Kate Winslet. “My primary goal as a wife, mother, and actress is to convey a message of reality.”

The ocean blends into the sky in gathering mist this early evening in southern Cornwall, England. Sitting at a table in a restaurant in the small fishing port of Mushall, Kate Winslet fits perfectly into this landscape reminiscent of a William Turner painting. The British actress has known the region since childhood. He loves this little French bistro, where he ordered a cheese souffle, which he enjoyed with a sincere tone and a great British sense of humor. He wears a black tuxedo suit. A simple but effective outfit. “I don’t waste time choosing my clothes,” she says with the confidence of those who accept themselves fully, proudly, even triumphantly, without worrying about the sometimes imperfect standards of cinema.

Her raw beauty has become her signature. The Oscar- and five Golden Globe-winning star has established herself as a symbol of confidence. Kate Winslet has always refused to fit into the mold of Hollywood femininity, preferring to praise the “freedom to be yourself.” For Kate Winslet, 49, her choice of roles reflects a deep search for meaning. from The reader has The Eternal Sun of the Immaculate Mind Passing by Titanic , Massacred Or Rebel wedding, the actress has proven her talent for about thirty years. After excelling in the series ModeStephen Frears (Canal+), in which she plays a formidable woman of powerful strength, is eagerly awaited in Ellen Kuras’s biopic about American icon Lee Miller, first a model and muse for Man Ray, then a photographer and war correspondent during World War II. during the war.

A longtime ambassador for watchmaker Longines, she is also the heroine of a short film that pays tribute to the new Mini DolceVita collection (photo). Through very cinematic black and white footage, we see her swimming in the ocean and walking along windswept cliffs with the same expression of harsh truth that accompanies her in all her roles and battles, all strained to celebrate women’s place in society. An inspiring meeting in his own land.

Madame Figaro. – You seem to be in your element in this Cornish wilderness. What fascinates you? ?
Kate Winslet. – Nature is untamed on this coast. I love these intense sensations: the fog, the white light, the cold mornings and the waves lost in the clouds. I often came here in the summer with my parents and have kept this habit with my children. It is a healthy place, a stimulus that brings me back to the important and essential things in life. In very difficult times for me, like the crazy period after the release of “Titanic”, when I could no longer go out without being chased by the paparazzi, this place calmed me down. Everything made sense again and I felt protected.

Through the images of the watchmaker Longines’ campaign, the idea of ​​enjoying the present moment emerges. In this exercise, it is important for you to communicate a message of authenticity ?
Yes, that is my primary goal as a wife, mother and actress. This campaign is meant to showcase beauty, craftsmanship and timeless elegance. I could have played an untouchable muse who developed through shocking and soulless images, but the production allowed me to be completely myself, showing me as I am in life, with my wrinkles, my light makeup, hair, clothes and my dog, the ocean. on the brink, faces the fierce elements that fight and jostle, symbolizing life’s big questions and twists. The shots were premeditated, but in the end, as is often the case with the best films I’ve worked on, we allow ourselves to be carried away by the instinctive power of the moment while shooting. I love Longines because they are not afraid to take such risks. Their Mini DolceVita watches have a long history with intricate hands and mechanisms. I like what it stands for. I perceive accuracy, balance.

Lee Miller was a bold, progressive woman

Kate Winslet

Most of the heroines you play are strong, determined, against the grain. What attracted you to Lee Miller? ?
If there’s one thing cinema is great at, it’s uncovering the journeys of exceptional personalities that History hasn’t highlighted enough. This is the case with Lee Miller. For a long time, this New Yorker, who left to live in Europe, was presented as the muse of surrealism, but there was much more to her. At a time when female journalists were not common on the streets, between 1938 and 1948 she went to document the atrocities and horrors of World War II; dressed as a soldier, she defied conventional codes of femininity to reveal herself to the world. forehead suffering. It was a brave, progressive woman that the director Ellen Kuras, whom I met on the set.The Eternal Sun of the Immaculate Mindmanaged to recover wonderfully Lee Miller.

For other reasons, the chancellor character you play in the series Mode colorful too. How to describe this woman? ?
He is an autocrat who rules with an iron fist over a small fictional country in Central Europe. A completely cold-blooded tyrant. paranoid, tyrannical and unpredictable. I enjoy stepping into the shoes of characters with complex psychology who manage to fit into society and shine through tremendous power plays. Mode is a parody of power, fanaticism, corruption and their excesses. Elena Wernham is so caricatured that her character becomes hilarious. I consulted a psychologist and a neurologist to understand his mental mechanisms. I loved playing him.

You play women in character with astonishing confidence. Have you been an authoritarian mother? ?
Definitely not! But I was very adamant about some things. When other moms ask me for advice, I give them tips to keep their kids from falling into the social media addiction spiral. My daughter Mia (23) is a fantastic actress. We played together in the movie I’m Ruth (2022), which explores the life of a teenager addicted to social media and his mother’s struggle to understand how to overcome this ordeal.

If there’s one thing cinema is great at, it’s uncovering the journeys of exceptional personalities that History hasn’t highlighted enough.

Kate Winslet

How are you facing the passage of time and in what spirit would you like to celebrate your 50th birthday? ?
On the occasion of my 50th birthday, I have decided that I will not ask for gifts. Instead, I want to do 50 amazing things I’ve never done. I have learned a couple of things over the course of my life, one of which is very important: why invest and expend so much energy in negative attitudes about yourself as a woman in the face of the aging process? I’m getting older, but I don’t see that as a negative. I prefer to focus on all the positive things that I gain with age and time. What I love about the face is how it ages gracefully and naturally. That’s beauty to me. We are definitely entering a time where women are much better at taking care of each other, supporting each other, which makes us feel stronger and bigger together.

Lee Miller, By Ellen Kuras, with Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Noemi Merlant, Alexander Skarsgård, Andrea Riseborough… Released on October 9.