“The rare times I ride a horse, I immediately gallop off.
It's stronger than me.
This remark from Mélanie Laurent sums up her impulsiveness, her impatience, her freedom, and in a way explains a career off the beaten track.
This desire to ride fast and far, the actress was able to satisfy it with
Tempête
, the film by Christian Duguay where she plays a veterinarian married to a sulky driver (Pio Marmaï).
United in hardships, the couple must overcome the sudden accident of their eldest daughter (Carmen Kassovitz) and face financial problems that threaten the stud.
Hyperactive, the actress is already elsewhere.
She ventured into unclear territory in France, a 100% female action film for Netflix – with an explosive cast (Adèle Exarchopoulos, Isabelle Adjani and herself).
At the same time, the committed ecologist is thinking about a new way of acting concretely.
On video, Storm
trailer
, with Pio Marmaï and Mélanie Laurent
Two new challenges that enrich an already substantial life itinerary.
At 39, Mélanie Laurent is one of the rare French actress-directors to be able to boast of having filmed for Quentin Tarantino (in
Inglourious Basterds)
, of having won two Césars (including one for
Demain,
co-directed with Cyril Dion), but also to have directed Elle Fanning in an American film (
Galveston
).
She also tried her hand at music with an album in 2011, then an opera:
Les Larmes d'Eugénie, for Cartier
.
Meeting with a woman in a hurry.
Miss Figaro. – When have you taken the most risks in your life?
Melanie Laurent.
–
I took so many…!
Probably for fear of getting bored, and because I like to surpass myself.
The challenge stimulates me.
With hindsight, the risks I took weren't that great, but when you try different things in France, it's immediately experienced as an anomaly.
In retrospect, releasing an album, directing and editing a documentary on ecology do not appear to be the craziest or most tendentious projects on earth!
It hasn't always been easy or happy, but I would do the exact same thing today.
I have no regrets.
Full screen
Guipure jacket and silk taffeta skirt, Dior.
Clash earring, in pink gold, Cartier.
Dior beauty treatment with: Dior Forever Skin Glow 1.5N, 5 Couleurs Couture 589 Galactic, Diorshow Mascara 090 Black, Dior Addict 100 Nude Look.
Esther Haase
Have you always been like this?
It seems that I was a very calm child.
It always surprises me to hear that.
I didn't have this hyperactive side yet, but I was already touching a lot of things because I was brought up with the idea that you could accomplish yourself in various fields.
This joyful childhood and this open upbringing gave me love, confidence and useful tools to later embark on cinema and become a director.
Some tried to slow me down by telling me that I wasn't going to make it, but at almost 40 years old, I can finally acknowledge that it's my job.
I'm never bored, I decide more and more things, and those who don't like me may have understood that nothing can stop me.
(Laughs.)
What seduced you in
Tempête
?
The confidence inspired in me by the director, Christian Duguay, whose Jappeloup
I really liked
, but also the pleasure of playing in a family film that can be seen by my two children.
With the life I lead my son and my daughter, I owe them that!
I loved seeing my 9-year-old moved, happy and anxious during the screening of
Tempête
.
Cinema is a profession of passion, it requires a lot of energy, and even when trying to do my best, my activities inevitably deprive me of time with my family.
And finally,
Tempête
allowed me to play with Pio Marmaï, an actor endowed with real acting power, and also the coolest man on earth.
.
At 20, we live in the need of others and, at 30, we throw ourselves into heartfelt love by trying to get through everything together.
At 40, we acknowledge the fact that if we are alone, we know how to manage
Melanie Laurent
Tell us about your character…
At first, this mother is withdrawn, slightly ousted from family life as her daughter's fascination with her father takes over.
She could stay in this situation of transparent but valiant mother, but her daughter's horse accident will bring them back together.
I like this link because it reminds me of my own relationship with my mother.
As a child, I worshiped my father, but at 18, my mother established herself as my confidante.
I was becoming a woman, and I needed to talk to a woman.
I stayed very close to her, and I stopped blaming her the day I had children.
