Daughter of an American dancer and French father, Leslie Caron was already a prima ballerina in Paris when recommended by Gene Kelly as his dancing partner in Vincente Minnelli's An American in Paris (1951). Her winsome charm and graceful dancing were fully demonstrated in a string of Hollywood musicals; at the same time she was equally successful as both actress and dancer on stage in New York, London, and Paris. Acclaimed for Gigi - directed first by Peter Hall for the stage in London in 1956 and then by Vincente Minnelli for the screen in 1958 - she bettered her acting image considerably by winning British Film Awards for roles in Charles Walters's Lili (195 ) and Bryan Forbes's The L Shaped Room (196 ). Just prior to the publication of her book "Vengeance" (1984), Leslie Caron starred in two dramatic films cut to her image and directed by Krzysztof Zanussi for German television: Imperativ (Imperative) (1981) and Die Unerreichbare (The Unapproachable) (198 ), produced by Regina Ziegler.
In The Unapproachable Leslie Caron plays a rich, cynical, still very attractive middle-aged ex-star now living in retirement in a spacious villa, protected from prying photographers and unwelcome visitors by high walls. She spends her days surrounded by objects of art, listening to classical music, and otherwise passing her time in quiet meditation. Into her world one day comes a mysterious young man who appeals to her vanity and plays on her lonely isolation. A game of cat-and-mouse begins, a Kammerspiel of one-upmanship and psychological give-and-take. Caron's acting talents are a delight to watch as she swings easily from the comic and trivial to the defensive and "unapproachable" - right up to the end with its unexpected surprise.