La Casta - without falbalas

      She is twenty years old, she is beautiful... What should I ask her? Laetitia Casta is completely
      'natural'. Her intelligence and her sincerity are, just like the sensuality of her body, obvious.
      Besides, her message has a disconcerting simplicity: 'Be as you are'.

      The news is: Laetitia Casta is today the most beautiful news-item, the most photographed
      news-item, the most news-worthy news-item. Everyone asks the same question: 'What do you
      do with all the money you earn?' As if it were a little shameful, even unjust, to be so beautiful
      and, moreover, thanks to a gift from above, to become rich. The twenty year old child answers
      honestly, that she thinks of the future, and that the money will quickly stop coming. Laetitia
      Casta shows good sense and sincerity.

      Then, a model is known as stupid. It is not possible that such a beauty is, in addition, intelligent.
      One wants something else with the beauty. Laetitia takes the mockery. She has been treated as
      a Normandy cow. She has been quoted: 'I did not invent hot water'. (We neither). Laetitia rises
      above these silly things, elegantly, and proves in her interviews that she is a delicate girl who
      has an intelligence as natural as her long fair hair.

      She dresses without fuss, and lives with her family close to Paris when she is not in London or
      New York. She is not affected by what she experiences in life. She is simply glad to discover life.
      She has already appeared in a film - we saw her as Falbala in 'Astérix' -, but she does not dream
      of the cinema. For her, the modelling profession is not futile or superficial. She puts forward
      more than her beauty: her innocence. And this is why, of all the pretty agency girls, she is
      clearly the most seductive.

      Michèle Manceaux : Carole Bouquet said that as a very pretty young girl, she had been
      constrained because of the many men looking at her.
      Laetitia Casta : No, not me. Nobody told me I was pretty. I sensed the glances later, when I
      was around fifteen years old. I thought: this is what happens to all the girls. I quickly learned
      how to be unaffected by it.

      M.M. : You tried not to show your breasts ?
      L.C. : Yes, at school. My mother even took me to the doctor who said: 'You should not be
      ashamed! Do not be afraid!' When I started to have breasts, I was not ready. I had the head of
      a baby on the body of woman.

      M.M. : You wanted to be a boy ?
      L.C. : I wanted especially to remain as a child. I was shocked to see myself as a woman! It is
      odd, but you know it is the sexual instinct. Yes, I was afraid, but at the same time I thought: its
      beautiful to be a woman.

      M.M. : Did men frighten you ?
      L.C. : Yes, a little. They always frighten me a little!

      M.M. : Isn't it perhaps they that are afraid of your beauty ? Is it an asset to be really
      beautiful ?
      L.C. : I don't feel really beautiful, but I feel strong. When I look in the mirror, I don't say myself:
      'Oh, aren't I beautiful ?', rather, I say to myself: 'Am I someone good ?'

      M.M. : When you fall in love, do feel you more liked because you are beautiful ?
      L.C. : When I am in love, I don't control anything. (Smiles).

      M.M. : So, when in love, does being beautiful count for nothing ?
      L.C. : Perhaps at the beginning... but after five minutes, it is apparent that physique isn't the
      most important thing. For me, with men, it is the same thing, looks count for little.

      M.M. : In your trade, beauty is nevertheless the most important thing.
      L.C. : I don't do this only to be beautiful.

      M.M. : You do it for what ?
      L.C. : Because I have a message.

      M.M. : Ah, a message ?
      L.C. : Yes, I want to make people dream. It is an extraordinary trade because it evokes the
      extraordinary.

      M.M. : You make dreams about what?
      L.C. : With what they want, with harmony, with freedom.

      M.M. : Which freedom? It is very constraining for ordinary women to resemble you.
      L.C. : That's just it; my message is not: 'Resemble-me', it is to be natural, it is: 'Be as you are'.
      I would like women to feel as I do, with my front teeth, with my chest a little too opulent. When
      I pose for photographs, I think about what is at the heart of me. Not about the image.

      M.M. : But above all, you are the image which the photographer desires...
      L.C. : Yes, but I also express myself in this image. I am not a calf, I try to give.

      M.M. : You give what ?
      L.C. : Sincere things. Love, for example. That appears idiotic. You say to yourself: 'But what do
      we make of this girl, she is a model, and she says that she gives her love for photographs!' You
      think I'm ridiculous! But its the truth: I adore being in front of the camera for photographs. But I
      don't think of doing it because I'm beautiful, its a way of expressing myself. Sometimes better
      than giving interviews.

      M.M. : Then you would rather like to be an actress.
      L.C. : Not at all. If that happens to me, its interesting, but an acting role is not the best way to
      express yourself. (Laughs). I should stop saying that it is not only beauty that counts. That can
      irritate a little. (Laughs). But in the end, it is not because you are a statue that means you will
      make a success of your life. Me, I am curvy, not imense, which is worse. I didn't want to diet.

