Lisette’s trail she’s 34 and has three stars tattooed on her neck, one bigger than the others: “This is my mom, the younger ones are me and my sister,” he says, making a face as if to say, “I’m romantic.” , I know.” In this case, what does the past matter, where the actress is not even very willing to return when you ask her if the story is true? Monica looks like her. The mother of the main character she plays Andrea Pallaoro in a film about forgiveness and acceptance in the competition Venice 79, says to his transgender daughter: “From now on, I can no longer be your mother”, there is a 20-year gap between them. And when they meet again, there will be very little time left.

Trace, a transgender actress and activist, almost apologizes: “I am very protective of my family, I decided not to interfere with them, I just want to note where we are now and say that I love them very much. try to stay here, in this little place where we arrived, it is beautiful, and I have a fantastic mother.

What does this role mean to you?

This is the result of so much hard work and I never gave up, I have been waiting for this for years. I read the script in one night, I was asked to audition, I knew it was an important story, with a transgender character in the center, and not a secondary one, as is usually the case. Opportunities like this are really rare, it’s a film told through Monica’s eyes, I’m in every scene: that was the biggest challenge.

She changes so much from one scene to the next, depending on what happens…

We all have many layers, we have many things together, this complexity is our beauty. And I deeply identify with Monica and her journey.

What was the worst moment on your trip?

Oh my god, I don’t know if I can go back to that period, obviously I was trying to find a bridge between me and the character, in the past I have talked about my story, but now I would like to go further and keep these memories. for me.

What other women would you like to talk about?

There are so many transgender stories that deserve attention, I can think of the crazy stories of some Carousel artists, a show bar in Paris or Finocchio in San Francisco, a cabaret club, a kind of Moulin Rouge, always with trans women where many celebrities used to go and looked, often relationships were born with some of them, all very in the shadows, because it was not a socially acceptable thing. First of all, I would like to introduce the story of Alecia Brevard, an actress who worked there. We wrote letters to each other years before her death, she starred in a couple of films in the 60s, 70s, then she became an acting teacher, but she didn’t open her story to everyone … Yes, I would love to go directing, but I have to follow Andrea (Pallaoro) for a while first, I still have a lot to learn.

The meeting with the mother, their rapprochement is told, as if in the style of Pallaoro, with great delicacy: how did you end up with Patricia Clarkson?

We immediately became friends, she reminded me a lot of my real mother, I felt comfortable and she is a fantastic actress, we also had a great time.

courtesy

Was there room for improvisation?

Yes, but we tend to trust Andrea and the script. Every day we discussed the scenes, what we could have done differently. We did a very good job, found our pace, this is important. And he was very interested to hear about my personal experience of feeding Monica’s character.

An accident en route? A scene that you did multiple times?

When my car breaks down at night. I screamed so loud that I broke the microphone, but we realized it too late, so I had to record screaming and crying in the studio in sync with the stage. That was not easy.

Has mom seen the movie yet?

Not yet, and I can’t wait to see him with her.