“One day someone told me, ‘You are over 40, you should be careful.’

He begins the interview with an anecdote, with tiring memories of filming Cut! (2022) directed by her husband Michel Hazanavicius. “I was doing a lot of sports, like I was smashing a lot of zombies in a movie, and one day at home, walking from the kitchen to the living room, I twisted my ankle, like that, without doing anything.” Berenice Bejo is remembered for the magazine The team this Sunday, June 2.

The 47-year-old actress is starring in a horror film Under you, by Javier Gens, available June 5 on Netflix, then continued: “(That evening), I took off the crutches and went on with the evening. Later I felt faint in the toilet. My friend found me between the sink and the bathroom, bleeding (…) I must have been tired and my body told me it was over. I think he tells me things from time to time, but I tend to listen a little after a problem…”

Through this story, Berenice Bejo, who was known to the general public for her role; OSS 117 by Michelle Hazanavicius, thus alerting to the pressure that actresses are often forced to push beyond their limits for the benefit of the film. In Under youThe latter faced several of his fears, notably taking free diving lessons for one of his scenes, then strapping himself to a “10-metre-deep concrete block”. “For some roles, when the body is not used to it, it is physical, tiring,” he emphasized, remembering another shooting. when we force it to do some spinning tops and high kicks… So my radiologist told me It’s also weight losses and gains that completely derail some people’s physical and mental health. “After all, they told me that I was really very thin (…) and it’s true that at one point I weighed 45 kg,” he regretted again.

“A body is a body”

Today, the wife of Michel Hazanavicius is still trying to listen to her body better. The body he rediscovered during the performance The three rites dance show with choreographer and dancer Sylvain Groud in 2017. “It was very new for me, learning to express myself with my body. (…) Despite what people think, when you’re an actor, you don’t spend your time preparing and shooting love scenes. And there, it was a lot of physical work. I was 40 years old and it completely freed me. Suddenly I no longer had the same modesty. I realized that a body is a body with more or less big breasts, more or less small butt, more or less big legs, but they are legs, butt, chest. A dam has burst,” he assured.

Despite what people think, when you’re an actor, you don’t spend your time preparing and shooting love scenes.

Berenice Bejo answers some questions about the character and superficiality of the actors. “We are like everyone else, we don’t love each other every day. I try not to look at myself too much in life (…) I clearly see what is aging, what is changing, and that’s normal, so I don’t want to take responsibility, I have to learn to love. I’m like, it’s work, but we all do it.” Even more so when social networks and selfies have invaded our daily life. “There are so many images today that we see ourselves over and over and over. We all find ourselves getting older. It used to be the ‘privilege’ of actors, but we live in a society where we’re constantly being looked at, photographed, so I think I’m a bit like everyone else now.