“Women have opened the cinema”

Paris match. It was hard to imagine such a coincidence between the fiction of Canal+ that you are playing with the truth, right?
Céline Sallette. Mind blowing! But yes, it is true: the word “synchronicity†alone sums up the series. And then there is this incredible combination of work and desire, this incredible challenge that could not have been achieved without the help of the Ukrainian and Kazakh teams with whom we worked for three and a half months. Stunt actors, actors, technicians made the project at arm’s length.

Read also: Céline Sallette, heads and tails

Did you keep in touch with them?
Without doubt! We talk regularly. The latest news I have is pretty crazy. They say “working on their victory”, they retain great power. It gives goosebumps. I have a relationship with all Ukrainians who are there, who are fighting. (…)

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Putin, Zemmour represent to me the last tremors of a culture of domination…

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Human events are at the heart of the series. Your connection to Daniyar Alshinov, the disillusioned soldier of the show, is understandable.
Daniyar is a good actor. He worked for the first time in space… if you are Kazakh, it is Baïkonur or life as a traveler. He studied in Boston, so his English is good. This community of people, all these nations united, is another important aspect of the series: on the set, we created a small Tower of Babel.

We can imagine the intense preparation that such a role requires…
My character, Anna Zarathi, is a laser beam: the epitome of vitality, strength, power. Suspending cables and harnessing 25 kg for weightless events is three months of strengthening muscles and lifting heavy weights. My body has changed … we see it on the screen.

Claudie Haigneré, the founder of the French and European astronauts, also helped you understand the complexity of your character…
What a woman! The strangest thing is that even before the series, I had a picture of him hanging in my house. By telling me about his fear during his first ascent, about this indelible feeling that astronauts have once they ignore the Earth, he allowed me to play this role.

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In Kazakhstan, I saw a herd of wild horses standing in a circle, head to head. I burst into tears

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Do you recognize yourself in Anna’s flaws?
This concept of failure is good to defend. When I read the text, all the subjects discussed really interested me: the cosmic, metaphysical dimension, what we leave behind when we enter the depths of ‘professional or romantic events … The fear of hiding, too, time. you go through giving, for example. One thing is certain: I would be responsible in the same way if I were a man.

Despite your experience, do you still have doubts?
Yes. As an actor, victory is permanent. Comfort does not exist, it is one of the features of our profession. We are often asked what annoys us in a role. I experienced loneliness and emptiness in this shot. I have two children. When you are in Kazakhstan for several weeks with your boyfriend (architect Philibert Dechelette) and your daughter cannot come to see you because of Covid and visa difficulties, it is a dizzying separation. Nothing is possible at this distance. My 2-year-old son was angry with me when I came home, he made me feel … And then there is the power of the district, the madness of the nature of the neighborhood, very big.

Spiritually, something happened there too…?
This happens to me all the time! (Laughs.) I’m a believer in my own way, I was already very emotional about it all. There, I traveled even further. In Kazakhstan, I saw a herd of wild horses standing in a circle, head to head. I burst into tears: I could never imagine that they could create such a community. Normally you don’t have access to this world… Since then, I no longer look at things from afar, but in relation to the living.

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When you’re an actor, if you don’t get up every morning to go to work, you have a hard time.

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“The Apollonides†, “Rust and Bones†, “Geronimo†and Tony Gatlif“: you have always given the impression of being very free in your choice of …actor…
However, when I started the job, I entered it as “in service”. Because the actor is a person at the service of the story, of the director’s vision … He is still a small soldier …! My grandfather was in the army. To be a good person, to help, that is part of my education. But as Philippe Garrel says, the actor is also the color in the painting.

Was there a trigger that set you free?
In this environment, the law of desire reigns: a law that is meaningless and profound. I went from a stage of dependency – the eyes of others, basically – to a kind of independence, which is my quest today. I made my inner revolution.

Did this dependency force you to make certain compromises?
Never. I still haven’t been able to overcome a certain fear, which leads me to stay in a comfortable area, where I am not completely exposed… This is related to the desire and inability to dive. At the same time, I like that everything does not come to me. (He smiles.)

The popularity that goes with the “full disclosure†you mention, isn’t that a golden cage?
I don’t know anything about that. All I know is that when you’re an actor, if you don’t get up every morning to go to work, you have a hard time. And since cinema does not fill one’s life, even if you make two prestigious films a year, it is a lot of idleness between two strokes. The real answer that I found fully self-aware is the work of writing. I wrote a film about Niki de Saint Phalle, which Jalil Lespert will produce and in which Charlotte Le Bon will play the title role. I’m finally allowing myself to pursue this type of project, and it’s exciting.

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I see that we live in a very exciting time. Some changes have been achieved, gender boundaries – men, women – are destroyed.

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We have only spent two years alone. Surprisingly, during this period, many obstacles were defeated. We see it with the work of Julia Ducournau or your friend Audrey Diwan, respectively Palme d’Or in Cannes and Lion d’Or in Venice last year: there has been a real revolution in the words of women, right?
Absolutely! They opened the cinema. Before them, Céline Sciamma or Mati Diop had paved the way… France can still count on its female directors! Redemption is collective work, but in order for it to exist, individuals must reveal it. Adèle Haenel, with the stubbornness that characterizes her, produced this revolution. He tore down walls…: the power of his words still has an impact today. Even if the #MeToo shock wave was less powerful in Europe than in America, this echo chamber still exists. Including in unexpected places.

You are part of the 50/50 Group, which fights for gender equality. Do you believe in handcuff explosion?
I see that we live in a very exciting time. Some changes have been achieved, gender boundaries – men, women – are destroyed. We know that we are all connected…: tools and technology remind us of this every day. And, at the same time, Manichean reflexes die hard, certain archaisms have not yet been defeated. Putin, Zemmour mark for me the last tremors of the ruling culture… All these displays of power, these horrible misogynistic speeches, are displays of threats: those of men who show their last standards, who punch on one table. the last time in fact, no one left at this table … The house is empty, the women are gone…! Motion is inevitable. Even if, surprisingly, the distortion of the truth and the temptation to lie have never been greater. The truth is evident from the abundance of little knowledge that we are bombarded with on social media. This is what interests me today: we can no longer close our eyes…

More and more of your fellow actors are shipping. Are you tempted by Hollywood?
If someone calls me, I’ll be more than happy to pick up the phone! It will make my life grow, but it won’t change it.

Does cinema involve the most of all forms of commitment?
I believe first and foremost in the necessity of stories, the revelations about ourselves that stories provide. I read books that changed me a lot. If I can reach one person, fifteen, a hundred or even five million people through what I do, then that’s crazy. It’s a real kind of commitment. I believe, in this world, in the urgency of change.