Morgane Polanski for French Fries F/W 2021/22 issue #4
Catsuit Matilda Aberg
Interviewed by Ilaria Solari / ilasolari
Photography: Alan Gelati / alangelati
Styling: Emily Evans / mrsemilyevans
Hair: Davide Barbieri / davidebarbieri_
@ Caren using Leonor Greyl
Makeup: Jo Lorrimer / jolorrimermakeup
"I often find myself thinking that my passion is the result of overexposure to the world of cinema", Morgane Polanski confesses to French Fries. "Maybe if my parents had been doctors, who knows, now I'd find myself talking to you from an operating room." At 28, the actress, screenwriter and director born from the indestructible union between director Roman Polanski and his muse Emmanuelle Seigner, considers herself a predestined one, but proudly claims the path she has made so far as a passionate and independent one.
Do you remember the moment when you discovered that you share the same passion for cinema with them?
Very well. I was five years old and my father was directing a musical in Vienna, Tanz der Vampire: I was a very aware child, very present. It was as if I was always observing the world from above, but that time I clearly remember having lived a sort of experience of escapism, the first of many. For the two hours of that musical I was completely enraptured by the magic of the story. I kept repeating myself. "Oh my God, I want to do this for the rest of my life!" I saw that musical a lot of times later, even though I didn't speak a word of German, it was an epiphany, it struck me on such a profound level.
And before then, what did you dream of doing?
Ah well, my first dream was… you know the acrobats who stand on tiptoe on the back of a horse? I do not know why I had developed such a specific ambition, perhaps I had seen such an illustration in some books, among other things I did not know how to ride a horse and I was not even able to stand on tiptoes: I had flat feet, mine plants were not arched enough. Maybe that's why I was obsessed with dancers, daydreaming of running around standing on a galloping horse, wearing a tutu. But my body wasn't made for that stuff: at some point I must have come to terms with it.
Shirt La Boutique Ring: Dinny Hall
At 17 you decided to leave your parents to go to London: why?
To answer this, I have to take you back to that five-year-old girl bewitched by a musical in German. Since then I had become obsessed with the idea of wanting to direct something too and since I was quite authoritarian (I'm afraid I still am!), I forced my friends to do and re-do that musical, with the parents as an audience: they all had to stand without saying a word. Over the years, the desire to stage things has always accompanied me, until, when I was a teenager, I really realized what great responsibilities the profession of director entailed. I convinced myself it was just too much for me. That I would not have made it.
Is that why you went to London?
The idea of going to university had never crossed my mind, I had decided to be an actress. I kept asking my parents: "find me an agent!", and they replied: "finish high school, get your high school diploma and then we'll talk about it." At 17, after school, I felt ready for fame, I thought my time had finally come. But even then my parents insisted: "if you really want to be an actress, well, you have to continue studying". At first I started looking for a school in the States, then I realized that the best academies were in the United Kingdom: then there was no Brexit, by train London is close to Paris. I signed up and left.
Jacket UOOYAA
Jeans Vintage Levis by Pin Denim
It seems like the beginning of a film full of adventures and twists
'A seventeen-year-old French woman alone in London. In fact at first I felt like a little fish in a huge pond. I was overwhelmed, scared, but something in my belly was telling me to resist. I felt that there were so many things happening around me, and I wanted to explore them all, to grasp every chance. I decided I wouldn't go back home.
Do you remember your first time in front of a camera?
Yes, but here too we have to go back: I was eight, my father was shooting The Ninth Door, with my mother and Johnny Depp. I remember we were in the car, headed to the set, and my mother suggested that my father let me participate in some way, maybe as an extra, he agreed. I had a little scene with Johnny Depp at the airport. He was looking for my mother. She wasn't there, but I was in the queue: I watched him wearing an Agnes B t-shirt. From then on it became a habit, I was a kind of a cameo in every film of his. It's like a little game: 'find Morgy'.
A good lesson for an aspiring actress
At the theater academy, however, my certainties were put to the test, it was an intense journey: 12 hours a day, even on Saturdays. I knew a lot about cinema, but I was very poorly trained in theater. In London I began to study the classics and to attend theaters, it's not like in France: there the variety and quality of the things they put on stage is extraordinary. But this immersive experience shook my self-esteem a little, I often felt inadequate. I asked myself: "Do they really want me here?". During the second year the students have to face a directing test and there too I discovered that I felt annihilated by the many things I had studied, starting with the Greek tragedy. In the end everything went very well, I remember that some of the teachers even complimented me.
Top Kosunka
Jacket Pin Denim
Trousers Anastasia Bull
Was it enough to give you confidence?
No, the impostor syndrome continued. Even when I sent the selftape for the part of Princess Gisla on the History Channel's the Vikings series. There too it ended well: I got the part and I had to finish my experience at the theater school.
How did you find yourself as a French princess among the Vikings?
I don't think I had time to realize it: it was an important role in a crucial historical period, the script had also given the character a modern breath, a courageous and feminist nuance. I remember my first scene: I had never done television, and I found myself in front of three cameras and about three hundred extras. But it is in these circumstances that you really learn the job.
Has your acting changed since then?
