“I love you so much.”
Photographed in Paris by Ismael Nebchi
Styling by Maël Gicquel
Makeup by Odile Jimenez, Hair by Julie Bennadji, Style Assistant Erwan Jolivet, Post-Production by Abdel Kebdani
above: dress ALAÏA vintage, silver earcuff JULIA BARTSCH, shoes AMI
CAMÉLIA JORDANA
IN CONVERSATION WITH DJANIS BOUZYANI
Djanis Bouzyani: When did you first say to yourself, “I’m going to do that?”
Camélia Jordana: Do what?
DB: All those artistic jobs…like singing… imagining everything you wanted to play.
CJ: Yes, when I was little, I wanted to do everything, like Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge!
DB: Little… How old?
CJ: Like a baby.
DB: So you were already aware that these were professions?
CJ: No, because when I was 2, my mother was already taking us to her opera singing lessons, so I learned to speak at the same time as I learned to sing, and so I grew up but not with artists around me, and in my head it wasn’t a profession at all… You were Madonna or you were a teacher… It was American Idol that made my dream come true…
At the time of American Idol, when music became my job, I ended up saying to my manager, It’s crazy, but if dreams become reality, I want it to be my job…And I also have another dream, I’d like to be an actress, but how do you go about it?
I’d done 4 years of theater before and my manager told me you need an agent to send you to castings and then I was lucky enough to meet Laurent Grégoire who told me, live what you have to live, finish your tour, and when you’ve finished come back to see me, and then we’ll start working.
DB: And what do you prefer? CJ: Between what and what? DB: Playing and singing?
CJ: I like both too much; they have nothing to do with each other, and at the same time, they complement each other.
DB: Every time I see singers, I say to myself, “What freedom!” For me, singing is already something more universal… If I’d had a choice, I’d have chosen a singer!
total look MAITREPIERRE, shoes COPERNI, jewelry ARCHIVES, glasses LINDA FARROW
top MOSSI, trousers archive LANVIN
CJ: Ah, why?
DB: Because it’s you, it’s not a character.
CJ: Actually, that’s what gives me peace of mind. I like being able to play, because it means I can stop being me.
DB: You see, even in cinema, we’re in an era where we’re doing things more and more ourselves.
CJ: Yes, but in terms of mental health, it’s exhausting… When I realize now how many burnouts I’ve had, I realize that it’s linked to the environment in which I’ve evolved since I was 16, you see… It’s not normal to accumulate so much pressure and violence… Humans aren’t made for that at the base… But it’s the price you pay for doing what you love… But in fact it balances out, because when I sing, I love driving my teams and seeing that it’s possible to express what I wanted to create with my mind; a work that pleases me, that’s right in relation to what I want to convey… And so I find it relaxing to simply be an actress, because it’s someone else’s project, and I’m having fun blending into someone else’s skin…
DB: But strangely enough, I’m putting up with less and less…
CJ: But it’s not being someone else that you can’t stand, it’s being directed!
DB: Less and less…
CJ: Me, I allow myself to give up on a project when I realize that I’m not going to be directed in a way that suits me, especially if I feel I’m not in a safe place… Afterwards, being directed by brilliant people is great, because you see, I was telling you about my callback the other day, and the director gives me notes of intent, and then he can tell me that no, in fact, he was mistaken, which is rare… You’re in front of someone who lets you express yourself.
DB: But it’s rare.
CJ: Yes, it’s rare, but it exists, and when you’re in front of someone like that, you can tell yourself that you can indeed produce something of quality… We’re here to try things out, and there’s no ego… It’s creation, it’s work, it’s art.
DB: And there’s something else, we’re at a time when “racialized” people are reaching a new level… It’s not yet the top…We’re still in an in-between situation, but I hope the next generation will be able to access the same roles as everyone else… And you know, as we’re still in this in-between situation, I find it a little hard to bear.
CJ: You know, Viola Davis said something too beautiful….
DB: Who is she? Just kidding…
CJ: (laughter) She said in an interview that when she was studying drama, she was told she couldn’t play such and such role because she was too intense … but in fact for roles written for white women, she was asked to be softer, gentler, fragile… She was forced to be strong, she was forced to fight, she was forced to hold out… And she said yes, I can do it, but in fact it’s not me. And that’s okay, because being an actress also means doing something else … But I can offer something else with my history, my heritage, and where I come from…
DB: But there aren’t any places created for these women yet.
CJ: But in fact, I have the impression that they do exist, because look, it’s quite recent, but people like us are allowed to tell our stories, to be funded …Because until now, it was other identities that told our stories ..And sometimes it was really well done, look at Rebecca Zlotowski’s “Les sauvages”, it’s really good …You have to see it, it’s incredible.
long-sleeve shirt ALPINE STAR, leather trousers NAMILIA, head accessory TRADITIONAL ALGERIAN BELT, bracelet FLORENCE MOORHEAD, ring : Camilia’s personal jewelry, shoes MARINE SERRE
DB: It was also written by a member of the community, so basically it changes everything.
CJ: I think it’s great that Rebecca Zlotowski works with people from the community…Because then she can say look, “when we do projects about Algerians” it can work… And then we can be financed…It’s new that our communities that can tell their own story… Whereas we’re less financed than other communities who continue to tell our stories… But for all that it’s evolving… So the fact that we’re self-producing, you’re making your documentary, the fact that I’m making my own film to talk about Franco-Algerian identity, well, whether it succeeds or not, and we hope it does … just the fact that we exist shows future generations that they can do it too… And we’re also here to open doors for them… Today we say we’re happy to sit at other people’s table, but now we have our own table and if you want to sit with us, you can.
