“Old age is a form of apotheosis”

You play at the Poche-Montparnasse theater in Paris, in Sand Chopin and publish I walk towards her. Make our mouths water… The play, which tells the story of the passion between two great artists, and my book dedicated to Hélène, my older sister who died last summer, are born from the same need: to find the right words to express love. On the one hand, the fiery passion between a writer and a musician; on the other, the deep feeling for the one I accompanied until her last breath, at 96 years old. Loving is not only a joy: it is a requirement. You have to live up to what you feel.

What does this double news reveal about you? That I am in full possession of my means. I’m like peaches, apricots… One day, they are suddenly ripe and it’s time to taste them (laughs) . Old age is a form of apotheosis.

The music that makes you happy in the morning? The melodies of Michel Legrand, with whom I shared my life. These are good mood pills. Yet he often wrote them during periods of depression.

The film you could watch a hundred times? A married womanby Jean-Luc Godard. Not because I’m in it (laughs), but because it remains astonishingly modern. He predicted that the future would be feminine.

Your guilty pleasure? The wine! My nutritionist tells me that a daily glass is enough, but I happily add one or two…

A Proust madeleine? The blues, ochres, reds and sunlight, which bathed my Moroccan childhood. This is where my taste for clothes in bright tones comes from.

The object that crosses generations in your family? The coat of arms adorned with the motto “To be and not to appear”. That’s all I have left. My parents, Russian aristocrats, lost everything fleeing the revolution.

A quality that you are proud to pass on to your grandchildren? Wear beautiful, don’t complain. It is also an internal attitude: taking responsibility.

What will you never tire of looking at? The sea, to make me feel alive. Facing its horizon, I find breath.

For you, Jesus, it is… What he experienced remains relevant today. “Love one another,” no one said it better!