She lends her enveloping and broken voice, recognizable among a thousand, to Carmen, free and flamboyant, in an animated ode to sisterhood and solidarity, which enchanted the Croisette. Sébastien Laudenbach revisits Bizet’s famous opera with “Carmen, the rebellious bird,” presented at the Directors’ Fortnight.
Just before walking the steps with Milo Machado-Graner, the standout of “Anatomy of a Fall” who is unstoppable and also lends her voice to this project as sunny as it is engaged, Camelia Jordana takes a break with Marie Claire in a bucolic garden hidden behind the bustling Rue d’Antibes, where Sacem (Society of Authors, Composers, and Publishers of Music) and the Cartel agency have set up their ephemeral stage for this 79th edition of the Festival. After the world premiere of this new Carmen, Camelia Jordana will reunite with her first love for a concert in this warm and festive setting. Cannes is intense for her, grateful to be able to coexist her two passions. Interview.
Walking the steps for Carmen and all victims of femicide
Marie Claire: “Walking the steps” has become an expression. But what does this gesture represent for you?
Camelia Jordana: Climbing these steps, for me… It’s a celebration. And this time, it’s to honor Carmen, this woman who was a victim of femicide, who chooses freedom over life. Carmen is completely universal. We know that femicide spans all ages and social classes, in every corner of the globe.
So, climbing these steps is also to honor all the women who are victims of femicide, and all their loved ones. All the lives that are touched, impacted, and traumatized by this act, this societal scourge. So it’s going to be a quite emotionally charged climb.
The original soundtrack you would have dreamed of composing?
The original soundtrack of the film “Dead Man” by Jim Jarmusch, composed by Neil Young, with his guitar spitting fire and the rage of the strong and dreamy character of the “Native American” who moves towards death again and again… I love this soundtrack, this theme declined in a thousand ways signed by Neil Young, so much that I ask my guitarist to play it when we do sound checks.
In fact, I believe I am glad I didn’t compose it because of the impact it had on me as a listener and viewer.
But the one I grew up with, of course, it’s the soundtrack of “Moulin Rouge.” All its medleys, its adaptations of songs we adore, from different eras… This soundtrack allows me not to make too many choices: perfect for the Libra ascendant that I am! (Laughs.)
This romance by Baz Luhrmann is really not appreciated by my cinephile friends, but I watched it every day, if not twice a day, during my tenth year… I was in love with Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman both. I wanted to be both, to be with them. I was even in love with the extraordinary Argentine character who sang “The Tango of Roxanne” with his rock voice, sublimated by violins and dance. This film meant a lot to me, it marked me. I love it for life.
Her meeting with the indispensable cinema agent at 17, just after “La Nouvelle Star”
On the contrary, which song you have written that has cinematic potential according to you? What song would you dream of hearing in a film?
There is this song, “Wild Man,” that I adore, and I created it with Woodkid, an artist that I love immensely. I would also say, “While You Breathe,” co-composed with Tristan Salvati. [At our request, she starts singing them a cappella, without warming up, eyes closed, vibrant].
When you start your singing career at 16, after your participation in “La Nouvelle Star” in 2009, did you already know that cinema was calling you? Did you feel the desire to act?
When I start my professional career in music, I know that I dream of cinema. But at that time, I’m not really certain that my dream of being a musician is coming true. It is after two years of music, studio work, tours, traveling – artist’s life in fact – that I confide in my manager at the time: “I have another dream on the list and apparently dreams come true… So, there, I dream of being an actress. How do we do that?” He explains that I have to be represented by an agent, go to auditions, that I will have yeses, then nos…
I was 17, and I was lucky to come across Laurent Grégoire [an essential agent of cinema stars, from Omar Sy to Camille Cottin, through Marion Cotillard, note], who was very intelligent. He said to me: “You are experiencing something extraordinary, so finish your tour. You’ll come back to me later.” Which I did.
