. She had real empathy for this splendid creature who seems to have brought herself low. I was always sort of a homebody. The little things you read in the paper don't represent a lifestyle. They represent an outing, and everyone goes out once in a while.