Every day, a personality invites herself into the world of Élodie Suigo. Today, the actress, Miou-Miou. This Wednesday, March 29, she is showing Jeanne Herry’s film, “I will always see your faces”, with Leïla Bekhti, Dali Bensalah, Jean-Pierre Darroussin.
Miou-Miou is an actress very appreciated and loved by the public and the critics. Nominated ten times for the César for best actress, she won one for the film The Derobade in 1980, a ceremony she never attended. She has already lived a career rich in roles, emotions and encounters also with the Café de la Gare and Coluche at the start. And then there was this role of eccentric and liberated woman in The Valseuses by Bertrand Blier in 1974, which won over moviegoers forever. She always did what she wanted to do and refused what didn’t suit her.
This Wednesday, March 29, she is showing Jeanne Herry’s film, I will always see your faces with Leïla Bekhti, Dali Bensalah, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gilles Lellouche, Fred Testot.
franceinfo: What we know is that Jeanne Herry is your daughter. Are you proud of this little chip you had with Julien Clerc?
Miou-Miou: I would not use the word pride, I would say above all to be happy to see that she has her place. For now, she has found him, she has often found him. But when I saw her on the set, when I see her directing, being attentive to everyone and at the same time very determined, very funny, well, I know that she is exactly where she wants to be. be.
She had already signed Pupils who had been nominated seven times for the Césars. This film tells about restorative justice, defined as a combat sport. These are victims of robberies, rapes, robberies who are marked, damaged and who agree to meet convicts, in prison, to create moments of exchange with them. You, you play the role of one of these victims who was attacked by a man who snatched her purse. We have the feeling that no one comes out unscathed.
The victims feel guilty. That’s what’s incredible. For example, me doing Sabine, she feels guilty for not going out at the same time as usual, for not having dropped her bag, for not getting over it. And so, when she speaks to the culprits, it is them by acknowledging her suffering that will begin to repair her.
When the culprits begin to recognize the suffering of others, that is where the work of reparation begins. The social bond is reconstituted.
You very quickly wanted to be independent so I would simply like to know what you dreamed of as a child.
I lived in the Halles de Paris district, in the center of Paris, where my mother worked. Images and sounds remain from my childhood, since all night long there was this absolutely incredible market of smells, cries, luxuriance. And it continued all day, well, it didn’t stop. It was passionate. In any case, I left home at 18. I slammed the door and I understood afterwards that building a café-théâtre and being in this place gave financial independence, extraordinary freedom.
This great theater of Les Halles, you needed to rebuild them elsewhere, to live with noise, smells.
Maybe it was a different adventure. An adventure of building something, of not knowing where to sleep for a year, where to wash, what are we going to eat? Stealing a lot moreover since there were no things that beeped when we went out. And especially me, I didn’t do any casting. I didn’t want to be an actress at first.
The fact that these are the people who designated me as an actress suits me terribly because I don’t have the responsibility. It comes from their desire.
What will reveal to you is the film The Valseuses by Bertrand Blier. You will show your ability to play a very strong role. How has this role changed in your life?
I think it was success that changed everything. It was an epic shoot since we got along very well between Depardieu, Patrick Dewaere and lo and behold, it was a bit hot for the whole team. And then after, there were the other films like The female cop by Yves Boisset in 1980, Evasion by Daniel Duval (1979).
What is quite strong when you look at this journey is that your film partners have always been kind to you, they have always taken you under their wings.
Maybe I attract protection, that’s what I want. It is a need itself. Not all the time, but when it comes, a protective gesture for me… for example, adjusting the scarf around my neck, I even had tears in my eyes.
How do you view your journey?
Not bad. What’s not bad is that now I have entered the ‘old age’ zone, eh, 73 years old, so I have different roles. At each stage, there are different roles.
How do you live passing time?
Oddly. I’m afraid, not of death, I’m afraid of decay. I’m afraid people will say:Ah, you haven’t been to see her today?“I’m really afraid of that. In this desire to be loved, to continue to be loved by my loved ones, I wouldn’t like it to go to waste. I find that it’s still selfish as a thought!
How do you live then the love of the French for all these years?
I was a little scared. As I was a bit their mirror, they identified a lot, I hope they are not disappointed, and I do not believe it. I live it well in fact.