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Join Telegram ChannelMeeting with the young actress who made a remarkable and remarkable debut in the cinema in the very successful Placés by Nessim Chikhaoui.
In Placed by Nessim Chikhaoui, to (re)watch this Sunday on television, on France 2 after Colors of fireLucie Charles-Alfred plays Emma, a 17-year-old teenager placed in a home specializing in the temporary reception of minors in difficulty. A young woman in permanent rebellion to try to escape a future that seems as dark as it is blocked. And in this role, her very first in the cinema, she literally steals the show, with an energy and a power that recall the first steps of a certain Adèle Exarchopoulos. We haven't heard the last of her.
First: What made you want to do this job?
Lucie Charles-Alfred: I can't say that I watched a lot of films when I was younger and I still don't see enough of them today. But I will say that all this was born in the first year of high school at the Saint John Perse private school, which saved my education. Because I chose the audiovisual-cinema specialization there with an agent, Stéphane Maître, who would become my agent, as my teacher. His classes were more practical than theoretical: we write a short film, we make it. And I really enjoyed writing because since I was a kid, I wrote stories, music for myself. When I entered this high school, I had skipped a grade so I was only 15 years old. And Stéphane very quickly encouraged me to go and audition, that of Companions by François Favrat with Agnès Jaoui. I don't have the codes. I come with too much makeup and hair. And then, I go through the rounds one after the other. I feel like I'm on The Voice. It's an exhilarating moment. I discover at that moment what it means to act and share emotions. I get the role but since I wasn't 16 at the time, it wasn't possible in the end. They couldn't come to an arrangement with the DDASS for the daily filming hours even though it was a first role. I was a little disappointed of course but the casting director Antoine Carrard assured me that I had the potential for this job and that it was only a postponement. Not a single missed opportunity. And from then on, Stéphane Maître sent me to auditions more regularly and the casting directors too. The machine had started up, so to speak.
Placed So it was one of those castings…
Yes, it's my first feature film for the cinema. But my real debut goes back a few months earlier with the TV film The Heiressesdirected by Nolwenn Lemesle for Arte. It was Stéphane who, once again, sent me to Placed. The first exchange with the director Nessim Chikhaoui and the casting director Manon Le Bozec consisted of simple discussions about our lives while I was preparing to take the French Baccalaureate. Then, as the process progressed, I auditioned for different characters before landing the role of Emma
How did you work to create this character?
Emma is a sensitive, unhappy young girl who is approaching her 18th birthday. A rebel who feels bad about herself and who tries to get out of it by all possible means, including the most dangerous ones like prostitution. And her energy was very familiar to me so I didn't have to make a big journey to embody her, even if, unlike her, I haven't lived in a home. However, this universe was not unknown to me either. I have friends who are placed in homes, I know educators. So this scenario and this character spoke to me immediately. And the working process was very natural.
How did you experience the first day of filming?
It was the last scene of the film! The one where everything is played out on looks, where there is no text, where Emma is therefore the opposite of the explosive side that is hers throughout the story. I was so happy to dive into this adventure that I was not stressed at all. I simply wanted to fulfill my mission! (laughs) To make my director proud, to live up to this scenario and this character. Because what I like about this film is its ability to tell things in a very realistic way, without embellishing the harshness of what the children in care experience like their educators, but with the desire to move towards the light. By distilling humor and lightness in a very subtle way.
Did you manage to forget the camera?
Absolutely! I must say that since I was little, I have danced a lot, I like to put on a show, to act like a clown and make my family laugh out loud. My mother often filmed these moments with her little camera so, unconsciously, I learned to play with her. And so it was something completely natural on the set.
What has happened to you since the end of the adventure? Placed ?
I got my Baccalaureate and I was accepted at the Sorbonne for a degree in history. But I didn't have time to go there! Because I've been lucky enough to work non-stop since then. First a comedy, The Crossing by Varante Soudijan with Alban Ivanov and Lucien Jean-Baptiste. Then a short film, My cam where I play the young mother of a sick girl. And I'm going to continue with BendoNawell Madani's series for Netflix. So I was a little overwhelmed by events but I couldn't have dreamed of anything better! Especially for me who had never imagined myself doing this job because this world seemed so inaccessible to me. From the start, I was often told to be careful with my phrasing, my suburban side, that it could quickly lock me into a job. But I was lucky to be offered really different roles. And I think I have it in me to refuse these constraints and to shatter them.
Placed, a successful film about special educators [critique]