Rebecca Marder: “With Sandrine Kiberlain, it was love at first sight”
France 3 broadcasts, for the first time unencrypted, A young girl who is doing well. Première met her main actress during the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Flashback.
Interview initially published on July 10, 2021: The appointment with a first major role in a career is always a moment of intense emotions. His performance in A young girl who is doing well foreshadows the aftermath of fire. Encounter.
This Cannes festival is also an actress festival. Marion Cotillard in AnnetteRenate Reinsve in Julie in 12 chapters, Virginie Efira in Benedetta while waiting for Vicky Krieps in Bergman Island just to talk about the competition. And then on Thursday evening, the festival-goers present in the Miramar room of Critics' Week saw the emergence of an irresistible talent.
Rebecca Marder adds to the long list of these actors born in Cannes. She is obviously not a beginner. Those who have had the pleasure of seeing her on stage, at the Comédie Française or elsewhere, know something about her. But never before A young girl who is doing well, she had never had the opportunity to play a leading role in the cinema. Never before Sandrine Kiberlain (in what is also a first for her: her directorial debut in a feature film), no filmmaker had offered her this gift. And Rebecca Marder takes on this role of a young 19-year-old Jewish woman unwilling to give up either her passion for theater or her first great love story despite the irresistible rise of Nazism in Paris in the 1940s, with intense intensity. and an incredible naturalness.
She plays the carefreeness of youth like the power of the first real heartbeat with an intensity and precision which count for a lot in the crazy pleasure taken in discovering the film. We met her the day after the screening, followed by a long standing ovation. She has the rapid flow of shy people who are always afraid of boring their interlocutors. And contagious happiness
A young girl who is doing well is a story with multiple entries. What struck you when you first read the script?
I was quite upset and tense. In the script as in the film, nothing is said or explained too much. For 30 minutes, we don't know, for example, in what era the plot takes place. You must therefore be constantly on the lookout. But first and foremost I was captivated by the idea of this character who wants to continue to live his passions – both romantic and theatrical – against all odds. Sandrine knows how to perfectly tell the insolence of youth
How did it help you get into the skin of this character?
Sandrine has an almost obsessive eye for detail and perfectly knows how to share all her prior work. She gave me a list of films to watch that in one way or another have inspired her or constituted references for her: Van Gogh de Pialat for the colors with which she wanted to envelop her film, Goodbye children by Louis Malle, Pocket money by François Truffaut, To our Loves de Pialat again for the relationship of this young girl to her father… But above all we discussed a lot because I was intrigued to know why she wanted to tell this story. With Sandrine, it was love at first sight from the moment of casting. And on set, I could feel all the emotions that were coming over her without her even expressing them. She has such empathy for her actors that she gives us incredible confidence. She pulls people up. And when I discovered the film, I had the impression of having been loved in every way.
As you said, the action takes place here in 1942 but Sandrine Kiberlain does everything not to show it, for the sake of timelessness. But when you compose, you, your character, do you need to anchor it in an era?
Everything is indeed quite timeless, with the exception of certain dialogues and direct allusions to the rise of Nazism. The film celebrates first and foremost the idea that art can transcend everything, both eras and the most unbearable tragedies. So if, in creating this character, I think about the time, I do it through the prism of my character's absolute desire to remain alive in the heart of chaos. And I feel close to her in several ways. Firstly because for me, the competition time is still very close, the audition to enter the Comédie Française was quite intense, I can assure you! (laughs) But also because my father is Jewish from New York and all the part of his family who had not emigrated to Ellis Island in 1900 was deported. This tragedy is therefore written in my DNA. So yes, I thought about the time but above all I was this character who ignored this time to try to live his dreams and his love passion.
How do you approach your first major role in cinema?
Obviously I was dreading this shoot, I had the pressure to live up to the confidence that Sandrine gave me. But from the first day, I felt carried by her, by her generosity and her intimate knowledge of the acting profession. And that pressure was gone. Playing a leading role suddenly means going from a sprint to a marathon. We must never lose the common thread of a story that turns out of order, and preserve moments of concentration where we cut ourselves off from others. Whereas when we arrive for 5 or 6 days, we want to live every second at 200%, we don't think about settling down.
A young girl who is doing well marks the start of a fireworks display of films where we will find you in the leading role. How do we experience this moment of sudden acceleration in our journey?
Before, when I arrived at a casting call, I could go through three rounds of testing for a character who didn't even have a first name and who was simply presented as a “shy young girl” in the script. There, I had the chance to watch Sandrine's film and the Simone Veil by Olivier Dahan. I played in Deception by Arnaud Desplechin which will also be presented next week here in Cannes. I have just finished the new Michel Leclerc and I am in the middle of filming The Great Magic, the musical comedy by Noémie Lvovsky. Then I will continue in September with a thriller on secrecy in politics before resuming Fanny and Alexander And The Cherry Orchard in French. But instead of exhausting me, it galvanizes me. I am in a euphoric energy of work. I'm going through a period where I measure my luck every day, believe me. Especially in this period of COVID which has weakened or even devastated our sector. I rehearsed four pieces for the Frenchman which could not be performed but at least I was able to practice my craft. I want to continue doing both in parallel, theater and cinema. To return regularly to the great texts and rediscover troop life which offers a framework, even if sometimes we obviously want to send it flying. And being in Cannes necessarily contributes to this incredible movement. I sometimes feel like I'm hovering above myself, wondering if what I'm experiencing is real. I feel incredibly spoiled.
