A fable that makes you laugh, but also think! aspergirl, new signature OCS series features the tangy Nicole Ferroni in the superheroine costume of Louison, 38, a recently separated single mother, who is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at the same time as that of her 11-year-old son. years. On the occasion of the broadcast this Thursday at 9 p.m. on OCS Max, meeting with the actress who carries this sensitive comedy, that 20 minutes met at Series Mania in 2023.
What made you want to take part in the “Aspergirl” series?
First, for the pleasure of being offered an interesting main character! Because I’m not Marion Cotillard, I don’t have the chance to have a lot of projects where I have the main role. It was great to be given this responsibility and to be trusted. Then, the character of Louison was very rich to play. There’s a lot of comedy in it, it’s really my comfort zone, but that’s not all. The fact that I was picked up for something that I don’t know how to do or that I’m less comfortable in was interesting. Finally, I liked the overall tone of the project. When I read the script, I said to myself that even if I wasn’t chosen, I would watch the series because the situations are funny and the characters endearing. Being offered a project like that, I’m not going to say it’s a miracle, but I gladly accepted it!
Didn’t you have any fears about your legitimacy as an actress?
I wondered a lot about the question of the legitimacy of embodying an autistic person when I am not. Julie Dachez, a referent on autism who presents with ASD, oversaw the writing. I knew what I was going to play would be benevolent and not caricatural. Aspergirl is a low-budget series, so the filming pace was intense. The production adapted during the scenes shot with the actors presenting ASD: the light was reduced just like the team, we whispered on the set and we did half-days of filming. I am therefore the result of a logistical and economic compromise… I have tried to be on the edge of a sincere interpretation and I hope that it will not offend. This question no longer belongs to me. Other people will tell me whether or not I was legitimate to play like that. Opinions will be divided.
You mentioned the tonality, I saw “Aspergirl” as a kind of fable about autism spectrum disorder…
Yes. There is a real desire to move away from the documentary aspect. The completely green principal’s office with frogs is far removed from life, but the dialogue is very realistic in this very colorful setting. The characters are very quirky, whether it be the members of Louison’s family or the social investigator, who gets tangled up in his appointments. We push the sliders. We are in something that is not of the order of betrayal on what we want to defend on the subject of autism, so that the people concerned have the feeling of being well represented, and at the same time, there is this choice of a fiction rich in colors.
How would you introduce Louison?
Louison PIRANSHARI (Nicole Ferroni spells her character’s surname, like Louison in the series) is almost forty years old and works in a postal sorting centre. Her son, Guilhem, is about to return to 6th grade and his love situation is in a kind of blur, as it must certainly be the case for many French people. His starting situation is very classic, but we quickly realize that his behavior and that of his son are out of step with social codes. We also notice her desire to mimic normality, as when she copies from other parents to know how to behave with her son on the first day of school. The reason for this shift is not yet known, but may be guessed by viewers.
When his son sticks a fork in the hand of a friend, everything changes…
Which I hope doesn’t happen to everyone! This departure from the road of apparent normality will lead the whole family to question themselves. What’s interesting is that we don’t have a character with ASD, but a pair. We will explore how each person receives this diagnosis. While her son is in denial, Louison is in relief, she finally understands where her discrepancy comes from. The series will follow the paths of the mother and her child. She also talks about classic parenthood: how to support your child? How do you know if you are related or not? These are questions that neurotypicals also ask themselves.
“Aspergirl” also questions neurotypicals and their relationship to normality…
The authors and the director have voluntarily chosen among the people supposed to represent the norm, that is to say the neurotypical, characters that are completely offbeat, sometimes even toxic… The social investigator, for example, supposed to be the guarantor of security children, gets mixed up in the folders…
How did you prepare for this role?
I rather inquired about the writings. I didn’t want to see or review documentaries. My fear would have been to copy, to take a person with ASD as a standard for my game. I would have been in the making and, perhaps suddenly, in the caricature. I trusted myself. We had to see a person with a slight social lag, who we suspect has something to do with it, but it’s not very frank either. So I came up with a game proposal, in my voice, my posture and my phrasing, just a little off of what we’re used to seeing. I haven’t prepared the visual impregnation part any more than that. From the second day of filming, we did improvisation scenes with Angèle Rohé, Julien Prez and David Mauqui, the actors with ASD, I took the opportunity to ask them a lot of questions!
How was the collaboration with Carel Brown, winner of the prize for best actor in French competition at Series Mania, who plays your son?
It went well ! The shooting plan wanted us to immediately shoot the scene where we are in the greatest physical and even emotional proximity of the series. This is the scene where we’re in his cardboard shack and we’re whispering about our bond and how we’re going to get out of it. This intimacy immersed us in the bath and created a close bond. As the whole team was staying in the same aparthotel, I shared breakfast with Carel and his real mother. We had small meetings between real and fake moms: “Did my son behave well? », « Yes, he knows his text well! “. We spent real family time together. We went to the pizzeria etc. These moments of daily closeness have casually contributed a lot to our game.
What did this role bring you?
As a human being, it allowed me to learn a lot about autism, about the need not to model the social habits that everyone has. This really made me wonder about the notion of standard, although I am one of the French people who are more aware of the world of disabilities and the question of reception. As an actress, this substantial role and the variety of acting it offers gave me self-confidence. I didn’t think I was capable of going into my non-comfort zones like drama. With this series, I was guided, I was in a cocoon and I think I won in letting go.
What conversations do you want this series to spark?
This series will perhaps give rise to diagnoses. We know that women with ASD are diagnosed much later than men. This is the case with two of my friends. I think, having felt like that while playing, that Louison really has a feeling of relief when he learns of his diagnosis. Angèle Rohé also experienced this. If Aspergirl can ask people why this feeling of discrepancy and if it can lead to answers, that would be great! And afterwards, I hope that it will participate, like many other series, in pushing the partitions that we tend to put between people and to allow a better reception of diversities whatever they are.