Aung San Suu Kyi thanks Besson for film of her life story

Aung San Suu Kyi. AFP FILE PHOTO

LILLE – Myanmar democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi has thanked Luc Besson for making a film of her life story and shedding light on her country, the French filmmaker said Monday.

Besson sent a message to the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Winner ahead of the November 30 release in France of his film “The Lady,” he told a group of students in the northern French town of Lille.

“She replied saying thank you, it sheds light on my country,” he added during his comments at the EDHEC university.

The Myanmar opposition figure, who remains under close supervision by the Myanmar regime, also asked if it would be possible for Besson to send her a copy of the film.

She was held under almost unbroken house arrest for over 15 years before her release last November.

The pair’s “slightly bizarre” exchange of letters was made through secret channels over several months, Besson said.

Besson did meet the subject of his film after her release last November, when filming on the project had arealdy finished.

He recalled finding himself outside the house which his team had scrupulously recreated “practically to the centimetre” in Thailand, where most of the film was shot.

The French filmmaker, whose recent movies include the popular animated ‘Arthur’ series, did manage to film some scenes in Myanmar itself, with the help of a small camera, as a tourist.

“I filmed 17 hours of rushes, sometimes with a soldier three metres away,” he recalled.

The film’s actors when then super-imposed on the Myanmar scenes with the help of “green screen” technology.

Suu Kyi told Besson that she wasn’t yet ready to watch the film which covers the deaths of her father and her British husband.

“She told me ‘I’ll see it when I’m courageous enough,” Besson said.

But one of her sons has seen it and “was very moved” the director added.

Malaysian-born former James Bond girl Michelle Yeoh plays the role of Aung San Suu Kyi in the film. She too visited the Nobel prize winner last December ay at her crumbling lakeside mansion in Yangon.