DB: I started with Hafsia (Herzi) and I felt less beholden to others… And she started with Cédric Kechich… So basically, we started with people we could relate to… You started with Yvan Attal?
CJ: Yes, when I met him, he was almost my uncle… He’s Tunisian Jewish… I grew up with Tunisian Jews… And even if I hadn’t grown up with them, you know, it’s the same culture… And the day we met Yvan, he became my uncle in the same second… After what happened, we didn’t manage to maintain a relationship…
DB: Between acting and directing, I prefer to direct.
CJ: Yes, I completely understand, we’re the kind of people who have an opinion on everything, we have ideas, we’re creators. I think for both of us it confirmed the fact that we wanted to be directors, when you realize that you have an opinion on everything the director asks for on the set… Then you start asking yourself questions and saying to yourself, but since he wants to say that, why doesn’t he film it like that? So you realize that you’re creative and at that moment you want to do things and direct people.
DB: I was getting annoying and I said to myself, listen, shut up, and if you want to do something, do your own thing.
CJ: The same! And now I’m having a lot less trouble… Also, my astrological sign is Virgo, so I’m a logical thinker and also a perfectionist. I have to make sure I understand everything all the time. I’m obliged to understand everything, so on the set if there’s something that doesn’t make sense, it drives me crazy, but I try not to show it… But now I’m much more able to let go.
DB: Yes, as soon as I say yes, I do it.
CJ: I understand it even better now that I’ve started directing things for myself (making my clips, writing my film). It allows me to be much more flexible … It’s easier for me as an actress to do things I’ve been asked to do. Even if I don’t find it logical in terms of the character’s psychology, if the director asks me to do something, I do it.
DB: Also with other people, sometimes I don’t understand what they’re asking me to do, but I do it anyway, because I trust them completely.
CJ: That’s extraordinary, but aren’t you afraid of hurting their feelings?
DB: No, on the contrary, for me it’s proof of my confidence… I think you intellectualize everything much more than I do.
CJ: Maybe… I over-analyze everything all the time.
DB: I think that for you, as you were trained at a very young age and you have the tools, it’s completely normal to ask questions and to ask from a logical point of view when you don’t understand. For me, on the other hand, it’s completely different, it’s another galaxy, so I say yes and I go.
CJ: But don’t you feel insecure as a result?
DB: No, on the contrary, well maybe that’s going to sound pretentious, but I tell myself that I’m not in control … I trust my soul, my heart, and what’s going to happen.
CJ: That’s courageous.
DB: Yes, but it’s not the same for you, you’re a woman too… You see, there’s something about power… And you started at 16 on TV, where everyone gives their opinion… The public had a certain image of you and then they discovered you in protest mode where you express yourself or are politically involved… And people aren’t necessarily comfortable with that.
CJ: I rather think that what caused the problem wasn’t what I said… But rather that it was me who said it.
DJ: It’s as if expressing yourself shows ingratitude… When you’re simply talking about the world in which we all exist…What impresses me about you is that you have a tolerance threshold that I don’t have. Afterwards, it’s hard to go to bed thinking that I haven’t expressed myself fully on this subject.
CJ: Ah yes, I don’t know how to do that… I even have friends who don’t necessarily tell me all their anecdotes for fear that I’ll confront them if they haven’t respected themselves… They’d rather not tell me about it. They prefer not to talk to me about it because it brings them face to face with their own truth and it’s too violent… So you see, it’s been about a year and it’s made me think and I’m learning to be a little less radical… I’m learning to express myself with a little more nuance. After all, there’s a minimum you have to respect.
DB: One can also say that some people aren’t capable of facing the truth; they haven’t come this far to understand certain things.
CJ: At work, too, I’m learning to be a little less categorical.
DB: But who in your family was like that?
CJ: It’s more a question of who wasn’t!!!? My father is as straight-laced as the law, in fact, my upbringing was very strict… So I realized that I have no control over how people perceive me, I can’t do anything if what I say is misinterpreted, it makes me mad, and it makes me very angry… I don’t think it’s fair because it’s not the truth.
DB: And if I tell you, I understand you but I don’t agree, is that okay with you?
CJ: Oh yes, I have no problem with that. And I’ll tell you something else, I really like this exchange of ideas, even when we disagree. Even if you’re the opposite of what I am, I really like understanding and exchanging ideas with others, and I think that’s part of our job.
DB: How do you choose your projects bébé?
CJ: It’s also the script, a character I want to play …And either the fact that it’s about something I’ve never heard of, or something I already know but in a way I’ve never seen. In fact, what interests me when I read the script is to say to myself, I’ve met someone, a person who’s behind the subject …At the start of the Costa-Gavras documentary film series, there’s a quote that says every film is political, and it’s not about politics …. It’s the way you treat each subject that’s political. Afterwards, we also talk about feelings. I don’t necessarily take notes on the subject; it’s just what I feel.
DB: Me, you know what I do? You gonna laugh bébé I’m not even reading the script I’m doing a Google search on the director.
CJ : I love you so much.
waistcoat POLO RALPH LAUREN, trousers archive LANVIN, shoes DAVID KOMA, bracelet archive ACNE STUDIO, necklace ANICET
dress ALAÏA vintage, silver earcuff JULIA BARTSCH, shoes AMI
