Actress Noémie Merlant on women being ‘more than an image’

A familiar presence at Cannes, the French actress and filmmaker stars in the new film Roma Elastica. She spoke to Al Majalla in the south of France about freedom, ageing, and Marion Cotillard

Eduardo Ramon

French actress and director Noémie Merlant stars in 2026 comedy-drama Roma Elastica.

Actress Noémie Merlant on women being ‘more than an image’

Leila Amar

last update on 20 Jul 2026

French actress and director Noémie Merlant returned to the Cannes Film Festival this year with comedy-drama Roma Elastica, director Bertrand Mandico’s fourth feature film which co-stars Marion Cotillard. A few steps from La Croisette, the legendary 3km boulevard and promenade in Cannes, Al Majalla met Merlant and Mandico away from the festival’s clamour to discuss the film.

Set in a decaying Cinecittà, a theme park in Rome, this baroque sci-fi tale casts Merlant as Valentina, the devoted assistant and make-up artist to Eddie, an ageing film star (Cotillard) on the verge of collapse, who goes to the Italian capital to shoot what may be her last film. By coincidence, Valentina is the name of Merlant’s two-month-old daughter (who slept peacefully in her mother’s arms while we spoke).

“I had no name in mind at all,” Merlant recalls, when the name comes up. “When we began looking for one, we said, ‘Valentina would be a beautiful name.’ Then I realised that my character in Roma Elastica had the same name. I suppose the film had stayed somewhere in my subconscious.”

For Merlant, the shoot was as exhilarating as it was joyful. “There was an almost mad sense of freedom. The shoot itself was very fast, yet it was immensely enjoyable. It was swift and intense, with no pressure whatsoever. Everything centred on play, experimentation and working on the character. We were allowed to go beyond the edges.”

More than an image

Such freedom speaks directly to her attraction to characters who resist prevailing conventions. “I love it when we are able to go very far and embrace something vulgar or trivial, when women are allowed to be more than an image.” Merlant accepted the project without hesitation, partly because of her longstanding admiration for Mandico, whom she considers a rare filmmaker.

“Even my agent did not know how deeply I admired his films. For me, this is cinema. There are very few directors like him. Perhaps (Spanish filmmaker Pedro) Almodóvar? He exists entirely outside the system. He has no interest in fitting into it. He seeks truth and authenticity. I cannot be as free as he is, even though I consider myself very free. He is a pure artist. You could encounter one of his films without knowing it was his and recognise his signature immediately.”

AFP — Actress Marion Cotillard (L), director Bertrand Mandico (C), and actress Noémie Merlant (R) at the Cannes Film Festival 2026.

What fascinates her most is the way he creates his worlds. “He draws everything: the costumes, the sets, the shots. Everything is prepared in advance. Paradoxically, that gives the actors enormous freedom. You work within a very strong framework, and that is precisely what allows you to go much further. As an actress, I find that deeply reassuring.”

Merlant admits that she had initially imagined Mandico as someone closer to the wild and extravagant energy of his films. “I thought he would be rather untamed, perhaps even harsh,” she says. “In reality, he is extraordinarily gentle and remarkably composed. It makes me think there is something cathartic in his work. He pours all his madness, violence and obsessions into his films, while in life he is completely at peace.”

An oxygen mask

Roma Elastica reunited Merlant with Cotillard, an Oscar winner who she first met while working on Lee, a biographical war drama from 2023 starring another Oscar winner, Kate Winslet. “We spent 15 days together in a place where there was nowhere else to go,” she says. “We saw each other constantly. We had dinner by the water. It was magical. She is magical. We shared the stories of our lives with great spontaneity and naturalness. She is very approachable and entirely unassuming in everyday life, and she is an extraordinary listener. She loves actresses and gives excellent advice.”

AFP — Merlant's young daughter is called Valentina, which is also her character's name in Roma Elastica. "I suppose the film had stayed somewhere in my subconscious," she says.

