In the film Captives*, which takes place at the Salpêtrière hospital in 1894, she plays a chilling general supervisor. A counter role in which she excels.
Your character, Marguerite Bottard, known as Bobotte, really existed. How do you view her?
JOSIANE BALASKO: When I read the script, I thought: “How evil this woman is!” And then, by making the character my own, I began to understand her more precisely. She is neither cruel nor perverse, she just applies what she has been taught, what Jean-Martin Charcot and the other psychiatrists ask of her. These methods appear barbaric today, but at the end of the 19th centurye century, they were considered useful, beneficial.
Is madness, one of the main subjects of the film, an illness that scares you?
At all, no. The idea of ending up in an asylum never crossed my mind. Especially since my job allows me to get rid of fears and worries that others don’t get rid of. I sometimes do totally crazy things on stage, I start laughing strangely, making loud “haha!” sounds. It frees me, it balances me.
Thanks to God, series The Charity Bazaar and now Captives, you play more serious roles. For what ?
Because in the 80s and 90s, Claude Sautet or other great filmmakers made films about men and often only gave women decorative roles.
You performed your play again at the theater until mid-January A chalet in Gstaad. Where do you get this energy?
The performance days of A chalet in Gstaad, I take a nap in the afternoon, it’s essential, especially at my age, to last 1 hour 40 minutes. Furthermore, I, who smoked a lot, stopped a year and a half ago. I hadn’t planned it, but severe bronchitis forced me to do it. As if my body was suddenly rejecting the cigarette. I never wanted to start again. Since then, I breathe better, I feel better.
Despite your many activities, do you find time to visit your grandson, Andy?
I see him at least once a week, on Wednesdays. I often take him out for a hamburger. Then we play games, like Playmobil, or I let him watch a cartoon. He benefits from it, because his mother (Marilou Berry, Editor’s note) prohibits him from using screens at home.
No video games yet, then?
No, especially not at 5 years old. But later, maybe, especially since I love it myself. I play simple games on the Internet, where I protect my treasure from trolls. It relaxes me.
Did you call Michel Blanc, like every January, to wish him a happy new year?
We actually spoke very recently by phone. If we plan to tour Tanned people in nursing homes? It’s not in the pipeline, no. And then I should write it, it doesn’t really tempt me anymore.
You haven’t accomplished anything since 2013. Why?
The desire has passed me. Too complicated, too long. Rather than directing a single film, I prefer, over the same period, to play three or four different roles. Despite more than fifty years of career, I still have so much fun!