Corinne Masiero is outspoken which does not prevent her from taking action when necessary. Her speech at the 2021 César Awards where she arrived naked and covered in blood on stage like her career choices and commitments showed that this woman has as much courage as conviction. In Little Hands of Nessim Chikhaoui at the cinema on May 1, she plays a palace chambermaid worn out by work and life. A perfect role when she ends up supporting a young recruit while her colleagues organize to assert their rights. “Corinne was made for this character and the opposite is also true,” confides the director. She has a big mouth, a big heart and great charisma. She’s free. » This interview, where familiarity was required, confirmed this statement.
Do you consider yourself a committed person?
Everyone is engaged! Not being one is also a form of commitment. Everyone does as they want and above all as they can. I was happy to be offered Little Hands because this film corresponds to the values that I want to defend. It was a gift to be able to talk about wrestling in a mainstream film and also a gift to be given a character far removed from what I’m usually given.
How do directors usually see you?
As a specialist in laughter and “tagada tsoin tsoin”. Note that I love “tagaga tsoin tsoin”. I’m not complaining about doing it but it’s still nice to be able to change register by showing that we can also compose other types of roles. It’s crazy how French cinema lacks imagination. People are fearful, refusing to take the slightest risk. I have just started making a TV film for the first time called for the moment A Castle in Spain. You should have seen the face of the casting director when I asked him for “faces” to play in it. The performers he offered me were as smooth as cottage cheese. I had to insist to win my case.
How do you explain this reluctance?
Like everywhere, power is held by a handful of guys who come from the same background and who have the same values. People who don’t fit their model don’t exist for them. We must therefore shake them up to impose the right to be represented. This also applies to women! The most crazy thing is that, if it works, they say: “Ah that was great: we should have thought of that before”. Then they try to reproduce the successful recipe again and again. It’s a mixture of fear and laziness.
Was it easy to find your place in all that?
TV changed my bank account as much as my life. I still wonder how I achieved it. Television made me known, which allows me to give voice. I use my notoriety to make myself heard and defend my ideas. I think people see me as a pain in the ass that they like even if it gets on their nerves sometimes. There are also people who hate me, and that’s okay. I wouldn’t want to be consensual.
How do you see yourself?
I’m not a star or an icon. I only represent myself. I believe that I am an open person and that the meetings I meet allow me to improve myself as a person. I hope to be able to regularly question myself as an actress and as a citizen. I admire people who have a sense of self-deprecation because I am incapable of it. I’m too proud and navel-gazing to laugh at myself. Note, I probably wouldn’t be an actress if I didn’t have these two faults! I learned to deal with it.
Doesn’t your performance at the Césars show that you have a sense of humor?
I didn’t want to miss such a chance to express myself but I wasn’t having much fun in my dressing room. This kind of happening is what we call an “action” among entertainment workers. When you do this kind of thing, you go in groups, like when the maids demonstrate in Little Hands. We support each other, which helps a lot. There, I was all alone because I didn’t want to put anyone in trouble. I spent hours doubting before going there. It’s hard to choose to fight, to open your mouth. The subject of Little Hands touched me because the film also talks about that, the fear of acting. And from the moment we decide to go there.
Do you regret having done it?
I would have regretted missing this opportunity even more. I thought I was going to be taken out by force. I always expect the worst. That way, I’m not disappointed. I also thought that people were going to pulverize me afterwards, reproach me for doing “two-bullet wokist things”, but not at all. I received a lot of kind reactions. We must always take risks and not let ourselves be paralyzed by the fear that society tries to drill into our heads. In fact, I didn’t really have a choice. The next day, I went back to see artists who were occupying a theater in Lille. I couldn’t see myself telling them that I hadn’t benefited from such a great platform. It wouldn’t have made any sense. My actions had to be consistent with my words.
Do you think it served any purpose?
The mess we make is never useless! It points out problems that people wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. Afterwards, they do what they want with it but they can no longer say that they were not aware. It’s important to fight. Even if we don’t get what we ask for, we win from the moment we rebel. You never lose when you choose to fight. Young people are starting to understand this and no longer let it happen. I meet a lot of people between 16 and 35 years old at the demonstrations. They are ready to defend what they believe is right, from ecology to women’s rights. It encourages optimism.
Do you think things are moving for women?
We have come so far in all areas that there is still work to be done. Here again, you have to shout to be heard! You have to disturb, as I do with my group Les Vaginites, music that stings and scratches. Women open their mouths, and it often costs them dearly. It drives me crazy when I hear that they seek notoriety when they speak. This stupid idea dies hard. It allows some guys to continue sleeping at night, but the process has begun: we will continue to shake them. There is no longer any question of going back in the world of cinema as elsewhere. I know what it’s like to be invisible like the women of Little Hands. Those days are over, I want to be seen to help others be seen.
How do you see your future?
I don’t want to be the richest person in the cemetery so I use my money to buy places where we can live together. We try to find new ways of existing and creating in the artistic framework and in citizen actions. I continue to fight all the time. There, I fight to maintain control over my TV film. They hired me knowing who I was and wanting to control me. I’m not going to let it happen even if I know that everything could end tomorrow. I prefer that my film not be broadcast rather than having it formatted. I entered the world of TV like a Trojan horse, a little mouse that turned into an elephant. It’s going to be hard to fire me now.