“Sorry, my apologies,” says Daniel Auteuil . “A parrot just landed on my head.” Did I hear that right? We’re doing the interview over Zoom, without video, and in French — not my strongest language. Our translator sounds equally uncertain. “I’m not sure I understand,” she says carefully. “Apparently there’s a parrot?” Auteuil switches on the camera. And there it is: a grey parrot perched squarely atop his head, utterly at home. “It’s because of all my gray hair,” he says, laughing. “She thinks it’s her nest.” The image feels oddly perfect. One of the giants of French cinema sitting calmly beneath a bird that has mistaken him for part of the furniture. For more than five decades, Auteuil has occupied a singular place in French cinema. He has been a broad comedy star, a romantic lead, a physically transformative character actor and, in films like Michael Haneke’s  Caché  (2005), a master of near-unnerving minimalism.…