Léa Drucker: "Being a mother at 42, I felt like I was starting a new life"

Freezing cold.

She arrives wrapped up in a large sky blue coat, a cap screwed on her head.

Léa Drucker is what Americans call a girl next door.

It is not a posture, it is its nature.

She made an appointment in a hotel in Pigalle, a Parisian district dear to her heart.

The tutelary shadow of François Truffaut floats there.

No dimly-lit bar for chatting, but a mini-reception open to all winds.

A deafening alarm goes off.

Why don't we fall back on the cafe across the street?

Unless you go to her house, nearby, where her companion, director Julien Rambaldi, works.

The time to hesitate, the noise of 100 decibels ceased.

We stay.

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Time plays for Léa Drucker, 51 on January 23.

Mother is 42 years old of a little Martha, César for best actress at 47 years old for

, by Xavier Legrand.

It hatches late, at least in terms of recognition.

In 2022, we saw her in five films and a series.

2023 also promises to be fruitful with, among other releases,

, created by Charly Delwart, and

, by Catherine Breillat.

Here she is caught in a whirlwind of roles.

Why does this great actress only shine to her measure today?

Several hypotheses.

A physique that was not in the mood at the time?

A lack of self-confidence?

A television surname — Michel Drucker and Jean Drucker, founder of M6, are his uncles?

In fact, Léa is the eldest daughter of Jacques Drucker, professor of medicine, and Martine Le Cornec, who taught English.

During his childhood, the family moved to the United States, which earned him to be perfectly bilingual and to have this little side "You can do it" ("You can do it"), which serves him today.

Her father took her to the cinema, her mother accompanied her to skating, where she excelled.

Until the day, at age 15, when a teacher, Mr. Steinmetz, introduced him to the theater.

“He encouraged me and offered me the leading role in the end-of-year show,

.

But I haven't worked.

He lectured me: “You can't be an actress without learning your text”.

The following year, I was confined to figuration.

A good lesson.

It is a rigorous profession.

My desire to be an actress comes from this frustration.

Wool sweater and gold metallic knit miniskirt, Prada.

Stone Paris rings.

Thiemo Sander.

Directed by Cecile Martin.

Nicolas Eldin hairdresser.

Makeup Jolanta Cedro.

Manicure Huberte Cesarion.

Disappointments, she has known, to the point of wanting to stop everything.

It was in a previous existence, before Zabou Breitman and

, Éric Rochant and his series

, those who gave him his chance.

With time ?

Everything is fine.

And even for the better… Two days ago, she came back from the Great East.

She filmed

,

, by Baptiste Debraux, a social thriller in which she plays a police inspector.

Léa Drucker is voluble, direct, natural, without affection.

A casual conversation with an actress who doesn't consider herself a star.

Miss Figaro.

– Is 50 years old the golden age?

It's going pretty well.

It's an interesting age.

Professionally, things started off pretty strong in my 40s.

The journey continues… I've had some very interesting proposals lately, complex characters in various registers.

A great diversity of stories and universes.

Going from Quentin Dupieux to Catherine Breillat, that's what I like about French cinema.

You are coming out of a very busy year…

I finished a series for Arte,

, directed by Erwan Leduc, who directed

.

It's a political comedy in the middle of foreign affairs.

I liked playing this woman from the humanitarian sector, propelled to the Quai d'Orsay, with a rather wobbly personality...

Another atmosphere,

We shot it last summer, precisely.

Catherine Breillat adapted a Danish film,

, with her vision, her cinema, which is special.

This is a love story between a mature woman and a very young man.

She transgresses, Catherine Breillat?

I don't know if she wants to transgress, but the theme is absolutely complex.

Is it love?

Where does love stop?

Where does the transgression begin?

The film asks its questions, but not in a moralistic way.

The passion for an 18-year-old can crush you.

I believe it !

Lea Drucker

What did you like about his work?

Catherine Breillat has a fierce vision of the world.

She has a very aesthetic cinema, an artistic gesture.

She is unique, demanding, passionate, radical.

She talks about the chaotic feelings behind bourgeois appearances.

So, there is no age for love?

For me, love has no age.

But be careful, with respect for people.

You need the famous consent… The passion for a young man of 18 can crush you.

I believe it !

I don't speak for myself!

In the film, the relationship is destructive.

This young man is fragile and, moreover, he is the son of his companion.

It's one of the most disturbing films I've made.

It's a bit like

, by David Harrower, which I had played in the theatre.

Printed faux fur coat and belt, Stella McCartney.

Sportmax sunglasses, Falke tights, Christian Louboutin pumps.

Thiemo Sander

An incest story?

No, the story of a young woman who settles accounts with a man older than her, a man who abused her when she was 12 years old.

