Pomme recounts her film debut in “The Silver Venus”

The 27-year-old singer plays her first role in front of a camera in “The Silver Venus”, and delivers a remarkable performance. franceinfo met her.

In The silver Venus by Héléna Klotz, Claire Pommet alias Pomme plays Jeanne Francoeur, a young woman from a modest background, daughter of a CRS, who lives in a barracks in the Paris region. And who dreams of a career a little further away, in the world of investment banking, and in these towers of La Défense that she sees from home. A mixture of interiority and intensity, composing a character who is both gifted and asocial, Claire Pommet stands out with a fairly convincing performance.

If for the moment she has no other cinema projects, her new concept album Seasons will arrive on December 1st. Meeting with a very busy young woman (27 years old).

franceinfo: Were you flattered that we thought of you for a leading role?

Claire Pommet: I know that Héléna met at least one other actress, but I know that she thought of me with this letter that Mediapart published in 2021 (on sexist and sexual violence in the music industry, Editor’s note) which ‘had marked. It was then a meeting that we both had which confirmed her intention, but she had not written the role at all with me in mind. I was not at all on conquered territory, but I liked building this relationship, and that she was able to trust me and project this character onto me. And I obviously appreciated the storyline and the themes covered.

Were you nervous, knowing that you had already done a bit of theater?

It was still quite new for me, because my theater year was when I was eight years old so it was already a long time ago. But I was used to cameras with music videos and other TV shows, to promote my music. So I accepted straight away, but during the preparation I felt very dizzy.

“I said to myself ‘but why did I do that, I don’t feel capable of it’. But this phase, which was long and tedious, meant that filming came as a sort of relief.”

Claire Pommet, aka Pomme

at franceinfo

This character is fascinating because he is not necessarily sympathetic. Did you fade into him or did you bring things from yourself?

At the beginning it was really a “erasure”, we worked a lot for example on my posture and my expressions, to be able to embody in this vessel that is my body a character who is not at all me in life, so a lot of composition indeed first. And on set, to sometimes seek out emotions or truth, I included intimate things that were specific to me. This profession that I am discovering allows me to create an inexact science between personal things and others invented from scratch.

The public is sometimes not very kind to artists (often women in fact) who do several things, actors who start singing or vice versa. Are you afraid of receiving unpleasant comments?

There is a big question of legitimacy, yes, firstly because I didn’t study comedy, whereas there are thousands of aspiring actresses in France who have been working for years and don’t have roles. Like finance, cinema is an industry with power games, a hierarchy and a social pyramid in which people do not all have the same opportunities. And clearly, I had this immense privilege of already being known through my music, and of being able to make this “bridge” by landing directly with the leading role in a film like this.

“It was terrifying because I thought they would be waiting for me around the corner.”

Claire Pommet, aka Pomme

at franceinfo

It’s a double-edged sword because there is both a perhaps more critical expectation, but also a kindness from this immense community of people who follow me and appreciate me as a musician. And I “dealt with” this question of legitimacy by working as much as possible, incessantly, several hours a week, taking nothing lightly and sacrificing other things for the shoot.

The Silver Venus directed by Héléna Klotz, with Claire Pommet, Niels Schneider, Sofiane Zermani, Anna Mouglalis, Grégoire Colin…in theaters.