interview aure atika concernant LA FAUTE A VOLTAIRE-610

The character of Nassera is the very contrary of the parts that we have seen you in until now. What interested you about
her ?
First of all, I found the screenplay to be very good, very well written. The characters race towards each other. Jallel and Nassera meet, in the middle of the page they discover that they are cousins and, at the foot of the page, there’s a party in the café! In a single page, the characters exchange a great deal. This is a powerful current that can carry along both the actor and the audience. In real life, things never happen so simply. That’s why we love and admire these characters.
While I don’t like showing my wounds in real life, I seek that out above all in the cinema. Nassera gave me the chance to express them. She’s a rich character who can be interpreted in two ways. At first sight, we only see her wounds and her difficult past. She is fairly timid, wild almost, but life has mistreated her innocence. Moreover, I liked the idea of playing a second-generation Arab immigrant. I wanted to get closer to my roots.

We don’t know you in this register…
True, this part is fairly different from all those that I’ve been seen in until now but I have nonetheless played "serious" parts in films that unfortunately weren’t hits. As a result, audiences only remember my parts in comedies but I find that image rather limited. I was brought up in a film-loving world. As a child, before my tastes were formed, I was taken to see auteur films. At seven, my mother was showing me films by Philippe Garrel! Even if I did discover a more popular form of cinema later, I still feel close to that kind of cinema and want to return to it.

Abdellatif Kechiche has clearly directed you in a highly personal manner. How did you tackle this part with him ?
Abdel is the best director of actors that I have ever come across. However, the shoot wasn’t easy and it was his first film. He is constantly attentive to his actors. When you feel esteemed, loved and desired as an actress to that extent, you can only surpass yourself. Abdel drove me into a corner, towards my true nature.

So you feel that you have some things in common with the character ?
I recognize myself completely in Nassera. We don’t have the same past, of course, but her way of showing her wounds and expressing them brings me closer to her. I can also understand the impulsive side to her, her sudden mood changes and the trouble she has in getting her emotions across.

Nassera crystallizes Jallel’s desire to settle down, to feel safe and protected by marriage. But, in the end, she is the one who feels threatened and flees…
Nassera has had a man in her life, he has left and she has never got over it. She can’t stand the idea of being abandoned again. When her son disappears, she sees it as a very brutal warning: "if you don’t want to lose what you have and suffer for it, don’t try to own anything." And so, rather than risk a break and being abandoned again, she herself cuts the thread that leads her along the path to a new form of possession. No possessions, no loss. It’s a simple but radical solution.
She is a character who is afraid, despite appearances. Afraid for her child, afraid of suffering. Behind her sensual and outgoing appearance, she is very timid and wary. Her past haunts her. Her child is a trace of this past and she cannot prevent herself from seeing his father in him which explains why she speaks so harshly to him. On the other hand, this child is her sole reason for living: she works and tries to pull through for him. They have a passionate relationship which doesn’t leave much room for Jallel. They could have loved each other but she needed time to gain trust and be tamed.

You have put a great deal into this part which is an opportunity for you to show where you’d like your acting career to take you…
I hope Abdel won’t make any other films without me! I like the way in which he always links his ideas to life, flesh, the body and sensations. That’s the beauty of the film. On the set, everything was geared towards the actors. We’d see things through to their logical conclusion, notably in the long single takes that could last up to ten minutes! Unlike many sets, there was never any frustration at not having done the maximum. When it comes down to it, this kind of film comes more naturally to me than comedy. Above all, I try never to fall into a rut.