Matilda De Angelis is one of the most talented actresses in Italian cinema and beyond. At the age of 30 she can boast a career full of important experiences. From October 30th she will play the role of lawyer Lidia Poët on Netflix, among the most watched series in the world on the platform. A feminist, enterprising and sarcastic, a bit like her.
Actress, singer, musician Matilda De Angelis he is, without a shadow of a doubt, a versatile artist, capable of expressing his skill in as many facets as possible. Since October 30th it has been back up Netflix with the second season of The law of Lidia Poëta series produced by Matteo Rovere’s Groenlandia which, with its first episodes, was the most watched Italian series abroad. The first time in front of the camera, Matilda was only 18 years old, now that she is on the threshold of 30 she can boast a career dotted with important titles, which have made her known to the general public: from the beginning of Anything can happene e Fast as the windpassing through international series such as The Undoing and the recent one Citadel Dianabut also The incredible story of Rose Island. Each project has allowed her to know something about herself, each woman she has played has given her the opportunity to get closer to that utopian ideal that each of us builds for ourselves and tries to achieve. To think that a destiny was already written in his name, since his mother chose him thinking of Leon’s Matilda by Luc Besson, a director with whom he also worked: “He didn’t believe it when I told him” he tells us.
The second season of Lidia Poët appears from the first episode much more defined than the first, Lidia cannot practice her profession, cannot register on the electoral lists, but manages to be listened to by the authorities around her. As?
Compared to the first season she is certainly surrounded by more enlightened people like her, in this case they are men who at the time were the only ones who had a say. There is a new prosecutor of the kingdom, more progressive, in step with the times, then Lidia’s brother, Enrico, becomes increasingly complicit in her misdeeds. Somehow it is perceived that feminism does not only belong to women, but is something that must belong to men. In an era like the one Lidia lives in, where feminist men are needed to make change happen, this is the first great fortune she comes across in the second season. Then, there is always his great determination, the cheek, the rebellious spirit which is fundamental.
Pier Luigi Pasino: “My Enrico Poët is a revolutionary man, there should be more of him today too”
Jacopo Barberis and Pierluigi Forneau are attracted by Lidia’s intelligence and resourcefulness. Don’t you think that they feed on his presence, to become better men themselves?
Yes, absolutely, even though they are two very different relationships. What Lidia has with Jacopo is a relationship that has already developed a lot in the first season, very conflictual, a love-hate relationship. They are two sides of the same coin, extremely similar and this similarity sometimes repels them. Then there is Forneau, a man of law, attentive to change, fascinated by Lidia’s head, by her mind, by the way she sees things, in which she reasons. In her own way, then, yes, she helps them to be better men and maybe they help her to be a better woman too.
In the 19th century, women were not recognized as social individuals. Lidia renounces the only thing that could define her socially: marriage. And to love. Would you give up a feeling to follow a greater value?
Lidia chooses consciously and it is a choice dictated by the society in which she lives. At the time, being a wife and mother, as she herself says in the series, means giving up one’s freedom. Women had no right to private property, they could not even own a house. Nowadays, differences exist between men and women, equal rights seem far away and, as you were saying, there are men who pontificate about women’s lives, about their freedom of choice, of having a child, we still talk too often of feminicides. Despite this, I live in a different world, also thanks to women like Lidia. I have never been faced with the choice of having to give up something for something else. There are women in other parts of the world who have yet to make these radical choices because we are talking about women who cannot study, cannot go to school, cannot wear make-up, wear nail polish, dress as they want. Luckily I am a free woman.
Who are the men who supported you in following your passions?
The first man who helped me support my passions was my father, he always pushed me to follow my dreams, my inclinations. Then, I think of my agent, one of the people closest to me. I was very lucky and I was good at choosing the people in my life, not just men. But I firmly believe in my self-determination, I have also achieved a lot on my own.
Lidia thrives on sarcasm and irony, how much does Matilda use?
I think the screenwriters have played on one of my characteristic traits: I always use irony. For me it’s the best thing to face the world, both the good things and the bad things, I tend to desecrate everything. I think it’s the right way to be in the world, to make fun of yourself, less seriously.
In one of the episodes Lidia responds to a man who suggests that the murdered women “asked for it”. A phrase that we also hear today in various news stories, how can cinema and series inculcate the message that feminism belongs to everyone?
Art has always been the mirror of society, it would be nice to always have the freedom to express oneself outside of censorship and outside of political correctness. I believe that artists should be as sincere as possible, clearly we do not carry absolute truths. In a series like Lidia, which deals with themes that arouse hilarity if you think that it is a series set in 1800, in which many things correspond to today’s society, therefore it is the classic it makes you laugh, but it also makes you think, that is, it doesn’t make you laugh because nothing, but it is right to bring these issues to light. Some things are so rooted in today’s patriarchal society that they deserve to be examined, paid attention to, in a very profound way. Nobody claims to change the world, we don’t change society, people change it.
Speaking of women, what kind of woman do you think or hope to be?
I don’t know, I hope to always be the best version of myself, even in the worst moments. I hope to be the best worst version of myself, to have the privilege and luck of being a free woman and if I no longer have that luck, that privilege, I always hope to have the strength to fight to be one. I hope to always be attentive, empathetic, to have my eyes open. I hope I’m a good person, I’m working on it.
We often have difficulty expressing ourselves, showing our fragilities, fBy doing this work were you able to facilitate this process of internal recognition?
This work can be cathartic, because I have the opportunity to understand something more about myself through other characters. To play any character you have to be able not to judge it, even the worst one requires kindness. It is a job that puts me in front of a multitude of emotions, possibilities and worlds that perhaps are not mine. Visiting a lot of interiority helped me overcome difficult moments, playing with transference in the characters. We need to do a lot of work on ourselves, because then when you come home in the evening, remove your make-up, the wig, you’re there in front of the mirror, you’re always there in bed.
So how did you deal with the idea of being fallible?
I think like everyone else, falling, getting hurt, hitting rock bottom if you want, not if you don’t want to. With the difficulties that we all have, some more than others, everyone faces them differently. I have acquired many tools over the years, I grew up quickly, I started working at 18, now I’m 30, I feel like I’ve lived 87 lives. I’m on the right path, I’m working on it.
There are now many jobs in which you have taken part so far. Which one stuck with you the most?
I’m very good in life at letting go, it’s always been a great resource of mine, things don’t stay attached to me for a long time, I try to keep positive memories. I have always had very positive experiences, I took home something not so much about the characters, but about the people who faced every challenge with me. The human experience has always remained with me. I don’t want the concept to get across that I’m a method actress, I’m not, I’m a very mediocre actress, I’m not with characters, I’m with people and I’ve carried some of them with me for life.
