Ariel Dombasle. “In life, I have always been on the side of the humble.”

Ariel Dombasle’s opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games was “very successful”. On Friday, July 26, the actress, director and singer followed in the footsteps of 22 million viewers by unveiling the luxury sports high-profile show in front of their TVs. It must be said that the wife of Bernard-Henri Levy felt a special contribution to the competition, to the point that she imagined a hymn. The Olympic Games, which was sung in front of the city hall a few days before the start of the event. “Paris was a party,” he recalled during our first exchanges on WhatsApp. I loved the Marseillaise and the rider cutting through air and water. I also read on social networks that it was me, it amused me a lot.”

Very punctual, Ariel Dombasle didn’t hold it against us because of the few problems encountered before the call. He is cheerful and warm, eloquent and talkative, flexible and understanding. As we offered our sincerest apologies, he even allows some compliments in our profile photo. His tenderness is disturbing. His voice comes from his Moroccan home, nestled between the Mediterranean waters of the Strait of Gibraltar. Because although he is watching the tournament from afar, he has since flown to Tangier and his holiday home where he is enjoying the heat, the waves and the summer. The season is a time of calm and laziness, he says. After first asking about our profession, our desires and our future plans, he stops. “Okay, now it’s your turn.” Interview:

The audacity of the barbie doll

Madame Figaro .- We saw you singing on July 14 The Olympic Games For the arrival of the flame in the town hall square. Why this desire to write a hymn for the ceremony?
Ariel Dombasle. But because it is a unique, historical moment that we should cherish. A moment of glory for the athletes, especially the women, even though they had to fight to qualify in all events. I wanted to pay tribute to them. Starting with Esther Williams, an American swimming champion who left for Hollywood to pursue a career in film. My first dazzle.

The song is a continuation of your album symbolic Released in May, you pay homage to female figures from Marlene Dietrich to Judy Garland via Simone de Beauvoir…
symbolic This is an exercise in admiration for the people who have given me so much. I would like to add Josephine Baker and Shirley Bassey, who are women who have always tried to outdo themselves. They fought to impose their style, their glamour. Double and magnificent emancipation under the fire of criticism. They were warriors, warriors full of courage, solidarity and strength.

One of your songs is called Barbiconic . Should we see it as a mockery of people who have always “treated” you like a doll?
From the age of 14, people said that I looked like a Barbie doll. When I arrived in France, I already had this look. I am a child of different cultures. French, born in the USA, raised in Mexico… I like this quote from Jean Cocteau, adopted by Serge Gainsbourg, who said: … When one looks at someone strange… Stranger…

Have you suffered from it?
Of course. You are always associated with the reductive significant, these same clichés, these same jokes about blondes, and this hidden misogyny that all women suffer from. We will make fun of those who are too round, who have too broad shoulders, who are too blond, too bamboo, too much of this, too much… We are not far from, I would say, the crime of facial features.

Escape conformity

And yet you stayed true to yourself and your often imaginary world. You once said: “We can’t be on the balcony watching each other go by.” What do you mean?
I have a free identity. You might think I’m shallow, I just like to be what I want. But I don’t analyze myself. I have many friends, especially actresses, who are in therapy. The psychologist has been very popular in recent years, there is almost an instruction for self-analysis. I, for my part, never wanted to go down this path of analysis, revelations, trauma… I just move forward in life with my freedom, which I value the most. But this freedom has a price, everyone knows that.

Is it criticism?
Being someone apart. It’s always easier to hide in conformity. Especially for women, in fact.

These mark your work. Last September you released your 5th film, among other things Secrets of the Kadin princess . It must be said, however, that you grew up surrounded by men. How was your partnership built?
I was raised for a while by my father with my older brother (Gilbert Sonneri died in November 2023, aged 71. Editor’s note) When I lost my mother at the age of 11, it hit me so hard that I isolated myself from my peers; “normal”, those who always had their model at home, the guardian figure of the mother, an example of the absolute. This has followed me all my life. I have always looked for a mother among my friends, young or old. I have always loved their vulnerability, their fragility, their hidden strength. I have loved women and their enigma from childhood to this day.

There is almost an instruction for self-analysis. I never wanted to go down this road

Ariel Dombasle

Speaking of mysteries, you mention keeping your age a mystery…
(Is laughing): That’s right, there are a thousand ages that define me on the internet. But I think women don’t have to state their age. A whole part of modern misogyny is centered on this. This way of defining ourselves by our marital status. It is disgusting. Conversely, I believe that childhood is a space from which we never escape. When I look at others, I see the children they are and have been. What they hide is in vain…

What was the Dombasle child like?
An extraordinarily privileged young woman. My grandfather, who was the French ambassador, was a hero. He was the first French diplomat to join de Gaulle in London in 1940, and later became his representative in Latin America and the founder of Free France in America. My childhood in Mexico was surrounded by extremely brilliant, remarkable, learned people. It was a kind of dream, but in a very poor, very degraded country… When my mother disappeared, even if I continued to live in this privileged environment, it projected me into a world, and I left. It was my Indian nanny who saved me; Not being able to read or write, I taught him at the age of 12 or 13. Since then I have always been on the side of the humble in life. Anyway, I tried.

Françoise Sagan said something very true. “To be able to love, one must still love love.”

Ariel Dombasle

I read that early on, you liked to open bird cages. Is it true?
In Mexico, mistreatment of animals is very common. Yes, since I was 4 years old, I freed sentient beings from their suffering, allowing a significant number of all kinds of animals to escape. I saw them locked in microscopic cages that were not even able to turn around. It broke my heart. It’s something I’m proud of.

Laugh and admire yourself

Then you arrived in France and met your husband, Bernard-Henri Levy. Forty years of relationship, thirty marriages… A feat for many.
Like all love stories, there is a kind of absolute passion between us and something like a miracle at the same time. I remember that Françoise Sagan said something very true. “To be able to love, one must still love love.” There are people who prefer to realize themselves differently. Some feel very lonely, others experience romance through screens. I’m incredibly lucky, living with a writer is fascinating. It is infinite.

Isn’t that the secret to longevity, living with someone who elevates us intellectually?
Of course! Admiration is a fundamental principle in love and life. I should add that there is also laughter. We laugh a lot together. I laugh and am a very good audience.

You never had children by choice. Did you feel pressured?
Of course! It is still a huge taboo. “So when are you giving us a baby?” is a question I must have heard at least 1000 times. And then these phrases that come to mind, like “Ariel is weird,” “he’s a boy,” “he’s weird.” There is always something suspicious about the fact that a woman does not want to have a child. It is seen as a monstrous act. So either you’re a freak or it can’t really be your fault. In fact, I knew from the time I was a teenager that I didn’t want to have children. In a strange way, I told myself that I would be too afraid to leave him. And that I myself wanted to stay like that. It was a decision I stuck to when I accidentally got pregnant. It was a disaster… I also thank all our feminist mothers and grandmothers who allowed women to have this choice. Essential !!

Today you live between your Paris apartment in the 7th arrondissement of Paris and your holiday home in Tangier. If we want to meet you, where should we go?
I’m also in distant countries when I shoot films, but in the end I’m mostly in Paris, in cafes (laughs).

And if we meet you, can we ask you for a selfie or an autograph?
Of course! I never refuse a dedication or a photo. I find this very cute. You know, you never really know why people like you. It’s always crisp and exciting… Always…