Julie Prens (The Story of Annette Zelman, France 2): "While trying on the costumes, I was moved to immerse myself in family history."

Had you heard of Annette Zelman before making this TV movie?

Julie Pretty: Never ! We have made many historical films set during the occupation, but seldom the everyday stories of that time. Unfortunately, the issue still holds true today, there will always be Romeos and Juliets who will find their love thwarted by racial, ideological, or religious hatred.

It’s not the prettiest role you’ve ever had to play in your career. Who is this Christiane Jausion?

As the wife of a great Parisian doctor, she belonged to this pre-war upper middle class who had traditionally developed an unrepentant anti-Semitism. Also, when she learns that her only son Jean (Vassili Schneider) is planning to marry Annette Zelman (Ilona Bachelier), a young Jew who is a Beaux-Arts student, she experiences this situation as a tragedy, a dishonor, a humiliation. social. She will force her husband Hubert (Laurent Lucas) to report the young girl to the Gestapo.

Hubert was not depressed in the television movie despite the heinous act he was guilty of… For what reason?

This is the complexity of this age. Hubert Jausion is a liberal, progressive, even humanist bourgeois. The man is only a prisoner of the social straitjacket, “what shall we say”. When he goes to the Gestapo, all he wants is to prevent this marriage. He cannot even imagine the tragic consequences of his approach. The Doctor will then struggle to save his son’s young fiancee.

Your social origins are the same as the Jausion couple: your grandfather and father were surgeons. what inspires you?

My grandfather, who passed away in 2017, read very early. my fight and understood the danger that Hitler represented. He joined General de Gaulle in London in June 1940. My great-grandmother was one of the first female doctors. While trying on the costumes, I took action to immerse myself in family history by looking at old photographs.

You are also determined, especially in feminism. What are your plans there?

I’m publishing a book on Stock on March 1st. We are stronger together, portraits of extraordinary women I’ve met over the past ten years. I also want to make a movie about Olympe de Gouges, one of the pioneers of feminism during the Revolution. It is not impossible for me to interpret the character. In the meantime, I’ll show you like an actressA beautiful film by Sébastien Bailly, starring Benjamin Biolay and Agathe Bonitzer. It will be presented on January 23 at the Premiers Plans festival in Angers: a portrait of a 50-year-old actress who is subject to orders to always look young. Finally, for France 2, I shot the thriller 12 years, 11 months and 7 days in Vosges, based on a novel by Lorris Murail.

Annette Zelman’s Story: Wednesday 25 January at 21:10 on France 2

HACENE CHOUCHAOUI INTERVIEW