This Cultural Life Folgen

French actor Juliette Binoche is known for her portrayal of emotionally complex characters. Over a forty year career, her films have included Three Colours Blue, Les Amants de Pont Neuf, Chocolat, and The English Patient, for which she won her Academy Award. Her most recent film is The Taste of Things, a French drama about a cook and the gourmet she works for, in which she stars opposite Benoît Magimel.Juliette Binoche talks to John Wilson about an early moment of revelation, watching Peter Brookes' production of Alfred Jarry's play Ubu Roi at in Paris in 1977, which first made her realise she wanted to act. She explains the influence of her acting coach Véra Gregh, who helped her to understand the difference between "acting" and "being". She also recalls her experiences working with some of the most acclaimed film directors; Jean-Luc Godard on Hail Mary; Leos Carax on Les Amants du Pont-Neuf; Krzysztof Kieślowski on Three Colours: Blue; and Anthony Minghella on The English Patient.Producer: Edwina Pitman

A rare interview with Frank Auerbach, one of the world’s greatest living painters. At 92 years old, he has been painting for over 70 years and still works every day. A child refugee from Nazi Germany whose parents were killed in Auschwitz, he made his name alongside his friends and fellow painters Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Leon Kossoff in the 1950s. He’s well known for the thick layers of the paint used to create his portraits and images of the streets around the studio in Camden Town where he has worked since 1954.Frank Auerbach talks to John Wilson about his fragmentary memories of his early childhood in pre-war Berlin and his education at the boarding school Bunce Court in Kent, where he arrived aged 7. He recalls the huge impression that a black and white reproduction in a children's encyclopaedia of Turner's The Fighting Temeraire made on him as a boy, making him want to "do better and be less superficial". Auerbach also discusses the influence on him of the artist David Bomberg who taught him at London's Borough Polytechnic, and his friend and fellow student Leon Kossoff. He also talks about his friendships with Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud and why he still paints and draws in his studio seven days a week.Producer: Edwina Pitman

Born George O'Dowd, Boy George shot to pop stardom in 1982 as frontman with the band Culture Club and later as a solo artist. With his soulful vocals and flamboyant, androgynous looks, he became a massive star around the world with hits such as Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? and Karma Chameleon. His personal struggles with drug addiction and a prison sentence in 2009 meant he was rarely far from tabloid headlines. In recent years he’s been a judge on The Voice, survived the jungle in I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, and has just published a new memoir called Karma. He continues to record and perform as a prolific solo singer songwriter. George discusses the impact that David Bowie had on him as a teenager and recalls seeing him at the Lewisham Odeon during the Ziggy Stardust tour of 1973. He also talks about the important influence of club promoter Philip Sallon who introduced him to London's gay scene in the late 1970s. Meeting Quentin Crisp in New York with Andy Warhol was also a formative cultural moment. George talks to John Wilson candidly about coping with fame and rebuilding his life after addiction and prison. Producer: Edwina Pitman