She was destroyed by this relationship.

Except that as a teenager, she thought she was in love with him and living an authentic love story.

It is an absolutely tragic play.

Did this role upset you?

Yes.

It is a play with two characters.

It was something heavy to carry, but the man was admirably interpreted by Maurice Bénichou.

This piece did not give lessons, there too it asked questions.

Theater and cinema are necessary to get close to a situation.

In this man who committed the irreparable, there was something human.

"As soon as there is power, there can be abuse"

What changes has Metoo caused?

It's a hell of a revolution.

I didn't have traumatic experiences, like some of my friends.

I am from a generation that has come to terms with the established system.

There were all these heavy jokes, all these things that either didn't say anything or got away with it with humor.

Today, these men no longer dare.

Some are even sensitive to this cause, activists, committed

Young people are quite intractable…

I'm happy to tell myself that when my daughter, who is 8, is older, and does a work placement, she will know what is done and what is not done.

It gives a framework.

However, I am not saying that there will be no more abuse.

Wherever there is power, there can be abuse.

And your César At 47?

It sent a strong signal, but before that I already had the chance to work in this profession, since the age of 28, to have exciting roles in theater and cinema.

, by Éric Rochant, counted, then there was

.

It was built slowly, it's a long road, a path that suits me, looks like me.

Of course, I had frustrations, younger, when I compared myself to others.

Shearling jacket, Chloé, Eric Bompard sweater.

Thiemo Sander

You have received words of congratulations from actresses for your performance in Custody…

From actresses and singers who have been with me for a long time.

Jane Birkin, I had it in my ears throughout my adolescence.

I love who she is, I love this woman, her voice, her grace, her humor, and then this English accent that I link to my Welsh grandmother.

I felt familiar with her without knowing her.

It is characteristic of artists to address you intimately.

And Isabelle Adjani…

She's a model of artistic commitment when you want to be an actress.

I started acting at the end of the 1980s. When we saw her in

,

,

, it was more than a cinematic beauty.

Camille Claudel is one of the most beautiful performances of an actress ever seen… It's a reference.

We say to ourselves: “One day, I would like to play like that.”

Maybe we'll never get there.

It's not serious.

In the theater there is such a fear before throwing oneself on stage

Lea Drucker

How do you work on your roles?

I ask myself many questions.

I sometimes train with a coach.

I take my head a lot.

In the theatre, we have rehearsals.

The roles are built with the partners.

On the films, we are a bit alone.

To play a head of state in

, by Diasteme, I did some dancing, stuff I needed to behave well, to feel credible.

How would I speak if I were president?

Where does natural authority go?

If I hadn't tried things, this shoot would have been terrifying.

There are other characters, like Miriam in

, that I understood intimately and deeply.

I didn't have much to do,

Another woman, Zabou Breitman, is important to you…

She gave me my chance at the cinema and at the theatre, in

, with Isabelle Carré.

A strong experience, because the author of the play, Emmanuelle Marie, died at the age of 40, during the show.

We were attached to his writing and his person.

Everything was mixed up.

We played two sisters, Isabelle Carré and me.

Since then, we have had an unbreakable bond.

It's an aspect of the job that I enjoy.

It's even wonderful.

We share strong things, we don't see each other anymore, and when we meet again, we pick up where we left off.

No doubt because we are in a crazy intimacy.

In the theatre, there is such a fear before jumping on stage.

Are you nervous?

I have a stomach ache, worries torment me, the impression of not having worked enough.

On stage, it disappears, and then it starts again the next day.

I'm not one to make phone calls or make jokes before the premieres.

I have a lucky charm, an old thermos given by Emmanuelle Marie: it's still there!

“We wish all little girls to have strength, a strength of resistance”

You say that the cinema is a temple for you…

I like the idea of ​​going to the cinema, of leaving my house, of going to a room: cutting with my life, cutting with the world.

I like everything, blockbuster films such as auteur films, seeing an old film in Saint-Germain-des-Prés or a Japanese film in Louxor.

I recently took my daughter to see

.

You were a mother at 42…

I felt like I was starting a new life.

Her name is Martha, like a Beatles song, like pianist Martha Argerich, like choreographer Martha Graham, like the first love of Tom Waits, who dedicated a song to her.

I tell myself that a first name breathes part of the character.

We wish all little girls to have strength, a strength of resistance.

It was my fantasy mother.

Your middle name is Dorothy…

Like my grandmother, who, although a housewife, was an immensely talented pianist.

Very loving, she counted in my emotional life.

My name is also Irène like my great-grandmother, a woman who wrote collections of poetry, friend of Colette, editor-in-chief of a local newspaper, very feminist, very independent.

I often think of her, because there was something theatrical about her.

She must have influenced me.

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