Muriel Robin, heroine of my Angel (TF1): "I like people who disturb"

Suzanne is still desperately looking for her daughter, Julie, who has been missing for eight years. An old picture in a newspaper, one of a rural demonstration on which she believes she recognizes the sweater she was wearing, gives her hope … Now she's gone, with her self and her inseparable bitch, leading the investigation in this village. Fierce, dry fart, Suzanne will push a young captain full of certainty (Marilou Berry) and her old COP of a father (Patrick Chesnais)... TV Magazine met Muriel Robin at the La Rochelle fiction Festival last September, where Mon Angea won the award for best 52 minutes series. She confided in it, as always, with deep sincerity.

TV magazine. -what seduced you in this project?

Muriel ROBIN.- Le thème du pardon m’intéresse. Comment pardonner au tueur de son enfant. Et l’alcoolisme féminin. Je m’y suis retrouvée. J’ai aimé ce personnage parce qu’elle est seule, parce que ça se passe à la campagne, parce qu’elle dérange. Et j’aime les gens qui dérangent! Parce que sa blessure est grave et que les femmes sont incroyables de courage. Elles me bouleversent depuis que je suis petite. Je les vois porter des enfants, être joyeuses, intelligentes, aller au boulot, se battre, comme Suzanne, pour un truc de justice, pour que la vie soit un peu moins dure. Suzanne a perdu cette enfant et elle est seule contre tous. Elle a des sacs de larmes. Elle est dure mais tellement cassée dedans, fragile. Elle va aller au bout. Les gens doivent dire: «Vous savez, c’est cette folle qui croit que sa fille est vivante...» Mais elle trace! On ne l’a pas gardé mais, dans le scénario, elle laissait un mot sur la porte à sa fille chaque fois qu’elle allait travailler: «Julie, je reviens».

How did you approach this character?

You always bring the characters to yourself. I have a Suzanne inside me and I'll always have a wild Jacqueline inside me. I say yes to a role in a chemical and visceral way, I never intellectualise. I approached her with a lot of silence. I like it, the viewer can put whatever he wants. And that's flattering for the actress. It creates emotion. During the preparation, the word "western" had been used. You can imagine she walks into a saloon, all the heads turn around, you hear a sound of harmonica... It's a very slow thriller with unspoken words.

You also referred to France McDormand in three Billboards...

Yeah, it's from the same bill. But I didn't want to copy that beautiful actress. We're in the village secret, that frozen side. While I find it interesting to be disturbed, pushed, to lose my landmarks to find new ones.

You say you get up every morning in mode: Zorro who wants to save the world...

Yes, in particular, I continue to fight against violence against women. It's moving, but really small steps. We're gonna have to get back to coal. I promised these women I'D go through with it.

What is your view of the treatment of feminism in fiction? Do you not find these excesses sometimes counterproductive?

I Don't watch much. But I hear what you're saying, it speaks to me. Now to Suzanne. I've been lonely for a long time, with unclear sexuality. I've been looking for myself because I'm not a homosexual, I'm an open straight woman! I was alone in Saint-Etienne. We're being watched, we're interrupting. I liked it at Suzanne's. We are one step ahead, we think it will move around, but in the meantime … We have to keep our heads high, and I did everything I could to get noticed, to shock. You want some? I'll give you some! Even in the world of artists, it's also a hell of a thing. And when you have to put a girl in the arms of a man and you have a choice between a maybe gay one and a definitely straight one, you make the choice of the straight one, it's easier.

»follow all the news from TV Magazine on Facebook and Twitter.