Besson, whose biopic The Lady premiered in Toronto in September and screened at the London film festival last month, told a group of students in Lille he had exchanged a series of letters with his subject over a period of several months through secret channels. He labelled the correspondence "slightly bizarre". Suu Kyi told him in one letter: "Thank you, it sheds light on my country." She said she was not yet ready to watch the film, which deals partly with the deaths of her father and British husband, but asked Besson to send a copy nonetheless.