It was in Sidi Bou Saïd that Nadia Boussetta opened up to LA SULTANE magazine. Open-mindedness, femininity, and a drive to move forward were the keywords of this unique interview, generously granted to us by this woman — touching and charming, assertive and strong all at once.
Behind the Role, the Woman
First of all, I want to thank you for your interest — and, in passing, for the quality of this interview, to which I admit I'm not much accustomed, without wishing to offend anyone. I hope I'm one of those women who isn't easily forgotten (smiles) !
For a long time, my quest in life was love for others — so much so that I denied my own dark side and championed an altruism I often confused with naivety and good intentions; the very ones that lift us toward a certain nobility, while leading us into mistaken judgments based solely on the black-and-white law of the heart.
Even so, my openly humanist outlook has allowed me to explore the deep cruelty in that other "me" — sometimes in its plainly abject gestures, but also in its moments of genuine empathy. I remain, otherwise, whole and without deceit, and by accepting my own flaws more readily, I accept those of others too — I even find it amusing, because a certain lightness lets me put my lowest instincts into perspective. That doesn't stop me from baring my claws when needed, to defend an idea or a position, even if it means overplaying my hand and losing a few feathers along the way; we can't remake ourselves, but we can improve!
The Beginnings of an Unusual Path
Idle beginnings, compared to what I aspire to today and the energy that has always driven me. I simply let myself be carried along by the tide of encounters and the offers that came my way. I tried to fully inhabit every role I took on, with a frenzy I mistook for commitment; my overflowing nature meant my ideas were focused, certainly, but also fairly muddled and sometimes without real foundation.
I was left to fend for myself, caught in a perfect illusion about the profession and the relationships that govern it. I simply refused to look reality in the eye. As for the question of vocation, I think there's no bias at play other than that of choice, its circumstances, and the price one is willing to pay to see it through. My first calling was to become a mother, and I managed to become one quite early. Today, I'm still one, to my great happiness.
As for being an actress, I think it's the sum of several callings that surrounded me and that I brought together into one. It's the art of having a whole set of expressive tools that you can adapt and refine as you please; it's also a subject whose high points thrill me when I take stock of my craft, and which, at the same time, makes up my deepest frustration — because I remain dependent on the projects that fill my imagination and that take so long to materialize.
Maktoub, a Decisive Turning Point
Maktoub marks the dividing line between my beginnings and my real professionalization. Although I was far from imagining such a turn, since my beginnings were in film and theatre, it was on the small screen that a wide audience discovered me.
That's what I ended up calling "my share of artistic alienation," because even though my work was well received, I couldn't draw any satisfaction from it, since the setup didn't match my original vision: that of my "real professionalization."
That didn't stop me from learning my craft and carrying my transformation forward. Nor did I recognize myself in fame, which I was quick to reject, finding it superficial and overrated — at least the kind I was confronted with.
I wouldn't want to seem more distant than that, because the encouragement of certain people certainly did matter to me.
Values, Complexity, and the Search for Meaning
I am, as you say, a complex woman of her time. And I'll add: one who still drags around a few complexes of her own (smiles). Otherwise, why put yourself out there? Why go searching, in the eyes of others, for that thing we struggle to define?
It seems to me that, for women in particular, this process of self-appreciation and self-deprecation makes up the very essence of their knowledge and being, as part of their journey toward becoming a woman. They are driven by a sense of lack that turns into frustration — and then, for the most enlightened and sharpened among them, into a driving force that carries them far in their social, professional, romantic, or other lives.
So I'm no exception to the rule. I would even say I feel in perfect harmony with the women of my time, and in tune with those who inhabit me, starting with my mother and my two late grandmothers. The only difference is that what was once seen as a struggle has, in this day and age, become a necessary act of self-affirmation.
Taking a Step Back: A Fruitful Pause
When you call yourself an artist or a thinker, it's essential to have perspective — just as it's necessary to be constantly in creative ferment and to practice your art in order to move forward.
This pause I allowed myself was anything but unproductive — quite the opposite: it let me truly take stock, and reconnect with my own necessity in relation to everything around me and all the changes we are currently living through.
Not to mention that the experience of saying "no" has its own repercussions — fatal ones, in certain cases. I think of Antigone's experience, for whom that NO left no possibility of turning back. But when you emerge unscathed from such a form of resistance, something in you loosens, and unsuspected places within us come alive. Being put to the test inevitably makes us grow. But better still, it gives us reasons to exist — and therefore to create.
For my part, before throwing myself into it against all odds, there was a heavy realization. First, a painful failure on a personal level, coupled with an inability to fit in socially and professionally alike.
I rarely felt like I was in my rightful place. I let myself be guided by that small inner light, and that was my experience! Except that the day I asked myself how much my life actually matched my vision, the verdict fell, unequivocal.
To tell you the truth, the revolution and everything that followed sharpened what I was feeling and made me take even greater ownership of my quest. I told myself that change begins, first and foremost, with me.
A Look at the Tunisian Artistic Landscape
Tunisia had its golden age, its peak decade of creativity in the post-colonial years. Two regimes took turns — or rather, the first pushed the second into the background. The latter, ignorant of it all, rode the wave without making any ripples or taking any risks with new initiatives, too busy keeping power exactly as it was and lining its pockets alongside its turncoats — while the former had, long before, been left agonizing amid the rubble of a way of thinking that was, on top of everything, a single one. Because yes, art and culture are, above all, a matter of political will!
