This fall, the 24-year-old actress is showing herself in two films, including Their Children after themthe adaptation of Nicolas Mathieu’s bestseller, and a series. Zoom in on this new face of French cinema.
Every new school year brings its share of cinema revelations. This year’s is Angelina Woreth. At 24, the actress reveals herself in three major roles on the big and small screens. In My life my face by Sophie Fillières – the portrait of a woman trying to be well -, she plays the daughter of Agnès Jaoui. In Fortune of Francea historical saga adapted from the novels of Robert Merle and directed by Christopher Thompson for France 2, she plays the daughter of Baron de Fontenac (played by Grégory Fitoussi). But the role she landed and that many actresses dreamed of is that of Steph, the heroine of Their Children after themthe adaptation of Nicolas Mathieu’s Prix Goncourt. Directed by the Boukherma brothers (Teddy, The Year of the Shark…), the film follows the fate of Anthony (the formidable Paul Kircher), a teenager who goes round in circles in a Lorraine region eaten away by unemployment.
“I had read the book at a time when everyone was giving it as a birthday or Christmas present. When I heard the film was being made, I really wanted to be a part of it. I had several auditions and I was accepted,” says Angelina. She adds about Steph, her character: “I like her dream of somewhere else, her desire to experience something different, but also her disillusionment when she arrives in Paris. The fact that she doesn’t necessarily feel at home in her hometown touches me.” Angelina Woreth discovered the film in early September at the Venice Film Festival, where it was selected in competition: “Discovering the film in Venice with the whole team was a moving experience for me; indelible. The Boukherma brothers are geniuses and I am very proud to have contributed to this project.”
Hugo Sélignac, Alain Attal, Nicolas Mathieu, Gilles Lellouche, Alberto Barbera, Christine Gautier, Zoran Boukherma, Ludovic Boukherma, Ludivine Sagnier, Louis Memmi, Sayyid El Alami, Angélina Woreth, Paul Kircher and Raphaël Quenard on the red carpet of the 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival. (Palazzo del Cinema, August 31, 2024.) Daniele Venturelli / WireImage
“Tender, while having the guts”
The twin directors also won over the author, Nicolas Mathieu, who had received a large number of requests for the adaptation of his novel: “I had seen their film Teddy in which there were already many things that resembled Their Children after them. Their story took place in peripheral France, in a suburban world, there were back-and-forths between the petty bourgeoisie and the more modest kids, it also addressed the period of adolescence, the awakening of the senses, and they knew how to represent that without being caricatures. Finally, the novel owes a lot to Bruce Springsteen and his song The River. Now, one of the brothers tattooed “Born to run“behind the ear, so we were really in tune (laughs).”
While the writer admits to having been very moved – “much more than expected” – when he discovered the film, he adds: “They succeeded in what I tried to do in the book, namely to give it a bit of a fresco side: that it is intimate and at the same time that there is breadth, space, speed. The film follows characters but also tells the story of a valley, a country, it is both on a skin level but at the same time a bit political.” As for Angelina Woreth, the writer says of her: “She is like the heroine of my novel. Physically, she has this slightly childish but sexy type, she is tender while having the drive and something happens in the film between Paul Kircher’s character and her: as soon as they look at each other, we want it to work between them. The two actors managed to capture something of this pulse of youth in this film.”
There’s something happening in the film between Paul Kircher’s character and her: as soon as they look at each other, we want things to work between them.
Nicolas Mathieu
A click on a movie set
With her three upcoming film and series releases, Angelina Woreth is preparing to definitively emerge from the shadows. How does she approach success? “It’s always stressful to discover a film, to see yourself on screen, but I try to stay calm and since there’s no question of fame at the moment, I don’t put anything into my head. I just hope to act in other films.” A well-made head that can be explained by the young girl’s accomplished career. When she left school at 16 because the school system didn’t suit her (“I slept in class, I was rather wild and I hated being in the same place all the time”), she enrolled in a drama school. Supported by her mother, a painter, and her father, a TV series director and then comic book author, she took classes for two years in Paris. But this was her first experience on a film set – Jessica Forever by Jonathan Vinel and Caroline Poggi – which turned out to be a trigger: “I felt like I was in my place, that I knew what I had to do. Something spontaneous, organic happened. I loved getting out of my life, being someone else for a moment. I liked working in a team, meeting different people, never being in the same place, it’s a job where you never get bored.” The one who grew up with the films of Jacques Demy, Romy Schneider and Jean Gabin, has played roles in Just Kids by Christophe Blanc, My night d’Antoinette Boulat, A little brother by Leonor Seraille, or even Les Rascals by Jimmy Laportal-Tresor.
Ceramics, his lifeline
Outside of cinema, the young girl has discovered another passion: ceramics. “It brings me balance. My mother says it’s my lifeline. It’s a place where I take refuge and where I feel like I’m doing something that matters and that I like other than cinema. It’s very different but I need it, it’s also part of me. I worked a little with my mother and we made a series of vases together.” But before devoting herself fully to this other artistic passion, the young girl should still tread the film sets for a little while. Her agent, Gonzalve Leclerc, who discovered her on her first film, says of her: «Angelina is a young actress who has been gifted since she was very young. She knows exactly what she wants and in which cinema she wants to flourish. She chooses her roles with care and moves forward with determination towards an artistic future full of beautiful promises. “If the actress dreams of working with Catherine Breillat, whose filmography she appreciates, she lets things come to her calmly and philosophically and is preparing to work in Joséphine Japy’s first film as director opposite Mélanie Laurent. Appointment made at the César ceremony in the Revelations category?
