Elsa, you like to scare yourself: We can imagine that you were afraid of this role…
Elsa Zylberstein : I didn’t want to admit it to myself. I was impressed and at the same time my mood was that of a fighter. Fear is not a carrier. I wanted this movie! I allowed myself.
Did you want this movie?
I met Simone Veil during a dinner at the Palais Brongniart in Paris in 2007, when I presented her with a prestigious award. I gave a speech in front of him and his entire family. They invited me to their table. Then he came to my house for dinner. I could feel her great strength, her shyness, her grace, her aura, and her great humanity. I felt an unconscious and intimate echo between us. The idea of making a movie about this woman gradually took hold.
How did you become Olivier Dahan’s Simone Veil?
I prepared for the role for a year. I talked to his relatives, those who knew him, especially the project manager Jean-Paul Davin when the abortion law was enacted… I gained 9 kilograms, I wanted a symbiosis between sincerity and appearance. I worked on her voice, every intonation, every blink, studied her gait, her facial expressions, put on Chanel’s shoes and suits to marry her and forget her completely.
Did you feel a responsibility?
Yes definitely. To announce his career, I had to honor him. A great movie should have been made. My goal was for those close to him to feel that they had found him, if only for fifteen seconds.
You went with his mother and sister Snowy to Auschwitz in Poland, where he was deported…
It was a strange mixture of emotions because the weather was nice, there were many visitors, guides everywhere. I was accompanied by Ginette Kolinka (Telephone drummer Richard Kolinka’s mother was in convoy 71, editor’s note the same as Simone Veil’s). He told me everything: “Here Elsa, you can see the sky, the trees, but there was nothing. We were always in the dark, the stoves were emitting smoke, the corpses were burning… I paved this road you walked on. It was through him and his words that the emotion was strongest.
How did you feel when you gave the famous abortion rights speech in 1974?
We shot in the National Assembly. I worked on this talk for eight months! He was with me at the time.
What did it teach you about yourself?
I went through a lot of hard times during this shoot (Elsa lost her mother) and I think it helped me get through the excruciating pain. In his humility, his strength, his strength, filthy and rubbing honorably shoulder to shoulder with monsters, he taught me how to raise his head. What a lesson!
Their fights are still current, and this tribute movie is a burning necessity…
To say that this is the best gift you can give to the movie. Report
Isabelle Magnier
Simone, the journey of the century, on Friday, May 1 at 21:10 on Canal+
Source: Programme Television
Joseph Fearn is an entertainment and television aficionado who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a keen eye for what’s hot in the world of TV, Joseph keeps his readers informed about the latest trends and must-see shows.