So history shows no mercy. The world didn't stop turning, and we missed more than one step along the way. To top it all off, globalization has swallowed us whole in its infernal machine. Free thought, originality in its authentic form, our heritage, and a certain kind of sovereignty — and I add "approximate" to that last notion, since everyone remains objectively tied to everyone else, in every era and within this new world order — are all cruelly lacking from our creative output, and this across every field.
So there's no real distinction between the different forms; from the small screen to the stage to the big screen, the observation is the same: an inability on the audience's part to recognize themselves in a work, or worse, outright rejection in some cases. So I won't list, nor make a case for, the mediocrity that has gained ground, nor will I rail against the walls standing in the way of our access to civility through culture — it's up to us to accept ourselves and confront the worst in us, and creativity will burst forth.
Childhood Dreams and Memories of Light
My first childhood dream, I imagine, was much like every newborn's: to turn back and enjoy the joys of the maternal den for just a little longer; after that, I dreamed for a long time of growing up so I could take the reins.
If I Had to Do It All Again…
I'm tempted to answer "nothing" — if I had to do it all over, I wouldn't change a thing! But in reality, there are always small things we regret. So if I have to leap back in time, I might as well make the most of it! That said, I'll refrain from telling you about my highly confidential conversations with the very young Nadia.
What Feeds the Actress's Craft
Everything, absolutely everything my memory can hold — sensations, scents, images… Even my dreams and my illusions can take on meaning at some point in building a character.
Favorite Actors, Memorable Roles
In Tunisia, I was deeply moved by Hend Sabri in Nouri Bouzid's « Poupées d'argile ». Amel Hdhili in Moufida Tlatli's « Les Silences du Palais ».
As for international films: Meryl Streep in « The Hours ». Emily Watson in « Breaking the Waves ». Charlotte Gainsbourg in « Nymphomaniac ». Brigitte Bardot in « And God Created Woman ». Juliette Binoche in « The Lovers on the Bridge », « Fatale », and « Three Colors: Blue ». Marlon Brando in « A Streetcar Named Desire », « On the Waterfront », and « Last Tango in Paris ». Nastassija Kinsky in « Tess ». Emmanuelle Seigner in « Bitter Moon ». Nicolas Cage in « Leaving Las Vegas ». Sean Penn in « Dead Man Walking », « I Am Sam », « Mystic River », « Sweet and Lowdown », and « 21 Grams ». Albert Dupontel in « Bernie », and finally Tom Hanks in « Forest Gamp », my all-time favorite film.
I still remember what my first cousin, a medical student at the time, once said to me: but when do you even find the time to watch all these films? Well, yes! I suppose it's my passion, and it always will be — films that have been with me at every moment of my life.
Iconic Lines and Cult Films
As for the lines themselves, they're not what I remember most, since I'm more attuned to pure sensation and feeling. Still, I can quote you a few, like: "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get," or Gabin's famous line, "You've got beautiful eyes, you know?"
There's a line that I find fits perfectly, from the film Kramer vs. Kramer: "The first time, you marry for love, but you end up divorcing. The second time, you know love is just something dreamed up by… (a wedding-dress brand), so you marry for other reasons."
And to finish, since I'm really running out of cult lines, I love this one from « One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest » — it's cruelly funny: "Come on, crazies, don't be sluggish!" I remain convinced, of course, that films leave us with more than just lines — though it depends on how you choose to watch them! Words belong to the realm of literature, which I approach with the same fervor, and which offers me a range of emotions just as unsuspected and immeasurable, only in a different place. (smiles) That's how the picture comes together.
Reading and Literary Legacies
And of course, who says literature says books and reading. Yes, it's another one of those "idle" activities I devote myself to regularly, without counting the hours, as long as I have them to spare. Novels, plays, and essays have accompanied my imagination since young adulthood, as if a touch of maturity were needed to embrace knowledge and humanity, and to accept losing yourself in them.
My relationship to my reading is just as essential as the imagery that comes from all the films I've watched and absorbed — it makes up the other side of the iceberg. For me, it's the necessity of growing up and producing new ideas built to last; that probably comes from always having seen my parents with a book in hand. In that spirit, I love authors, whether contemporary or from another era, and thinkers who carry me away while making me reflect, through revelations that never stop surprising me — about myself as much as about humankind. Among these authors, I count: Françoise Sagan, Romain Gary (Émile Ajar), Michel Onfray, Tawfiq al-Hakim, Khalil Gibran, Dostoevsky, David Foenkinos, Céline, Alexandre Dumas, Zola, Jean Cocteau, Homer, Paul Éluard, Anouilh… and many others.
A Dream Role, an Open Future
A role I haven't thought of yet.
My head is full of projects — it ties into my compulsive nature, and not just in the artistic field. I'm drawn to a number of different areas, including design, communications, the humanities, and poetry. It would take more than one lifetime to dream them all up and maybe give them a final shape. Who knows — the future will tell.
A Final Word for Our Readers…
My final word (for whoever has read this all the way through) … (sighs of relief, laughing): you must always carve wood along the grain, first to end up with truly beautiful pieces, but mainly to avoid cracks. And what can be said, then, of our hair — or even more, of life itself! And be, first of all, a Soltana (queen) for yourselves; everyone else will follow. THANK YOU.
Photo credit: Bayrem Ben Mrad
Make-Up: Sondos Abidi
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Article published in the very first issue of our new format, in 2014
