Actress Hélène Cardona joins us on Close-Up Culture to talk about her role in Caralique.
The film follows Caralique, a young fashion designer looking to bring color to the people around her. Constantly being told no, Caralique must learn to stick to her instincts and continually try again in order to achieve her childhood dreams.
Hi Hélène, welcome to Close-Up Culture. What was your reaction when you first read the script to Caralique?
I loved the script, written by Dale Fiola, from the very beginning. I connected with it right away. It’s a lovely script about a mother and daughter and I always had a very strong bond with my mother, who passed away when she was still young. It’s the reason I accepted the role of Arlette.
What drew you to the role of Arlette?
Arlette is all heart. She does everything in her power to help her daughter Caralique succeed in life and in fashion. She will go to any length to make life better for Caralique. She conjures up magic out of anything. Hers is a magical world. I was reminded of Gabriel García Marquez’s magical realism. Her daughter’s success will also be her success. Arlette is an ode to mothers and all they sacrifice.
What do you hope audiences take away from Arlette and this story?
Arlette is the heart and soul of the movie, its emotional core. The audience connects with her right from the beginning, through her creativity and passion for fashion, her resilience, her immense love and sacrifice for her daughter, until the very end.
It’s above all a story of love. Arlette’s love makes it possible for her and her daughter to overcome and transcend all obstacles. She empowers Caralique to live the life she would have loved to live herself. In this way, Arlette finds a form of fulfillment through her daughter, who is her success story.
What will be your fondest memory from working on this project?
I have so many moving scenes with the fabulous child actress Kali Funston, who plays Caralique in the first half of the movie. We were able to create a world completely our own.
This was Kali’s first role, and a lead to boot! I was so impressed with her. She always came prepared, knew her lines, understood the scenes. She’s a very serious actress, very focused and dedicated to her craft. And very natural at the same time. She’s bilingual English/French. She’s also a dancer with the world-renowned Mather Dance Company, run by Shannon Mather and home of MDC3 (Emma Mather, Madison Smith and Diego Pasillas), winners of NBC’s World of Dance. Being a former dancer myself, I know how much discipline it requires. Kali was always happy to be on set. There were last-minute changes to the script and she always learned her lines right away. She proved very adaptable. I can’t speak highly enough of her. I wish her the very best and hope we get to play together again. She’s incredibly gifted.
You also have an upcoming role in the Apple TV+ series, The New Look. What was your experience like on this project and reuniting with Chocolat costar Juliette Binoche?
I was very lucky to work on The New Look. It will be coming out in February 2024. The New Look is a historical drama about the rivalry of fashion icons Christian Dior and Coco Chanel during World War II, and I learned quite a bit about the two fashion houses. I always enjoy watching Juliette Binoche, she’s a fascinating actress and I’m so grateful that this series allowed me to reunite with her.
You have such an incredible filmography, as well as lots of experience behind the camera and as an author. What type of projects get you excited at this point in your career?
I love to learn and be surprised, to discover new ways of looking at the world and new places, to keep making connections. Just like E.M. Forster wrote in Howards End: “Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer.”
I want to keep growing and evolving into a better self. And art is the medium I use. I’m also a poet and writer. And I love that I can write books when I’m not acting, that I have this other outlet for my creativity.
Through art, we are stretched to the frontiers of what we know, exploring language and the psyche. The poem – or the film – is a gesture, a movement, an opening toward a greater truth or understanding. Art brings us to the edge of the incomprehensible. Poetry, film, music, art, and life are prayer, enchantment, and transmutation of the being.
Spirituality and mysticism are an important part of my life as well and I’ve been doing dreamwork for many years.
I have taught, and mentored, on and off, and my students have inspired me too. I also have a deep connection to animals and nature and need them both.
What else have you been up to lately?
I’m currently recurring as Monique on the Amazon Prime series Upload.
I was also very fortunate to work on the miniseries All the Light We Cannot See, based on Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. I highly recommend it, it’s so beautiful. It just came out. It takes place in the final days of WWII and followsthe paths of a blind French girl and a German soldier as they both try to survive.
And then there’s this original screenplay Primate, that I co-wrote with my partner John Fitzgerald, based on his novel.
I’m also a poet and translator, with seven books published, and have a new book out. It’s called The Abduction and it’s the translation of Le Rapt by Franco-Syrian poet Maram Al-Masri.It refers to an autobiographical event in Al-Masri’s life. When, as a young Arab woman living in France, she decides to separate from her husband with whom she has a child, the father kidnaps the baby and returns to Syria. Maram won’t see her son for thirteen years. This is the story of a woman denied the basic right to raise her child. The book’s themes encompass women’s rights, immigration, freedom, war, motherhood, mother’s rights, and the act of writing.
It was awarded an Albertine and FACE Foundation Prize for excellence in publishing and translation, and has been endorsed by Pulitzer Prize winner Diane Seuss, Cynthia Hogue, Martha Collins, Cyrus Cassells, and Lauren Camp.
Title image by Paul Smith
Thank you for the interview!