Date sent:        Fri, 15 Nov 1996 16:53:23 -0800 (PST)
To:               paulo@mail.ddnet.es, peterjac@ripco.com, 
c14dberg@cling.gu.se
From:             bajibaj@uclink4.berkeley.edu (preetpaul bajwa)
Subject:          juliette binoche

hi guys. i hope you dont mind that i'm just writing it out once 
and sending it to all three of you at the same time. it's cool to 
be able to talk to someone who is as big a fan of juliette as me. 
most of my friends who are guys have never seen her movies 
so they dont understand why i think she is the greatest actress 
ever. more girls have heard of her than guys but still most of 
my friends arent as into fims as me. also juliette is someone 
who affects you on a very deep emotional level so people who 
think or feel differently from you might have a harder time 
understanding the power of her acting.

how about in the places where you guys live. i figure pete 
lives in chicago so people there are probably the same as here. 
but what about in spain, paulo? is she known? does anyone 
know how she is thought of in france? is she a huge star or is 
she an actress like actresses in art films here, where there is 
only a small percentage of the population that watches the art 
films so even some great actors and actresses are not that well 
known. by the way how old are you guys? i'm 20 and a third 
year student at UC Berkeley majoring in psychology. i was 
thinking of majoring in film because i really want want to 
write a screenplay and direct but i decided to maybe go into 
psychiatry. what are some of your favorite movies, directors 
and actors besides juliette? what movies have you really 
connected with. i really connected with mean streets and 8 
1/2. my favorite directors are martin scorsese and stanley 
kubrick. i'm a huge fan of marlon brando. besides juliette, 
there is no othe actress that has affected me on a deep level 
even though other actors have. part of the reason is probably 
the roles for women in american movies suck. and maybe as a 
guy i found it easier to relate with guys. but juliette's movies 
have completly blown me away.

i've never had somebody emotionally impact me like she did.  
i don't really believe in forming idols of people just because 
you admire their work, and my whole life i've never gotten 
anybody's autograph or written a fan letter. i've always 
separated people from their work. (obviously with authors or 
some musicians, since the work is a part of them, if you 
admire what someone creates then you admire them to some 
degree) but celebrities such as movie stars or sports stars are 
completly unknown to you so whymake heroes out of them. 
but with juliette, it's as if she was an author or jim morrison 
(of the doors) and her acting and films have made me 
completly admire her. out of all the living people in 
the world there is nobody i would rather meet than her. have 
any of you written a fan letter to her? any response? i wrote 
one 2 days after the premiere thanking her for taking a picture 
with me and for being so nice.

anyways, i'm sure you guys are sick of hearing about me so i'll 
shut up and tell you what happened. totally by coincidence, i 
found out about the premiere of the english patient in san 
francisco and that she was going to be there. initially i was 
really excited but then i wasnt sure if i wanted to go because i 
thought about that thing of not admiring people  who you dont 
know. but i just couldnt let the chance go so i went with one 
of my friends. all i wanted was to just see her once in person 
and hopefully get one picture to remember her by. she came 
out of the limo and signed 4 autographs. i just watched her 
face because i didnt want an autograph. the great thing about 
the s.f. premiere was that there were no crowds. my fucking 
camera jammed on me though so i couldnt get a picture. i saw 
her go upstairs and for half an hour she was in the reception 
area which cost $125 per ticket so there was no way i could 
afford it. after i fixed the camera i asked one of the guards if 
he would let me in there but he wouldn't go for it. anyways 
she finally came downstairs back into the theater area and 
again the guard wouldnt let me by, but i told him i wanted 
to just ask her. she told me that she would take a picture with 
me after the screening. the movie was reaaly good, even 
though her role is small. it's also different from some of her 
other movies in that it isn't so emotionally complex but i liked 
it.  i was just totally exhausted watching the movie. i know 20 
is young, but sometimes it feels pretty old. well, that night i 
felt happiness like the way a little kid experiences it. it was 
totally pure, innocent, sheer joy. my mind couldn't think of 
anythting else just because it was so overwhelmed by 
happiness. i totally felt no inhibitions or fear about 
approaching her. she was extremly easy to approach and very 
nice in how she talked to you and smiled. anyways, after the 
movie my friend told me that i should get an autograph 
because i might regret it later and so i got an autograph and 
then took a picture with her. i also got one picture of her alone 
because my friend told me that i had a really stupid look on 
my face for the first picture. i couldnt even control my smile. i 
got the pictures developed and since it was a really shitty 
camera the photographs are pretty bad in terms of the 
lighting and all that but i could care less because i'm just glad 
to have met her. and in the picture when i'm standing next to 
her i look slightly crazed, and my smile is so fucked up 
like i'm clenching my teeth because i was so unaware about 
smiling for the camera. all i could think of was that i was 
standing next to her. there is no way my mind could have 
functioned adequately enough for me to talk to her about her 
films or tell her about all the things i would like to say about 
her acting. she was extremly nice, though and her smile is so 
incredible. i'm so glad the pictures got her smile. it's mentally 
that i really like her acting  but  i guess due to that i also think 
she is physically so stunning and beautiful. her face is just so 
wonderful. but it was just really great as to how nice she was. i 
feared that it would be a complete letdown meeting her but in 
fact it was the exact opposite. my admiration for her 
increased. of course because of that great high, the next three 
days were pretty horrible. i had that feeling you have after 
coming back from a great trip somewhere when you've met so 
many new people and had so many great experiences but 
after you finish unpacking you feel so shitty that you're not 
there anymore. it felt bad to get over that experience.

anyways, sorry for witing so much about me. i got to get out 
of here now. i hope you guys all write back. well, have a nice 
weekend.

paul

p.s. please let me know if you ever find out she will be 
anywhere in california. i dont spend much time on the internet 
but i do use e-mail.

thanks