Suzanne Lindon (Paris, 22 years old) kept a secret for years.
A dream that, "out of shame", she did not want to share with anyone: to be an actress.
That dream that any girl would begin to show, one way or another, sooner than later, she had it under lock and key.
“There wasn't a moment where I found out that she wanted to do this for me, she always knew that,” she explains.
Her first temptation is to think that the call to acting came from her parents, popular actors in France: Vincent Lindon (
Titane
) and Sandrine Kiberlain (
Little Nicholas
).
But she precisely because of them she kept it a secret.
“I'm very hard on myself, I don't want things to be easy for me because I'm 'a daughter of'.
My parents never took me to their shoots, that was their life and I wanted to have my own experience, that the first set I stepped on was mine, ”he says in a video call from his home in Paris in our second conversation.
The first took place in San Sebastian, where she went to present her first film,
Spring Blossom
(
Seize Printemps, 16 springs
, in its original title), her debut in directing, writing and acting.
In the movies, in general.
Suzanne Lindon poses exclusively for ICON in a Celine suit and shirt by Hedi Slimane.Antonio Macarro
With the film, which she shot in less than three weeks, she told her parents and those around her that she wanted to be an actress.
And she is also a director.
This is how France discovered a new national talent, who was soon labeled the new Charlotte Gainsbourg.
“I am flattered by that comparison because she is one of my favorite actresses.
I admire everything about her, her voice, her way of moving, her body, it's so modern and timeless at the same time... I hope they compare me for that”, she laughs.
Though she would rather not be compared to anyone.
She was only 15 years old when she started writing
Spring Blossom.
.
"I wrote about what I knew, being a teenager, that strange period in which you are no longer a child, but you are not yet an adult, people your age bore you, you do not know who you are or what you want," she recalls.
She didn't even know how to write a script, but she left it there, she developed, polished and hid it, the story of a platonic romance between a young woman (herself) and a thirtysomething (Arnaud Valois).
When she finished school, she tried to shoot the movie.
First, look for money together with her friend and her producer.
"We went to see people we didn't know at all, and not those who were related to my parents," she says.
She returns over and over to that point.
She is convinced that if she reaches something in the profession it will be because of her personal achievements.
"The last name I guess helps if you use it, but I try not to," she insists.
The filmmaker, ambassador of Celine, wears garments from the firm led by Hedi Slimane.Antonio Macarro
Before finishing the film, Cannes had selected it for its 2020 Festival. But the pandemic arrived, the French contest was canceled and the premiere in French theaters had to be delayed for more than a year, a period that Lindon spent promoting his work for others. festivals and waiting.
"I was very scared, she was a little anxious, but also happy that she was able to do it," she admits.
She though she needed to share it.
And she is still "overwhelmed" by the reaction.
“It was like a revelation to everyone because no one knew that I wanted to do this,” she laughs.
Everything has changed for her now.
“I have more offers, but I don't want to go too fast, for me it's important to choose my projects honestly, do them because I believe in them and take time to write my next film”.
That's where she is right now, immersed in the moments that the intense promotion of her work leaves her.
"Right after the premiere of the film, I started shooting under the orders of Arnaud Desplechin and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi," he says.
Two heroes for her.
With the former, whose films (such as those by Maurice Pialat or Éric Rohmer) inspire his cinema, he has shot the second season of
En thérapie
(adaptation of the American film
In Therapy
), in a role he got in a casting for, he says, “ 500 girls”.
“And Valeria created this little role for me in
Les Amandiers
, a film that talks about her principles as an actress”, she reveals.
He has also received offers to direct scripts for others, but it is not something that interests him right now: “I trust myself a lot, in what I do, I am not afraid of making mistakes or being judged, but I am very new to all this and I have many doubts, I need time and experience”.
The world of fashion has also knocked on his door.
She is an ambassador for Celine.
The creative director of the firm, Hedi Slimane, called her after seeing her in San Sebastian wearing clothes from her brand.
“I don't want fashion to be part of my job, I'm not interested in that glamorous part of the profession, but I do like working with Hedi, who I consider an artist, a genius, and who has respected my identity, because I don't She's going to do my makeup, I'm not sophisticated or feminine at all, and they've let me be myself.
That's why I liked it."
Lindon, like a good French artist, also sings.
From her She debuted with her voice in her movie, in her final song that Vincent Delerm composed for her, and now her musician wants to compose more for her.
Another reason, much to her regret, for that comparison with Charlotte Gainsbourg.
And work with her parents, as did the great daughter of?
Say a resounding no.
"Not at all.
That was always my first condition.
Maybe in ten years, or in five, or in three, but first I need to prove that I can do it for myself”, she insists.
“If a very interesting project came to us now, I would discuss it with my father, but it would be a very difficult conversation.
Right now, he would say no.”
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