Natalie Portman spoke with great affection about Diane Keaton , who died on Oct. 11, during her masterclass at this week’s Lumière Film Festival .

“She gave female characters the opportunity to be as complex as the male characters we commonly see,” she said. “They were neurotic, they were funny, they were smart, they were emotional, they were weird. She let women be weird on screen. [She was] someone who was unapologetically herself, and you fell in love with her because of that.”

Asked about the performers who inspired her, Portman also spoke with admiration about Gena Rowlands, Julianne Moore, Isabelle Huppert and Nicole Kidman.

As one of this year’s guests of honor, the Oscar-winning actor held the packed Pathé Bellecour theater spellbound with queues outside snaking for dozens

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