“The search for the right gesture guides me”

You play the character of Claude in Arnaud Desplechin’s new film. Can you introduce it to us?

She is a woman who chose the path of reason by getting married and who finds herself overwhelmed by her emotions when a youthful love resurfaces.

What does this role reveal about you?

Classical music plays a big part in his life, and in the film in general. This is also the case for me. Mahler, Schubert, Mozart… And The Sicilian by Bach which never ceases to move me.

The book you could reread a hundred times?

The art of joy by Goliarda Sapienza. This novel tells the destiny of a free woman in the 20th century. A political, sensual and feminist work.

An object that is passed down in your family?

A portrait of my sister and myself, painted by my Finnish grandfather. Artist, poet, my ancestor was also a doctor. Several of his paintings have been donated to hospitals in his country. But this painting remained in the family.

A hidden talent?

I did classical dance at a professional level. Today, I am taking contemporary dance courses with the choreographer Ohad Naharin. The search for accuracy in movement nourishes my acting skills.

A good plan to reconnect with nature?

A long family vacation in a small summer cottage on the edge of a lake surrounded by forests, two hours from Helsinki (Finland). Go buy food by bike, swim and read novels. There, I live in the present.

A cause you would get involved in?

The Maison des femmes de Saint-Denis, an extraordinary place of reception where victims of sexual violence can confide in caregivers. I am involved in it occasionally. I could see myself being godmother of one of these houses.

For you, Jesus, it is…

The one I think about intensely at Christmas, while setting up my great-grandmother’s nativity scene. I am of Lutheran tradition on my mother’s side and I received my religious education in Finnish. A language in which I pray and which instantly connects me to my spiritual dimension.