      M.M. : Did someone ask you to diet ?
      L.C. : Of course! I prefer to put on high heels, if necessary, and to eat what I want. The beauty
      is an aspect that will fade. Therefore I am trying to build...

      M.M. : A beauty which lasts ?
      L.C. : Not only that. I want to be a true person for the man of my life, for my children, for my
      family.

      M.M. : Are you content to be twenty years old?
      L.C. : Its wonderful.

      M.M. : You know the famous phrase of an author: 'I will not say to anyone that twenty
      years is the most beautiful time of your life ?'
      L.C. : You think I am naïve, but I agree with the writer: it is difficult to be twenty years old. You
      realise that life is full of things that aren't true. You seek, but you don't find etc, but you are in
      the middle of doing things, and it is the most beautiful moment. You have to be strong. I was
      afraid that people think badly of my feelings.

      M.M. : Until now, were you right to be afraid ?
      L.C. : I was able to be annoyed, to be hurt. People can be very malicious. In the end, I don't
      want bad to come of them. I think that they must be unhappy.

      M.M. : Oh, you have the attitude of a saint.
      L.C. : No, it is their problem. When I hear that I will turn into a large Normandy cow, they think
      that I will be hurt. So, why do they say it? To cause evil? It is they that are unhappy, very
      unhappy.

      M.M. : So apart from that, what do you do ?
      L.C. : I love to draw, to write, to be with my family, to go to the cinema.

      M.M. : On aeroplanes, which you often use, do you sleep ?
      L.C. : Yes, and then I write things. I have sheets of paper everywhere. I keep them. I have a
      drawer full of papers.

      M.M. : Don't you take a notebook with you ?
      L.C. : No, that would restrict me. But I know exactly what is in the drawer. If I lose a sheet of
      paper, its a drama.

      M.M. : Would you like to write a book ?
      L.C. : No, perhaps not, but I am doing a book at the moment, with a friend. A book of
      photographs and stories.

      M.M. : What do you wish for yourself, in the future ?
      L.C. : To be a mother.

      M.M. : It isn't very complicated.
      L.C. : No, but it isn't easy. I would like to be in love and to have a child with the man I love. It
      isn't impossible, but it isn't clear either. I believe in true love.

      M.M. : With Prince Charming ?
      L.C. : Do you want me to reply: 'I want an alcoholic, who takes drugs, and to have a child with
      him ?' Isn't it normal to want the best ? I know that you could have various lovers. I am not
      looking for someone who is fantastic, just someone who I can have confidence in. My goal is to
      learn many things. Everything is exciting, even being here with you! (Laughs).

      M.M. : Does your happiness depend on love ?
      L.C. : Happiness depends on itself. I don't want to be dependent on anybody.

      M.M. : If someone loves you, he has a hold on you.
      L.C. : I don't want someone who has a hold on me, nor to be somebody who is being held. I
      won't find this kind of love.

      M.M. : But, all literature is generated from this meeting of forces.
      L.C. : Let's say that I want a meeting of forces that doesn't affect me.

      M.M. : You want the most difficult thing in the world. (Laetitia reflects. Her responses are
      very slow in coming. Finally, it is she who asks).
      L.C. : What is it that men don't like?

      M.M. : For example, someone that asks them questions, someone that bores them all
      day.
      L.C. : Ah, I had guessed that. It is necessary to keep your thoughts to yourself. (A vague
      sadness sweeps the radiant face of one of the most beautiful girls in the world). I would love
      everything to be true.

      M.M. : Do you know when to keep silent yourself ?
      L.C. : When I don't have anything to say, I don't say anything.

      M.M. : So, do you dare to keep silent ?
      L.C. : At the time, I think badly of myself, but afterwards I am happy because I didn't say
      anything silly.

      M.M. : Have you wanted to seduce a boy who didn't throw himself at you ?
      L.C.: Yes, just like everyone !

      M.M. : At that moment then, did you perhaps want to appear more stunning ?
      L.C. : Yes, but I hate seeming fake. It appears that there are women who even fake orgasms.
      Isn't that stupid ?

      M.M. : The men need recognition.
      L.C. : Those who need to show off a beautiful car and a beautiful woman, the machos, they
      make me flee.

      M.M. : Are you rather attracted to those who don't look at you ?
      L.C. : Yes, rather.

      M.M.: Obviously.
      L.C. : Why, obviously ? (Silence). Oh! You think I am really naïve. I know very well that we
      always seek what we don't have. Yes, its hard to be twenty years old. But its so much better if
      I still have dreams.

                                                                   translated by Peter S.