Luca Dotti: “The smile, more disarming than anger”

This graphic story traces the life of your mother. What does it reveal to us about her?

From the writing of the screenplay by Eileen Hofer to the black and white drawings by Christopher, this graphic novel reflects my mother’s personality, loving and determined in her commitments. It evokes the personal story of my mother who, born in Brussels in 1929, was sent away from her family at the age of 6, to a boarding school in England. This journey and the years of war shaped his strong-willed temperament.

A film that your mother starred in that you could watch a hundred times?

Roman holidays, without hesitation. This romantic comedy with a very subtle storyline is much more open about female emancipation than it seems.

A role that Audrey Hepburn dreamed of playing?

Unicef ​​Ambassador! “I trained for this role all my life,” she said. And she held it. I saw her prepare her speeches and get involved with determination in her missions, traveling the world to raise funds for children in distress.

A quality that you are happy to have inherited?

I hope I have inherited the humor of my father, the Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti. I also try to cultivate one of the qualities I got from my mother: determination in action.

The figure who meant the most in your family?

Vero Roberti, my adoptive grandfather, great reporter. He worked for the Corriere della Serra and traveled the world, producing breathtaking reports. Between 1940 and 1943, he witnessed the war on the seas. In his gentleness, he exuded great strength and believed, like my mother, that a well-placed smile is much more disarming than anger.

A place to recharge your batteries?

The Swiss mountains and the canton of Bern. My parents loved the altitude. As a child, I sometimes found these walks boring. The older I get, the more I appreciate the immutability of ancient peaks in the face of our ephemeral lives. Like my mother, I feel a strong sense of responsibility for the state of nature and the world.

For you, Jesus is…

I am an atheist but I see in him the one who tells us: “You are able to determine what is good by looking within yourself. »