by Helen Barlow
In France, Agnes Jaoui is a national institution, best known for her work with Jean-Pierre Bacri, and as his partner from 1987 to 2012, though they continued to work together until his death in 2021. Internationally, they had a hit with Cedric Klapisch’s adaptation of their play, the 1996 comedy Family Resemblances, which they co-wrote and starred in, while their 2000 comedy The Taste of Others, which Jaoui directed, co-wrote and starred in with Bacri, won four Cesars and was nominated for the international Oscar. In all, Jaoui has won six Cesars, three Lumieres and the best screenplay award in Cannes for 2004’s Look at Me, which she directed and co-wrote with Bacri, also her co-star.
She recently told the French daily, Le Figaro, that Bacri had been her kindred spirit when they collaborated on film and theatre. “We were on the same wavelength, it gave me strength,” and she admitted that “it was the defining meeting of my life.”
Specialists in delivering incisive dialogue and examining human foibles, it was impossible to be bored while watching their movies.
In recent years, Jaoui has been working on solo projects, including an opera. She also acts in movies and television, and last year in Cannes, we met for This Life of Mine, which opened Directors’ Fortnight and went on to win the prize for the French Writers’ Guild’s favourite French-language feature.
This Life of Mine marked Sophie Fillieres’ seventh and final feature after films including Gentille, Pardon My French and When Margaux Meets Margaux, as the director who specialised in comedic portrayals of women going through personal crises, had passed away at the age of 58, just after the shoot. Her children ultimately helped with the post-production of the film.
This Life of Mine follows Barbie, once a devoted partner and mother and now an empty nester, who, as she turns 55, suffers emotional anxiety in facing the realities of middle age.
Jaoui is a member of the 50/50 collective, which aims to promote gender equality and diversity in cinema.
We spoke to Jaoui the day after This Life of Mine’s Cannes premiere.
It must have been very emotional for you yesterday.
“Yes, it was a very special screening, of course, with Sophie there in spirit but without her. That’s a strange thing. But we were very happy with the reception and even the selection, because Sophie’s films never went to Cannes, which is incredible considering the quality of her movies. I know for her kids and for everybody, it was also a kind of tribute. It was very important to all of us.”
Reviews have said that it was very brave of you to lose your vanity and play this Barbie character.
“Yes, for sure, it’s not the most glamorous part. But it’s good because I don’t recognise myself, so I see somebody that I don’t know. Sometimes, I recognise myself and I say, “I don’t care so much anymore.”
What’s it like to be your age? [Jaoui turned 60 in October.]
“As for everybody, it’s very strange. We think we will stay young for all of our lives, and we try to cling to the concept of youth.”
How can you do that?
“I cannot. We try, but I think it’s a vain struggle. I have the age I have, and the other solution is to be dead. I don’t like that. I prefer to be alive. But I struggle to accept it and to make people accept that we can be old with wrinkles and with a body which is not 20 anymore. In any case I never had the body that you see on the magazine covers — though that doesn’t really exist, because they touch it up.
“Often, you can see people saying that a man of 60 or 70 is sexy, but they will rarely say that about women of that age. I would like that in movies we can show women of all ages having sex and older women having affairs with younger men. In life, everything is possible and I think we need to represent older women more in movies.”
You character is called Barbie. Did you watch the Hollywood movie Barbie? What did you think about it?
“It was quite funny and full of ideas. Sometimes, I was a little surprised that this doll is the symbol of female emancipation. I thought that was a bit too much, but I liked it.”
Barbie’s children, the younger adult generation in your film, are dismissive of their mother as if she is someone from another planet.
“Yes, my daughter (played by up-and-comer Angelina Woreth) is quite hard, but she doesn’t know I’m there when she’s speaking such harsh words about me. Also, I guess it’s not easy to have a mother who is not like the others. So, I understand them, and I like them, in fact. And finally, they are very sweet with her.”
You also play designer Gabrielle Aghion, the founder of the French fashion house Chloe, in Becoming Karl Lagerfeld for Disney+. How was the experience making that?
“It was exact the opposite of making this auteur movie. Sometimes, I had the feeling that it was like Hollywood with a lot of money and a lot of visibility. There is so much money for the streaming platforms now and less and less for the auteur movies, which is not good. They’re like products, so that people can be entertained. We also need auteur movies, experimental, movies, different movies.”
How is your relationship with fashion?
“I don’t really have one. I mean, I like beautiful material, beautiful clothes, and I am coquette. But I don’t follow fashion and them telling you that you have to wear something or to be a certain way. It’s incredible to think about that, because women are not all size 36 and they are not normal bodies in movies. Normal bodies cannot wear these clothes.
“Still, there are some designers I like. Dries Van Noten, for example, is a Belgian designer who I adore.”
You and Jean-Pierre Bacri were known as left-wing people.
“Yes, but not extreme left.”
How does that manifest itself in your life now?
“I just try to express myself and not to be in the extreme. It’s like, you cannot be for Israel and the Palestinians. It’s forbidden. You have to choose. Or you cannot be for women and men. You have to choose. You have to choose which side you are on.”
What do you think about the sudden emergence of #MeToo?
“It’s not sudden. It’s been a while that women have wanted a little more equality and there are still a lot of things to change. But the way that people are waiting for the next famous person to be denounced, is something I really don’t like at all.”
This Life of Mine is available On Demand and DVD from 15 October 2025