I would say yes, now I think less about what is written in the script, I am more inside the scene, focused on the moment, on the essence. Before, if I wasn't super sure I knew all the lines by heart, I didn't feel safe; now I know that if you understand the character's intentions, their motivations, their words don't matter much anymore. I almost silenced all the little voices that buzzed in my head when I was at school.
Top Sation
Bra Rheia
Shorts Anastasia Bull
Cap Praying
What was it like acting for Wes Anderson in The French Dispatch?
I couldn't believe I was lucky enough to observe his work so closely. And discover his humanity, because he is truly an extraordinary creature: humble, elegant, talented, he remembers the name of every single extra, sometimes I wonder how he does it, the exact opposite of the egomaniacal director. And, like him, the wonderful crew that surrounds him and accompanies him from his first films. On the set everyone had the right energy.
A great source of inspiration for an actress who dreamed of becoming a director since she was a child
Absolutely yes. At that time I had actually already shot my first short film The Understudy: I lacked the means, the tools and the people to shoot and edit with. I ran out of money immediately, it was my father who told me: "record it with your iPhone" and his advice gave me a kind of address, an access code for the second short film, The stroke, which talks about anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders. Back then I didn't just direct, I did the costumes, set up the set, everything. From then on I was able to count on a good director of photography and I was able to surround myself with people who know much more than me, because in the beginning it is inevitable to mess up, make mistakes. I was able to focus more on directing, also because I finally found the perfect partner, Serena Jennings, who was my partner at the academy.
A partnership that works
I call her my work wife. We complement each other: I hate starting, she hates ending. She's always been the driving force, she's a talented screenwriter and actress, she's good at things I'm not good at at all. We are not in competition, on the contrary, we have the greatest love and respect for each other: it is so liberating to have such a relationship with a woman, we are on the same team, together we are a bomb and neither of us wants to get to the top alone.
Shirt UOOYAA
Boots Dr. Martens
Socks and jewellery Morgane’s own
Together you also shot "Through the Looking Glass", a short film that received several nominations: it reflects on the female image and obsession with perfection
"What is the fine line that separates us from discomfort, from madness?" I've always wanted someone to look at my life through my eyes and feel what I feel, but as much as we try to connect with people, no one will ever really know what it's like to be in the mind and body of another. Since I realized that humanity is a rather lonely condition, I have also discovered, however, that the camera is the means that can bring us closer to others, even with just one shot it can arouse empathy and compassion. The camera has the incredible ability to represent the thoughts that are stirring in someone's head, to return a subjective perspective. With that short film I wanted to experience that.
Where did the idea for the film come from?
From an idea that Serena had in her head for a while, we deepened it because we both felt it a lot: it was a bit as if we and our twenty-year-old friends all found ourselves, indiscriminately, in conflict with our image. The many older women we met kept repeating to us: “You don't understand, this is the most important moment of your life. It is a shame to live with youth without fully enjoying it.” I listened to them and repeated to myself disconsolately: “here I too will grow old and I will say the same thing to my daughter." Then I realized I wanted to explore this hateful dissociation that we all go through a bit, and which represents an unbearable waste of time."
How was the collaboration with Maria Grazia Chiuri and Dior born?
We've always been close enough, I go to all their shows: they were interested in the film and in fact their style worked perfectly, because it's really timeless, fairytale yet modern, sexy and rock and roll.
And what was it like directing your mother in another short film about fashion and costume
Interestingly, it was the first time I was involved in fashion, it was a video on sunglasses for Love Magazine: I had the freedom to tell the story I wanted, this helped me to create some crazy characters. And yes, my mother, dressed as a nun, she was great: so diligent and obedient, she always knows perfectly well what she has to do.
What can't be missed in the perfect shot
Something authentic and very detailed in the background. Maybe because I'm a bit obsessed, but too often I see movie scenes in which the extras are still or pass by as if by chance, they don't talk, they don't interact with each other, they don't eat when they are sitting at the table, it is not clear if there is any attraction or repulsion between them. If you pay more attention to these details, a film can totally change perspectives.
Crop jacket Matilda Aberg
Trousers Anciela
What are you working on now?
Directing a fiction film, but I can't talk about it yet.
Are you a companion or a loner?
I do not know. I think I'm a social creature, but I'm pretty good on my own. Maybe because I know that, if I want, I know how to be with people and that I always have someone I can talk to.
Do you take better care of your soul or body?
But aren't they the same thing?
Great answer. What lesson did you learn from your parents?
I learned humanity, elegance, the sensitivity of never taking people for granted, kindness. And above all, I understood what unconditional love is loyalty. There is such loyalty between those two, and between the people they collaborate with. They taught me the importance of keeping my word and not making proclamations if you are not sure if you are consistent with what you are saying.
Where does the name Morgane come from?
I do not know. My mom wanted a name that could fit both a girl and a boy, perhaps to make me stronger. Apparently it is the name of a witch, I am convinced that they exist.
Where do you feel at home?
I'm used to always feeling like I'm in the Eurostar tunnel. My home is in London for now, but my heart beats in Paris. Maybe I'm still looking for a real house: it must be somewhere in the middle, or everywhere.