How has motherhood changed you?
All.
Having lived a happy childhood, I really wanted to become a mother.
Even though my children remain the center of my life, I have never worked so much, and worked better, since they entered my life.
This has not slowed down any of my projects, on the contrary I have never felt as creative as in recent years.
Full screen
Mesh and rhinestone dress, tank top and faux fur coat, Prada.
bracelets, clash rings, creoles and ring, cartier.
Esther Haase
Like your character in the film, do you think you're stronger alone than together?
I don't know if I've ever fought two.
It's also a tragedy in my life: instinctively, I don't think about life together.
Sometimes, I happen to believe that I have to appear fragile so that a man can find his place in our couple.
In my opinion, women all act a bit like apologizing for not needing anyone.
At 20, we live in the need of others and, at 30, we throw ourselves into heartfelt love by trying to get through everything together.
At 40, we acknowledge the fact that if we are alone, we know how to manage.
And if there's one thing I'm convinced of as I get older, it's that women are much stronger than men, and together they can work miracles.
I strongly believe in this force, that of the feminine.
What can you tell us about your female action film that you just finished?
I was in the middle of editing Le
Bal des Folles
when Gaumont and Netflix asked me to adapt
La Grande Odalisque
, the comic strip by Bastien Vivès.
The story tells of a duo of art thieves (Adèle Exarchopoulos and myself) guided by a powerful woman (Isabelle Adjani), who want to stop everything to change their lives.
I embark on this adventure with stage fright.
It's so rare today to give a woman the chance to make a genre film with such resources.
Read alsoIsabelle Adjani: “Neither my father nor my mother ever told me that they found me pretty”
What were your weapons to impose yourself in a men's environment?
It was the love of my parents that made it all possible.
I was able to move forward in life without being too afraid.
Of course, when I happen to take stock of my career, I have the impression that everything has been great, but it was obviously not so simple.
I have an ability to hide bad memories.
For example, when I started, I worked with difficult directors.
Then, everything was more joyful and I was often supported and carried by men, in particular by my producers Bruno Levy and Alain Goldman, who gave me all their confidence.
This does not prevent me from seeing how difficult it is for some women.
The fight has only just begun
Full screen
Leather trench coat, gucci.
Dior beauty treatment by Jolanta cedro.
Esther Haase
Do you trust your instincts?
I think I'm not bad when it comes to choosing my actors – especially my actresses – but I don't trust myself at all in certain human relationships.
Eventually I stopped blaming others and took full responsibility for my actions.
It helps me free myself and move on.
I went back to psychoanalysis, and I'm getting to know myself better.
This is the first time in 39 years that I feel like I no longer live in extremes.
It's exciting to put words to our feelings and recognize our emotions.
I still don't know if I can love myself and forgive myself – the question of a lifetime – but I am showing myself to be more tender with myself.
Where is your ecological commitment?
I am appalled by the inertia of the powerful of this world.
I rage and, sometimes, I despair.
Tomorrow
's success
(released in 2015) paralyzed me a bit, I think.
It took me time to figure out how to get involved again, on my own scale, as an artist.
Today I would like to demonstrate that we can create differently, and that a regenerative and efficient economic model is possible.
It is about initiating a paradigm shift to build a harmonious and just future.
In particular, I want to promote research in soil management and regenerative agriculture.
How ?
By conserving and protecting qualified land for the richness of its biodiversity and carbon reserves, but also by acquiring agricultural land that has already been exploited, and proving that it can become fertile again.
I want to create residences in each of these places where artists,
scientists and farmers will be able to find solutions together to face the new challenges of our world and global warming.
This project is ambitious, but I put all my energy into it to tell myself that I will have at least tried.
We are not going to live the end of the world but the end of a world.
And if it's scary to leave what you've always known, it's also exciting to write a new page.
“Storm”, by Christian Duguay, with Mélanie Laurent, Pio Marmaï, Carmen Kassovitz, Kacey Mottet Klein… Released on December 21.
