In "ADN", her latest film, which will be released on Wednesday October 28th at the cinema, Maïwenn features a family shaken by the death of the Algerian grandfather and especially Neige, the granddaughter (played by the director herself) , who embarks on a quest for identity after this bereavement.
A story strongly inspired by the life of the artist herself who says she "reconnected" with Algeria after the death of her grandfather three years ago.
In the film, your character does a DNA test, the results of which are those of the real test you performed ...
MAÏWENN.
This test was part of my quest for identity.
Over the years, the need to know the history of my ancestors has grown stronger.
We carry our ancestors within us, even if we don't always know it.
I, for example, am quite committed against racism, although I have never been a victim: I think that this commitment was transmitted to me by my ancestors, who lived through colonization.
The test shows that your origins are very mixed (Spanish, Asian…).
And yet the Algerian "gene" functions as a dominant gene.
Why ?
Because it is the gene for love.
I never doubted the love of my grandparents.
To love, for me, it means to protect, to be proud, to hear news, to support, to caress… These were things that I did not have with my parents, but that I had with my grandparents in Algeria.
It was there, with them, that I spent my best vacation when I was little: I have memories of warmth, smell, food, laughter, love ... reconnect with Algeria, because it is my madeleine of Proust.
We also choose our DNA: I decided to marry Algeria, to belong to Algeria.
Today, do you live there half the time?
Because of the pandemic, I haven't been there for a year, but otherwise, yes.
When I go to Algeria, I have the impression of returning home, while being a foreigner, whereas in France, I don't feel like a foreigner, but not as much at home.
Algeria also reminds me of my childhood, because I lived in Belleville in the 1980s, where there was an Algerian atmosphere.
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Have you never stopped going to Algeria?
Only during the civil war.
There, I followed the news with my grandparents, who had returned to France, but without being too interested in it.
I spent the whole first part of my life worrying about my parents, my children… Now that my children are grown up, I can look at those who built me.
I have read a lot of novels, seen a lot of documentaries on the history of Algeria, the FLN, the harkis, the OAS… Now, I am no longer ashamed of what I know or not about this country.
In “ADN”, a powerful and inspired drama, Maïwenn notably brings together Louis Garrel and Fanny Ardant./Malgosia Abramowska
You put on the stage characters that resemble the description you give of your parents: an abusive mother, an absent father.
Do Snow's very violent comments to her parents reflect what you would like to say to yours?
Movies are fantasy boxes.
I can give myself the good role or, on the contrary, dirty my role, I can make myself say what I would have liked to say, make others say what I would have liked to hear.
But I don't settle my accounts through my films.
"DNA" is not a docu-fiction: I use certain elements of my life, I knead them and I have the will that it means something in the film, but I am not trying to tell the truth .
The truth is, this is a terrible ingredient for a movie.
Is your family going to see "DNA"?
Yes surely.
It doesn't destabilize me.
They know very well that all artists use their life.
In “Paris Match”, you said about feminists: “These are women who don't like men”.
Isn't that cartoonish?
What I meant was that there is a lot of hatred of men among some neofeminists.
I am a feminist, I am for things to change, I am for equal pay… But I am not for equal identity.
Currently, there are deviations.
Did you hesitate to release "DNA" despite the curfew?
Yes, at the time when the curfew was rumored.
But as soon as it was announced, in fact, I wanted the film to come out.
It's been two months that I do promotion, that I crossed all France ... Yes, there will be fewer sessions, fewer numbers, less money, perhaps, but it is important that artists continue to express themselves.
And since it's a film about mourning, illness, and the elderly, I tell myself, on the contrary, that it's the right time to show it.
“ADN”
, a French drama by and with Maïwenn, and also Fanny Ardant, Louis Garrel, Dylan Robert… 1h30.