« My mother was the first feminist I ever knew. »
 

Posted on 20.10.2023

Like a ray of sunshine in Lyon, luminous and gracious actress Marisa Paredes warmed the hearts of film fans at a masterclass of anthology at the Pathé Bellecour on Thursday. Highlights.

© Olivier Chassignole

CHILDHOOD UNDER FRANCO

I was born in 1946, so I lived through the whole period of Franco's regime. I remember my mother going to get ration coupons for bread. I would have loved to study, but we didn't have the money to pay for secondary school, so I left school at age eleven. People weren't allowed to kiss in the cinema, in the street, everything was forbidden. The theatre saved me, it was my freedom!

HER CALLING AS AN ACTRESS

When I was little, I used to see the actors going to the theatre in the Plaza Santa Ana in Madrid. I would watch them and I knew that in that place, the theatre, there was another world, another life - it was magic! When I was sixteen, I started acting and was asked to go on tour. At the time, the legal age was 21, so my parents had to go to the police station to sign the authorisation so that I could do the tour.

AN ACTIVIST

Politics is everywhere: in the street, in everyday life. I've always had an awareness of social classes and I carry it with me because of everything I've experienced. In 1971, we went on strike so that theatre actors could have a day off - it was our right. After a week, we won! I was also lucky enough to take part in the May 68 demonstrations. I had a painter boyfriend who lived in Paris. He invited me to join the glorious May '68 movement: it was a utopia, but you can't live without utopia!

MEETING ALMODÓVAR

I met Pedro at the time of the Movida: there was a pub called the Santa Barbara where directors, musicians and painters would meet. My friend, actress Carmen Maura, told me, "I have to introduce you to a guy with extraordinary talent", and that was Pedro. He filmed in Super 8 and was in the process of directing Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom. He was one of the rare filmmakers who regularly went to the theatre, where he scouted people he liked. One day he came to see a play in which I was acting with Carmen and Julieta Serrano. That's how he came up with the idea of hiring us for his film Dark Habits. Pedro was already an intelligent man, very free and essential, especially at that time. I sent him a video of yesterday's presentation of High Heels at the Lumière Institute. He told me, "Enjoy it, darling, and say hello to our friends in Lyon!” He loves this festival!

HER MOTHER, HER FIRST SUPPORTER

My father enrolled me in typing school, but it took him a long time to understand that I had to leave that programme. He thought that performing in the theatre wasn't serious. My mother always supported me, she used to tell me, "Do what you want, I couldn't do it". My mother was the first feminist I ever knew!

Reported and edited by Laura Lépine