In an interview given to Bernard Montiel on RFMon Sunday November 26, 2023, Josiane Balasko spoke on the occasion of the revival of her play, A chalet in Gstaad. If she is today considered a monument of French cinema, the actress had a difficult start because of her physique. At the time, beauty dictates, she says, prevented her from landing certain roles. Far from the era of body positivism that we know today, the young actress has received numerous criticisms. In an interview for France Blue in 2021, she remembered the difficult words that a makeup artist had towards her: “Josiane, you should refuse to be filmed in profile”. Remarks which then pushed the young woman to have cosmetic surgery. “I redid my nose. I do not know why. My nose was a bit long, I don’t know what would have happened if I had kept my nose. Finally, I don’t have it anymore, and now I have two perfect profiles”she explained on Bernard Montiel’s microphone.
A surgical operation considered disappointing
We know that cinema is a profession in which appearance is essential. That is why Josiane Balasko had rhinoplasty at the age of 26, while she was a member of the Splendid troupe. Although she recognized that the decision had been taken in a moment of confusion, she did not regret it. However, she had explained to our colleagues from France Bluefinding this surgery disappointing, and the convalescence difficult. “At the beginning, I had a pig’s nose… It took three months for my nose to return to a normal shape”, she declared with all the irony that characterizes her. Asked by Current wife in 2021, the famous actress had already spoken very freely about her difficulties at the start of her career. “I think that I had a physique that did not meet the standards, in romantic and diaphanous quotes, young actresses of the time. SO, which did not make the directors jump“. If Marilou Berry’s mother agreed not to meet beauty standards when she started, she said she was relieved that women are no longer seen only as objects of seduction in cinema today. “Since then, things have changed. There are actresses who don’t have a particularly convincing physique in terms of sexiness and all that. I am thinking, for example, of Sylvie Testud, who is a great actress, Corinne Masierohas my daughter too, Marilou, who has a particular physique but who plays with it…”