Revealed in 1966 thanks to Jean-Luc Godard, in Masculin Féminin, dedicated in 1967 with Alexander the Blessedby Yves Robert, Marlene Jobert is one of the rare actresses of her generation to have chosen to abandon this first prestigious profession, in her forties, to embrace a new passion: writing stories for children. At 83, mother of actress Eva Green, starring in the film Les Three Musketeers : Milady but also Joy, she blossoms as a grandmother. This end of year, she is releasing a story and CD box set entitled 3 Beautiful Christmas Stories (Youth Glénat). And confides in his inspiring and rare journey with a refreshing freedom of tone and perspective.
GALA: Do you have the family life you dreamed of today?
MARLENE JOBERT : Let’s say that I would not have imagined that each of my daughters, who are twins [elles ont 43 ans, ndlr], lives elsewhere than in France. However, Eva lives in London, where she pursues her career, and Joy lives in Tuscany with her husband (Niccolo Marzichi Lenzi, married in 2011, editor’s note) where she manages a wine estate. Even though I go to see them as often as possible, it creates a distance. Joy gave me two grandchildren, Giulio, 9, and Vittorio, 10, who speak three languages – French, English and Italian – and call me grandmother with an accent and lots of Rs… It’s crunchy. Eva, for her part, is not very interested in becoming a mother.
GALA: Are you going to spend Christmas with Giulio and Vittorio?
M.J. : No because, at this time, they traditionally go to Mauritius with their parents, but we make up for it in June when they come to see me in Normandy for a month and a half. At that time, I give them a Christmas with lots of presents in the garden. In the meantime, I’m spending the holidays with friends who don’t have grandchildren. We get together, I put up a tree full of decorations and it’s fun. Of course, ideally, I would like to see my grandchildren R more often. Because together we laugh a lot. They are two little ones who have a lot of humor. With me, they paint, watch films and listen to stories. Giulio likes to cook with me too.
GALA: Do you have any particular educational principles?
M.J. : Let’s say that, today, I am very surprised when I notice that 4th grade students do not know how to read or have lost the taste for reading. The first years are decisive for a lifetime. For my part, I regretted not having studied. This has been both my strong point and my weak point. Strong because, without method, I was natural, spontaneous, instinctive. As an actress I knew my lines and played them without preparation with a certain sense of comedy. I even had a way of being unhappy that made people laugh. Weak because I suffered all my life from a lack of culture.
GALA: What stopped you from studying as you would have wanted?
Mr. J. : A combination of circumstances and times. The eldest of five children, I moved from Algeria, where I lived until the age of 8, to a small village in Burgundy, because my military father had been transferred to Dijon. At 14, I went to evening classes at the BeauxArts. I saw myself studying architecture but headed to the drama conservatory and quickly worked. I learned to love texts through theater and it was a little lover who introduced me to classical music by making me listen to Brahms’ String Sextet, chosen by Louis Malle for the music of the film Les Amants . I was 20 years old. It immediately transported me…
“Depardieu? He must be considered sick!”
GALA: You are one of those rare actors who stopped their career in mid-flight…
Mr. J. : It’s true. There was a combination of facts. For a long time I hesitated to get pregnant because I feared I wouldn’t be a good mother. When I expected my twins, I was 40 years old. My career hit a bit of a dip and, when they were 4 years old, I took the opportunity to drop out. I couldn’t stand leaving them alone at home anymore. It didn’t make sense that I had waited so long to not take care of it. In the meantime, I had read many works by child psychiatrists and understood the virtues of stories for child development. One day, I went on vacation, forgetting my books, and I discovered an aptitude for telling stories. I started writing my own stories and I must say that this new career has fulfilled me as much as the first…
GALA: Have you ever regretted your life as an actress?
M.J. : No, it was calming. In the cinema, I have had a lot of luck and success but when you are on a film, you depend on an entire team, on their talent as well as their mediocrity. You can have a great role in a mediocre film or a small role in a wonderful film. Sometimes it’s heavy. And then success and accomplishment have several definitions over the course of a lifetime. it doesn’t just happen through exposure or fame.
GALA: Do you give advice to your successful daughter Eva?
M.J. : If she asks me yes, but that doesn’t mean that she follows them… I like her without too much makeup like in Alice Winocour’s Proxima, a film in which she plays a French astronaut. She is talented and beautiful enough to afford it.
GALA: Looking back, did you miss certain things in your youth?
M.J. : I think I never realized that I was cute with an original nature. I was often afraid of not being good enough.
GALA: As an actress, have you ever dealt with problems of inappropriate behavior?
Mr. J. : Luckily, no. I had no problem on that front. People were courting me but either it interested me or it didn’t interest me. On this subject, I watched Complementary investigation into Gérard Depardieu and I want to say a word about it. I played with him in Not So Bad as That, in 1975 and, at the time, he would never have allowed the slightest deviation in his speech. There is something in his relationship with sex that has taken a pathological turn. He must be considered sick. There are some who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, he has become this man whose speech is broken. And obviously I want to express all the respect I have for the victims.
“It requires intelligence and concessions to defy time together”
GALA: What makes you maintain your beauty? Do you have any advice for staying in shape?
M.J. : I think there is a lot of heredity. Then, obviously, you have to lead a healthy lifestyle. And then personally, I had a little facelift around 46 years old. I recommend doing it quite young, because it goes much more unnoticed. Today, I do gymnastics with a coach three times a week. So three times a week, I hear my doorbell ring, I roll my eyes and then I get to work.
GALA: You were in a relationship with Claude Berri at 22 years old and, since 1976, you have shared the life of your husband, Walter Green, of Swedish origin. You met him at 34, almost fifty years ago. What have you learned about love?
M.J. : I lived for two years with Claude Berri who was a complicated and tortured man. I myself am complicated with a perfectionist side that can be annoying. Dilettantism annoys me. When everything could be peaceful and it isn’t, that doesn’t suit me. That ended our story. Concerning Walter, it’s obviously something else. At this more mature stage of life, where I got to know him, I appreciated that he was seduced by me without being aware of my notoriety. That he evolves outside of my profession [il était chirurgien dentiste, ndlr]. But if you ask me if, ultimately, spending a lifetime with the same man is easy, I tell you no. In a sense, it is even abnormal. It requires intelligence and concessions to defy time together, to thwart weariness. We do it mainly for the grace of all the memories we have accumulated. We are a memory of each other.
This article could be found in Gala N°1594, available on newsstands on December 28. The new issue of Gala comes out this Thursday, January 4, 2024. Enjoy reading.
Photo credits: DR