“When I was little, I didn’t go anywhere without my dog, which I called Youpi, like Caroline’s, the heroine of children’s books”

Often praised for her beauty, her elegance, her intelligence, Isabella Rossellini is also very funny. As proof, a scientific-comic series of short films on animal behavior that she filmed between 2008 and 2013, and that the MUBI cinema platform is programming from 1^er may. From her farm on Long Island, New York, which she will leave in the fall to perform her successful monologue, Darwin’s Smile, at the La Scala Theater in Paris, she returns to this passion project.

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Madame Figaro. – My news?
Isabella Rossellini. – Three series of short films that I wrote, directed and performed fifteen years ago at the request of Sundance TV, Robert Redford’s channel, who, like me, is sensitive to the environmental cause. I have a master’s degree in ethology (the science of animal behavior, Editor’s note), and I had never been able to use it in my artistic work before this project based on three themes: the sexual behavior of animals, their seduction rituals and their maternal instinct.

My characters in these short films?
I play a bee, a doe, all kinds of animals… I don’t like to take myself seriously.

How is this program like me?
When I was little, I observed snails, which I locked in aquariums, I took in stray cats and I didn’t go anywhere without my dog, which I named Youpi, like that of Caroline, the heroine of the books for children. When I was 15, my father gave me King Solomon’s Ring, the book by Konrad Lorenz, the founder of ethology. There were few opportunities for women scientists then. I waited until I was almost 60 to accomplish this dream.

My state of mind?
Happy. I became a grandmother for the third time.

Being a grandmother for the third time makes me happy

Isabella Rossellini

Talking about me in promotion, a chore?
I’m not the most famous actress, but I give between 400 and 500 interviews a year. I am grateful for the interest, but it is sometimes a heavy burden.

Wooden tongue or too sharp?
We are careful when we are young, but at a certain age, we say everything!

A subject that annoys me?
I have an ambivalent relationship with questions of age, in fact. I am flattered that I am still called beautiful and that we are giving visibility to models and actresses who, not long ago, disappeared After 40 years. But it’s also reductive to return to the age-old question: “How do you age gracefully?”

I play a bee, a doe, all kinds of animals… I don’t like to take myself seriously

Isabella Rossellini

Still the sacred fire?
Yes, because I have renewed myself. First a model, I became an actress. Then I wrote and directed.

A misunderstanding about me?
I’m perplexed when I read that I’m an icon and especially when people ask me what effect that has. What do you want me to know about it? I did not choose this “label”, which seems more justified for an environmental activist like Jane Goodall than for me.

My current mental load?
I have two children, three grandchildren who I take care of very often, I manage my farm, I act, I give interviews. After centuries of repression for women, I don’t complain about having the freedom to flourish. There is, however, a problem: we have entered the world of men’s work, but they are still reluctant to take over the domestic sphere, which supposedly belongs to us.

I don’t complain about having the freedom to flourish

Isabella Rossellini

The last time I was proud of myself?
When reading a review of New York Times who described my interpretation in The Chimera, by Alice Rohrwacher. I’m still on cloud nine.

What am I going to do after this interview?
Taking care of my chicks and my bees.

Green Porno, Seduce Me And Mammasby Isabella Rossellini, on MUBI, from 1^er may.