«NoI never had any doubts non there have never been two options for me, but only one: to be an actress. It’s been like this since I asked my parents to enroll me in a theater course and when I was 10 and was chosen by the director Eva Ionesco to My Little Princess. Now that I’m 23, I see that dedication is paying off. But I also know that I have to continue studying to respect, not only the people who count on me, but also and above all my expectations».
CABOURG, FRANCE – JUNE 18: Anamaria Vartolomei attends the 36th Cabourg Film Festival – Day Four on June 18, 2022 in Cabourg, France. (Photo by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)
Anamaria Vartolomei is the new star of French cinema. And he is a very determined person. The actress who at the last Berlin Film Festival he received the Shooting Stars Awardthe prize given every year to the best young talents of European cinema immediately after cashing a César, the transalpine Oscar, for Anne’s choice – L’Événement and already Leone d’Oro at the Venice Exhibitionhas just finished shooting Bruno Dumont’s film, The Empire, in which extraterrestrials land in northern France. We will soon see her in the cinema Jellyfish in which she is a young woman who begins a rehabilitation process after an accident, e prepares to play Maria Schneider in the biopic signed by Jessica Palud.
Anamaria Vartolomei a recognized talent
In short, the talent is not only there, but it is also recognized. Very clear complexion, big green eyes and dark hair, her face has a composition of colors and features that could be defined as French, so reminiscent of Marion Cotillard, but which are French only if you stop at the passport. Anamaria Vartolomei was in fact born in Plopu, Romania. She moved to Paris at the age of six, joining her parents who left four years before her in search of fortune.
Fabrizio Rongione and Anamaria Vartolomei in Anne’s choice.
They all still live together, including his brother, a young footballer auditioned by Paris Saint-Germain. «At home we talk about football so often that by osmosis I too have become a fan. Luckily I’m good friends with some fellow actresses, Lyna Khoudri (seen in The French Dispatch by Wes Anderson, ed) and Karidja Touré (was in Black Diamond by Celine Sciamma, ed), at least occasionally I can talk about cinema».
The first popularity she got in 2012 when she was still a child. Now this second wave of attention 10 years later: what are the main differences?
Now I am aware that by continuing like this, if I’m also helped by luck, I will be able to achieve some goals. At the time it was just theory. When he came out My Little Princess and I did interviews next to Isabelle Huppert, who played my eccentric mother in that film, I was always attentive to how she behaved, to the seriousness she put both on the set and in promoting the film.
Did he make these qualities his own?
I hope so. I was very impressed at the time and so I tried to make them mine. The media attention is certainly stronger now, also because I don’t have the implicit protection that is normally given to a little girl, but I still don’t feel the pressure, I have a rather conventional life.
Besides Isabelle Huppert, are there other actresses who inspire you?
I know that Marion Cotillard he’s someone who gives everything on set. She is a friend of Audrey Diwan, the director of Anne’s choice, and told me she is a hard worker. Another landmark is Juliette Binoche. Both managed to build an extraordinary international career. If they made it, and others didn’t, among the various reasons, there is also that they worked very hard on every detail of their career, starting from the perfect use of English.
With Isabelle Huppert in My Little Princess.
His English is also perfect!
Thanks, I’ve been working on it for a few years. I have the feeling that, apart from studying, the music I listen to, the films and the series are helping me a lot. I’m lucky enough to already speak two languages well, I hope I’m still a sponge like when I was a child.
She seems to work a lot on herself: what are the flaws she is aware of?
I am impatient but also a perfectionist, two characteristics that go both hand in hand and in contrast. It’s a dilemma that I try to solve individually every time, especially if it’s an audition, even more if we’re talking about a video to send to someone who has never even seen you live. It happens above all when I propose myself for international films. I never know if I’m sending the right one, if it’s better to wait longer, make another recording. At the same time I want to close the case as quickly as possible, get an answer, know if it went right or wrong.
The film from the Nobel Prize
Some people after high school take six months or a gap year to travel the world, get to know each other inside: have you ever had this need?
I’m happy with my life so far. I know I haven’t indulged in much in the way of non-work related recreation, but I love what I do so much, I’m so into it that I couldn’t really let myself go.
Anne’s choice is the cinematographic transposition of the biographical story of a young woman, the Nobel prize-winning writer Annie Ernaux, who tries to have an illegal abortion in France in the 1960s. What did the interpretation of such a courageous character leave you?
Anger and fear. The choice he found himself facing is incredible, the risk of dying due to an operation performed in non-optimal conditions, whether to sacrifice his future or his body. The idea that elsewhere in the world similar choices are faced by so many of my peers is frightening. I don’t know what I would have done or what I would have done in their place, even asking myself the question makes me nervous.
Anamaria Vartolomei from Romania to Paris
What memories do you have of Romania?
A mixture of sensations, on the one hand those of childhood lived there, raised by my grandmother, until my parents came to pick me up. And then there are those of comebacks, summers spent as if I were local and a foreigner at the same time, especially in the eyes of my childhood friends who have grown up in the meantime. I haven’t been back for two years, with Covid it was difficult to organize, we will all spend time together at Christmas.
What was it like growing up in Paris as a foreigner?
Initially a shock, I didn’t speak the language, I was catapulted into another world, bigger streets, crowds, a culture that wasn’t mine. But my parents have always been very close to me.
Anamaria Vartolomei kisses the César won for L’événement.
Why did they choose Paris?
Their initial plan was to go to England where there is a cousin of ours, then for a series of coincidences they stopped in Paris. They had nothing. My father started working as a laborer on construction sites. My mother did various jobs. Within a few years, however, they managed to create their own company. My father organizes the working groups, my mother takes care of the administration.
What is the biggest lesson you learned from them?
If I have to do something, I have to commit myself 100 percent, with dedication and passion, respecting myself and the people I work with. Now, on the other hand, they always tell me to keep my feet on the ground, to give things the right time.
Did they support you in choosing to become an actress?
Always, and it’s extraordinary when you think of how many times you hear of parents who oppose their children’s dreams in the world of entertainment, especially if you don’t come from more than affluent backgrounds. They are doing the same with my brother. He is 16, but he has been playing football since he was five, he is a number 10 and my father accompanies him to matches whenever he can.
Apart from a career in the United States, have you ever thought about a film in Italy?
I adore Pietro Marcello’s films, above all Martin Eden with Luca Marinelli. His interpretation was a great inspiration for me Anne’s choice. I would love to work with both of them, as well as with Paolo Sorrentino, who I find exceptional.
iO Woman © REPRODUCTION RESERVED