‘Couture’ Star Angelina Jolie Reveals Why the Film About Women’s Cancer Is Very Personal to Her

‘Couture’ Star Angelina Jolie Reveals Why the Film About Women’s Cancer Is Very Personal to Her

[Music] The film is taking place during the fashion week in Paris and it’s uh the destiny of these three women uh crossing each other. Yeah. My the idea was in this world of appearances and of um you know the excitement of a preparation of a show. The idea was to highlight their secret wants and um they are all like struggling. Maxine Walker, uh the character played by by Angelina, who is her movie director, uh who arrives to direct um film for a fashion show. And when she arrives, she learns something um that confronts her to her own mortality. And I’m teasing your your character, Ada. Uh Anna is playing Ada, a young Sudanese model uh who is um it’s her first fashion week. They’re all outside of this world of the fashion world and they arrive and it’s uh she’s discovering this world with all of the oddities. Ella. Ella is the makeup artist and uh so she’s covering and uh all the yeah all the wounds and um and yes she’s also in a very particular time of her life. So yes, it was following all of those three women. I’m really always um I like to dive in a world I don’t know for film. I didn’t know anything about fashion and uh I um I spent one year and a half in the backstage of fashion shows. I met a lot of people behind the images like models, um makeup artists, fit models, like also seamstresses and um yeah got interested of by this world but um and um yes it was also to to me the world of fashion is related to the fragility the idea of the passing of time because I think uh fashion and is about you know like obsessed by this it’s a kind of frantic race against time like next collection next season and there is very strongly this person of death which was which was echoing to me the the pass of Angelina’s character who learns um that she has a cancer spoiling a bit the film but it’s easier to understand yes so that was this idea it’s the film I thought about it as a momento my as a film about the fragility of life. I was really I was very touched when I read it. And I think when something is beautifully layered and complex, you don’t even understand first when you read why why it takes you why you’re so moved by it because it’s it’s a very layered story and very subtle and and beautifully written and and it makes you think, which I think all really strong art does. of course it’s very personal to me and women’s health and women’s cancers are very personal to me um and women’s relationships you know are um I think important to explore especially I thought it was interesting in an industry in a film that centers on an industry that seems very dividing and judgmental and separate that it really is so much about our shared experiences and our connection but I think what I found most beautiful was that um it’s how you live through these things. And I think there’s many things happening today and every single person watching can relate. There has been something in your life where you just weren’t sure you’re going to make it through. And you it’s a it’s you’re going to test yourself. You’re going to either fold or you’re going to push through. And and so in in many ways it’s about life. Uh so so I I thought this was good to put forward to people. I think it’s it’s a it’s something that I think for for many people maybe maybe healing maybe makes them think about these moments not as a not as an end certainly for cancer in this. It’s not as a film where it’s about sitting in rooms and deciding it’s the end of your life. It’s it’s very very much about continuing to live through life and that’s the message that you wanted to convey with Maxine. I think with Maxine and I think each of our characters are are on a similar path. I think it’s what unites us. Did you speak some French before? And how many lessons did you have to have? She works really hard. I speak very little and I’m super shy. I understand more than I She’s French now. And I have continued some of my classes, but I’m still super shy. But I did Yeah. Many, you know, the months leading up we we did uh we did classes and and uh for not just for the lines, but to just be speaking and then through it. I think when I did my ADR, I was better. No. Yeah. My French had my French had improved. She’s going to do the promo in France. In in French, you know, I did my dubbing. I’d never done this for a film. She did the whole film in French. I did my I did my own dubbing. The way she speaks is unbelievable. Thanks. See the supportive team. Well, I wasn’t as new, but also it uh when when something’s well written, I whether it’s in another language or or in English, if it’s well written, it just comes forward easily. The script was very well written. But I think what was interesting is the scenes with the doctor because I think there’s something for anyone trying to understand when a doctor is saying you need chemotherapy even in your own language exactly is is a moment of uh you know trying to understand there was something quite unusual about being with Vincent and and and in French. Yeah. Because you don’t speak the same language. Yeah. uh and it and it somehow symbolic world you know it did something extra and I’m sure you’ve had this because many different languages and and moments where you’re in trying to understand it’s not just the language but it’s the interpretation and the nuance of what someone is really saying. Ada’s story is very special for me and it’s very personal because it’s inspired by my own story. So going through Ada’s journey just took me back to where I was two three years ago now. It’s um story that is very common to so many girls from who are from where I’m from which is South Sudan and Kenya and so many other parts of Africa. So I took up this role and I wanted to give my best despite the fact that I had no background in acting whatsoever and I was acting with very acclaimed actors. So, it was it was it was special because I really wanted to tell this story specifically because it would inspire so many girls back at home and so many girls who I know wanted to get into chasing their dreams but they can’t because of you know cultural differences or cultural expectations, familial ties. And with Ada’s story, you can see that she goes beyond um the family bond that she has with her parents just to chase what she knew she wanted. But she did not know what she wanted at the same time because she’s pretty young and she’s just immersing herself into a world she knows nothing about, but she’s brave and of course she’s a risk taker, which you will pick up as you watch. They both are risk takers. Yeah, we both are. And it’s like um Maxine and Ada are very connected in ways that they’re both in a world they know nothing about. Same thing with Onel. It comes up at some point. Um yeah, but what you see is purpose and drive and what you see is a strong woman. And you realize that despite the fact that we’re from different parts of the world, we’re all kind of going through the exact same thing despite the cultural differences. It’s a very powerful way to tell that story. And I think Maxine’s character speaks to a different audience. So does Onel’s character and so does Ada’s character. So it’s kind of worldwide and it’s very special. It’s like the same character also at different ages. I mean you can see the all all those women as the same woman. Mhm. That’s interesting. Yeah. I met actually a few makeup artists with whom I exchanged and um practiced on on a lot of faces to put on makeup and uh tried to just get a hand on what it means actually to get close to people um when you draw them. And it’s it’s very interesting. I I it really made me understand even more actually the the beauty of this uh job but also like what um a lot of people actually um h how hard that work can be behind the scenes actually and how important these people are. I was uh very moved by that and also like how how for Angel’s character like I felt just that it was um a conflict between wanting to make the women feel good and beautiful and at the same time being also feel a certain um pain for them to be in that situation and and how you accompany them through that process. And uh and so it was interesting just talking to to different makeup artists, how they perceive and how they look actually at the people they they work with. And I thought it was really interesting for Anel to see just that how she sort of just tries to find purpose in in actually exposing the voice of the people she meets and tries to find depth actually in in a world that can contain a lot of emptiness and who drains the human and the soul in a certain way. And yeah, it was very beautiful then to to get into getting to know Aner and Angelina. No, but it was I think very important for us to have a female perspective also on that world because fashion has been described in films mostly it’s the it’s on a male point of view you know from an talking about artistic directors or and so yes it was very important for us to talk from like a point of view that haven’t been shared. It’s a film I think also that ex talk about women solidarity I think and uh I think and hope in a way um it’s about beauty and death which are mixed in life and uh but I hope it will give like some hope to women especially now when we see all women’s rights are attacked

Angelina Jolie opens up about why Couture is so personal to her, exploring women’s cancer, resilience, and life’s fragility. She also shares the challenges of speaking French for her role and the film’s powerful message about continuing to live through difficult moments.

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