Mélanie Laurent: 'I've never set any limits for myself'
Interview'II wouldn't be where I am today if...' Every week, Le Monde interviews a public figure about a decisive moment in their life. Mélanie Laurent, actress and director, draws her strength from the unconditional love of her family.
Mélanie Laurent plays Marie-Antoinette in Gianluca Jodice's Le Déluge (The Flood), alongside Guillaume Canet. She has also just directed her eighth feature film, Libre (Freedom), inspired by the life of gangster Bruno Sulak, and Voir un Ami ("See a Friend"), a documentary about the end-of-life journey of Jean-Pierre, a close friend suffering from Charcot's disease (ALS). At 41, when she's not promoting her work, the prolific artist is writing songs and working on a new movie.
I wouldn't be where I am today if...
... I hadn't received so much love as a child. My father was a dubbing artist, my mother a dancer, and life with them was full of joy. I come from a family of artists, intellectually rich, but also very calm and serene. They raised me with both stability and curiosity. We all lived in the same building, with my grandparents, my cousins, and my grandmother's sisters, on Rue de la Réunion, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris.
It was incredibly convenient; we could visit each other effortlessly. We often took to the streets to protest against injustice and often went to the theater to see fine performances. It was very lively. My parents taught me that anything was possible, that you could be curious about anything. They gave me enough self-confidence that I never had to tell myself "I wouldn't dare." Thanks to them, I've never set any limits for myself.
You were very close to your grandfather.
He was self-taught, curious about everything, and incredibly knowledgeable. Until his death two years ago, at the age of 93, we had endless conversations. He went to the theater, to exhibitions. I took him with me all over the world on film shoots, to Argentina and Japan. Above all, he was a great humanist. He understood my commitments, my reactions, my struggles. He tried to understand the world and never had an ounce of contempt or racism. He always had a little wallet, which I kept, from which he would hand out coins to all the needy people he came across in the street. He'd say to me, "As long as I have some, I'll give them away."
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