From Sambre to Clean, the secrets of Alix Poisson
After being the Maheude de Zola and a victim of the rapist of the Sambre, Alix Poisson embodies a propelled spying woman of the financial markets, in Clean (on M6), an adventure mixing comedy and social drama. Between engagement and pleasure of fiction, the actress returns to this role of beating mother, in line with her career choices. Encounter.
First: what seduced you in the scenario of Clean (who starts tonight on M6)?
Alix Poisson : I had never read a script like this. The mixture of drama and comedy is not new. But there, suddenly, it also flirts with the spy film … Be careful, a slightly branquignol espionage! These housekeepers do not become pros. We are not in Ocean’s Eleven. But the fact that it then sails in the waters of the financial thriller, that, I had never seen it before.
One of the objectives of the series is also to make visible people often invisible?
Of course. There is a wealth in writing which allows to approach lots of different themes. Espionage brings a part of lightness, this woman in a hassle who takes her revenge, it is always enjoyable to see. But in filigree, the series also talks about the invisibilization of certain socio-professional categories. It shows a real precariousness that exists in women, after her marriage and her life collapsed overnight.
In a way, the series Clean Also reinstalls the workers’ figure on the screen?
Yes, totally. Even if we are not at Ken Loachwe stay in a lighter register, between dramedia and adventure. But it is never caricatural. These women are credible, it’s realistic. And it also brings diversity to the screen. In French fiction, the working class is still very little represented.
Did you see the series Scrub (broadcast on France 2), which also deals with the daily life of cleaning women?
No, but I really want to see it. I find it incredible that, on two different channels, at the same time, we decide to highlight these women, as heroines.
In Cleanyou play a single mother who never gives up. It is a line that we often find in your characters …
We talked about it with Cathy Vernaythe director, during the shooting. We told ourselves that women in galley, as Loladon’t really have time to feel like they are fate. They are fighting first to get out of it, and they cry afterwards! Lola is oppressed at all levels: at home, by the system, by patriarchy … She lives with a constant weight above her head. At one point, she no longer has the choice: either she undergoes or she fights.
Hikers,, Germinal Or Sambre recently, and now Clean : What are you coming to get in these roles?
While providing pleasure with spectators, these fictions say something about our world, something that may have never been told. And this applies to all types of entertainment. Not so long ago, I showed Toottsie with Dustin Hoffman to my son. It’s my favorite comedy. And at the same time, it is an ultra-feminist film, very committed. It talks about the oppression of women … while being very funny!
Do you consider yourself a spokesperson?
No way. If my voice can be used, so much the better. But I believe that these are citizens’ fights that everyone can pay. When I turned Sambre with Jean-Xavier de Lestradearound the culture of rape, I was very happy to participate in a series which I knew would have a strong impact. From the shooting, I was convinced. I couldn’t imagine that we would make 12 million views, but I was convinced that Sambre would mark the audiovisual landscape.
The series has also found an echo beyond borders …
Yes, it’s pretty crazy. I still receive messages from Spain, England, where the series has just been broadcast. It’s really touching.
Your next project is called Living by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, around the Bataclan attacks. It’s still a story of survivors …
Yes, we just finished filming. Jean-Xavier was convinced-and I think he was right-that it was necessary to let time spend before approaching the attacks of November 13 by fiction. After 10 years, we can make a story that tells what happened, while having a restorative virtue.
How does the series tackle this sensitive subject?
We focus on a group of eleven people: the last hostages of Bataclanretained by the two remaining terrorists, in a two -meter corridor. These people crossed the horror, and very quickly, they had the will to find themselves. One of them wanted to review the others. Three preferred to move away, live in the provinces. But the other seven saw each other almost every week. More than a support group, they created an unwavering link. It is no longer even friendship, it is something unique, indescribable. Having lived it together welded them forever. They could say everything. The series tells of their life after. She rarely evokes the night of Bataclanand is not intended to restore it. She is mainly interested in the seven years which followed, until the trial of the attacks, which also constitutes a part. But the main thing is to show that after having lived the worst, these people were capable of the best – in solidarity, fraternity. They have saved each other.
Clean, in 4 episodes, to see Fridays April 4 and 11 on France 2.
