Karin Viard: “Magnificat deeply respects faith, but questions dogma”

Nothing stops Karin Viard. This month, the indefatigable actress with three Césars is showing three films: Magnificat, by Virginie Sauveur, Une nuit, by Alex Lutz, and Wahou! by Bruno Podalydes. Frank, rebellious and full of charm, the one who has nearly a hundred films to her credit answers questions tit for tat while sipping green tea.

LE FIGARO. - What seduced you in Virginie Sauveur's first film?

Karin VARD. - The fact that the film is above all a quest and an investigation carried out by a woman who seeks to know the truth on a social subject. From the outset, I liked the subject. I found that the film promised a strong reflection on faith and on the Church.

How would you define your character?

Charlotte is a single mother raising a fifteen-year-old son who is not comfortable with himself. At the same time, she is chancellor of the diocese of Paris. It is she who is in the front row when the drama begins. It is she who is called in the middle of the night to give her Father Pascal's death certificate. The film is quite disturbing, I find.

That's to say ?

The director reveals the rigid side of the Catholic institution. She puts her finger on a taboo of the Church. Why the hell can you ordain a male priest and not a female? Why should women not be allowed to celebrate Christ, too?

Weren't you afraid to make an iconoclastic film?

No. It is precisely a film which deeply respects faith, but which questions dogma. He is not afraid to be critical. I liked this mix between thriller and spiritual investigation. It's not a film that denounces anything about the Church. It does not address pedophilia or obscurantism.

What is his goal then?

With Magnificat, we are really making a film for today that raises a topical question. Why should women remain mere "maids" in the Church?

Isn't the idea of ​​imposture central to the film?

Yes. And it's quite fascinating. How could this woman pass herself off as "Father Pascal" for so long? How could a woman priest spend a lifetime in the shoes of a man? She must have benefited from certain complicities in the church. If so why ? And why ? And what does that mean? This plot is both very strange and very plausible.

How was the filming?

It was exhausting, I won't hide it from you. Director Virginie Sauveur knew exactly what she wanted. She didn't give me a present. But, in the end, his attitude served his film, which frankly I find not bad at all.