Will Zoé Adjani follow in her aunt’s footsteps?

Many believe it to be erased, but when we meet it, Zoé Adjani shines with her outspokenness. The niece of the brilliant Isabelle  is not a babystar locked in fame from a very young age. At 23 years old,  with a baccalaureate L with a theater option, she has kept the natural look of a high school student. Zoé Adjani is authentic: we can easily imagine her drinking beers and smoking rolled cigarettes … This is the opposite of the image of a glamorous actress that she wears in advertising campaigns for major luxury houses. Endowed with a natural authority, the actress lays  down her voice and laughs out loud: her simplicity is disconcerting. In his first film Honey cigar, she passionately embodies Selma, a rebellious teenager, torn between two cultures. Inspired by the youth of director Kamir Aïnouz, this character seems written for the young woman. Like Selma, Zoé has Algerian roots –  her Kabyle grandfather joined the French army at the age of 18 – and just like Selma,  Zoé  is not lacking in audacity. 

Practicing theater, dance and even circus since childhood, Zoé Adjani has always been a frequent visitor to film sets. For someone whose “whole family is in the culture“, cinema is a bit like a mother tongue. The daughter of a photographer and a production manager, her two parents,  film buffs,  frequently take her to attend screenings.  I had to see Donkey skin at 4 years old, Amadeus at 8 years old and the Tarkovskys at 10 years old,” she admits. When Zoé Adjani played for the first time in Jérôme Enrico’s film Cerise , it was 2015 and she didn’t ask anyone’s opinion. At the end of the screening, his aunt told  him:  “The film is very bad but you absolutely have to make films.”

Practicing theater, dance and even circus since childhood, Zoé Adjani has always been a frequent visitor to film sets. For this child whose “whole family is in culture“, cinema is a bit like a mother tongue. The daughter of a photographer and a production manager, both her parents – film lovers –  frequently take her to attend screenings.  I must have seen Donkey Skin at 4 years old, Amadeus at 8 years old and the Tarkovskys at 10 years old,” she admits. When Zoé Adjani played for the first time in a film in 2015 (Cerise, Jérôme Enrico), she didn’t ask anyone’s opinion. At the end of the screening, her aunt – the great Isabelle Adjani – told her:  “Listen Zoé, the film is very bad but you absolutely have to make films.”

Romy Schneider, Sarah Paulson or Helena Boham Carter …. The young woman has no shortage of role models. From Hell (1964) – Henri Clouzot’s cursed film where Romy Schneider plays a hotel manager whose jealous husband gradually sinks into madness – to Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story, The young woman’s references are multiple. The young woman appreciates above all composition roles where she could deploy a wide cinematographic palette. But the young woman doesn’t deny herself anything: “I want to go everywhere, I want to go into horror, comedy, tragedy, experimental!” 

Since then, the two women,  who previously knew each other very little,  have become accomplices. Together, they like to discuss directing and acting  together … Zoé Adjani explains: ” She has become an ally in the profession as well as in my family. […] She is not a burden, but the majesty of her career can be.” However, despite her famous surname, Zoé Adjani wants above all to be recognized for her own work, which she takes extremely seriously. For her, being an actress is above all a profession. The actress, who has only this word on her lips, clearly seems passionate. Exalted, she spreads out explanations about her working methods… She refrains from watching her aunt’s masterpieces,  so as not to be tempted to reproduce her acting.

Romy Schneider, Sarah Paulson,  Helena Boham Carter… The young actress has no shortage of role models. De L’Enfer (1964) – Henri Clouzot’s cursed film in which the former plays a hotel manager whose jealous husband gradually sinks into madness – to American Horror Story, his references are multiple. She especially appreciates composition roles where she could deploy a wide cinematographic palette. But the actress doesn’t deny herself anything: “I want to go everywhere, I want to go into horror, comedy, tragedy, experimental!” 

When she starts to dream out loud, Zoé Adjani also projects herself into the theatre. But before she hits the stage, she will be starring in the next film by French-Italian director Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (Les Estivants, A castle in Italy) christened The Almond Trees. Alongside Louis Garrel,  she will play a 20-year-old girl passionate about theater who decides to take the entrance exam of the school founded by director Patrice Chéreau at the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre. If the young woman intends to give herself the means to achieve her ambitions, she is not looking for fame. In the shadows, she follows the Adjani method, selecting her roles with discernment and insisting on remaining humble : “If cinema doesn’t work for me,  I have two arms, two legs, a brain, and I’ll work on something else, but I’m confident, the work will pay off.” 

Honey Cigar, from Kamir Aïnouz, currently in theaters.