Several French and international actresses have expressed similar sentiments about Cotillard’s generosity and personality, and Merlant says the encounter became important to her. “When I met Marion Cotillard, I was going through an extremely difficult period,” she explains. “In some way, I clung to her. She was my oxygen mask when I was suffocating.” In Roma Elastica, Merlant plays a woman deeply devoted to a legendary actress (with occasional blurring between fiction and reality), so she was portraying, she says, “a character I admire, love, and devote myself to. In the end, it all came very naturally”.

Croisette to Hollywood

Merlant’s appearance at Cannes this year is merely her latest. From Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire to Jacques Audiard’s Paris, 13th District, followed by her own directorial venture, The Balconettes, she has become one of the festival’s most familiar faces. An in-demand actress and increasingly recognised filmmaker, Merlant continues to shape a career that moves freely across genres, forms and artistic disciplines, but Cannes remains her cherished home ground.

When I met Marion Cotillard, I was going through an extremely difficult period. In some way, I clung to her. She was my oxygen mask when I was suffocating

Her career, meanwhile, has become increasingly international. Having worked in France, Italy, the UK and US, she has become more attentive to the different cultures of filmmaking. "There is something universal about cinema," she explains. "What changes is the way people approach it." American productions, she observes, tend to be far more tightly organised. "Everything is strictly controlled. No-one steps outside the framework. The schedules, preparation, organisation, everything is highly structured."

Italy, in her view, represents "the complete opposite", with a more intuitive and flexible approach. "Every country has its own magic when it comes to cinema," she says. "Most of the differences are cultural: working habits, schedules, relationships on set. Things we consider perfectly normal in France may seem shocking elsewhere, and vica versa."

Feminist questions

Her reflections repeatedly return to the place of women within these working environments. She notes that "the way people speak to women differs from one country to another". The concern echoes the feminist questions that run through much of her work, both in front of, and behind, the camera. From her earliest short films (including Shakira in 2021) to The Balconettes, Merlant has consistently championed a cinema capable of "cutting the patriarchy into tiny pieces".

She is encouraged to see such questions reverberating through many of the films screened at Cannes this year. "It seems that people are finally beginning to listen," she says. "We are no longer as afraid as we once were." Her feminism is never confined to theory, taking shape through characters, bodies, desires, contradictions and flaws. It lies in granting women the freedom to be excessive, imperfect, sensual, coarse, poetic or all of these at once. Merlant finds that freedom fully realised in Mandico's cinema.

Nord Ouest Films — A scene from the 2024 film Les Femmes au Balcon (The Balconettes), about three women in a Marseille apartment who get stuck in a heat wave.

Alongside her acting career, Merlant has spent several years developing a documentary about her family, an intensely personal project about disability, care, and her mother's experience as a caregiver. "My father is disabled, and my mother looks after him," she says. "It is an immense subject. I still do not know what form the project will eventually take… but it has stayed with me for years."

Portrayal of ageing

The project has also led her to reflect on ageing, a subject she believes remains largely absent from contemporary cinema. "Ageing does not frighten me as an actress, because I imagine I shall simply become an old director, and that is perfectly fine! It frightens me because it brings us closer to death. Suffering frightens me. The loss of strength, the loss of possibility, death itself." She feels that cinema can help ease this fear. "Perhaps if we showed ageing more often, we would be less afraid of it. We keep telling stories about people in the prime of life. Yet the end of life is still life."

For Merlant, representation can be restorative. Showing old age as an intrinsic part of human existence, rather than as a disappearance beyond the edge of the frame, may help us learn to live with it. "Whether we are speaking about women or men, this lack of representation feeds a collective fear of endings. Just look around. Even men are now turning to cosmetic surgery."

This existential outlook perhaps comes closest to explaining Noémie Merlant's relationship with cinema. In her expansive world, films do not cease to pulse with life when the camera stops turning. They continue to move and change, becoming entwined with the details of everyday life.

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