“We are a small part of a whole”

You are one of the heroines of Retirement home, the series. What is this fiction about?

Old people! In our society, they are often ignored and mistreated. But as they become the majority, this subject concerns more and more people. In this TF1 series, the treatment is neither social nor political, it is light.

What do you like about Sylvette, your character?

Let it be unconventional. She is neither tidy nor wise but she has words and character!

The place that inspires you to rehearse your texts?

My bed. Lying down, I read them and recite them.

Music that makes you happy?

Jazz! I’m crazy about it! I don’t listen to it for that purpose, but jazz invigorates me. For fear of losing my balance, I no longer walk in the street much, but I do it every morning to music on a carpet.

Your latest media favorite?

Impossible to keep just one! At 93, I have lost none of my curiosity. I listen to a lot of philosophical, scientific, literary, musical and political programs on YouTube. I want to understand. Since I saw the series breaking BadI grasped the expanded role of chemistry – which I found so boring – and I am learning. Quantum physics too.

The last time you laughed?

Oh, I laugh often. We live in a world that is going upside down, but I refuse to let it depress me. I have a small family of friends and we laugh a lot.

A guilty pleasure?

The films. At 4 years old, I saw Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, from Disney. Everything hit me. This is undoubtedly the origin of my desire to be an actress. A desire kept hidden deep inside me, but which my mother guessed. She’s the one who broke my locks.

What will you never tire of looking at?

Tina, my daughter, my sunshine.

The person who meant the most in your family?

Besides my daughter, my mother, Chaja. She was both deep and intuitive, loving and gentle. Unlike me, she didn’t slam doors.

An initiative that touches you?

When politicians stand up to defend freedom. I admire Nelson Mandela, for example.

You are offered immortality. Do you sign?

I ask you to think… I don’t believe in immortality, but in eternity and in the fact that we are a small piece of a whole.