A fixed set of questions given to a variety of interviewees is an intriguing exercise in sociology. The Proust Questionnaire is one of the most famous series of questions offered to divine aspects of personality, asking an individual’s responses to their own feelings and their environments. The questionnaire became famous not due to it’s invention by Marcel Proust, but rather the French writer’s responses to it – defining it as a key formula for interviews and formalised dialogue since the end of the 19th century.

In Martine Sitbon’s A#5, the questionnaire has been dissected and offered in parts to interview three distinguished creative women, the first being the filmmaker Sofia Coppola. Coppola has achieved critical acclaim for her direction of films such as Marie Antoinette and The Virgin Suicides. Sofia’s frank and honest answers reveal her passions, hang-ups and her sharp mind.

Your favourite virtue: “honesty – liars bug me.”

Your favourite qualities in a man: “integrity, manners, humour, affection.”

Your favourite qualities in a woman: “grace, loyalty, kindness, style, humour.”

Your favourite occupation: “sleeping late.”

Your chief characteristic: “I don’t know, I asked my dad, who is sitting here, and he says – calm.”

Your idea of misery? “Directing X-Men 4.”

Your favourite colour and flower? “Navy blue or fuschia. Peony.”

If not yourself, who would you be? “Cyd Charisse. With Harold Pinter’s brain.”

Where would you like to live? “Paris and California.”

Your favourite prose authors: “Nabakov, Flaubert, J.D Salinger, A.M Homes.”

Your favourite poets: “Richard Brautigan.”

Your favourite painters and composers: “Ed Ruscha, Cy Twombly, Elizabeth Peyton.”

Your favourite heroes in real life: “Muhammad Ali.”

Your favourite heroines in real life: “Lady Antonia Fraser.”

Your favourite food and drink: “Steak. Ice-cold Ruinart champagne.”

Your pet aversion: “Giant sunglasses.”

What is your present state of mind: “Pretty tranquil – I’m hanging out at my parents’ in the country in Napa … but always a little restless.”

For what fault have you most toleration: “Vanity.”

Your favourite motto: “Rope-a-dope – Muhammad Ali. And ‘fake it till you make it.’”