"It's time to highlight differences and bring a little tolerance": we met actress Sara Mortensen at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival

Japan, the Marquesas Islands, Monaco—Sara Mortensen's recent career has been rather pleasant. The Franco-Norwegian actress, who has starred for six seasons in the hit series Astrid and Raphaëlle on France 2, where she plays opposite Lola Dewaere, a documentarian on the autism spectrum, is enjoying unprecedented success, which brought her to Japan for a week, where the series attracts several thousand fans.

In Monte Carlo, the actress spoke about the success of the series, as well as her future projects.

In April, you took a little trip to Japan for the series "Astrid and Raphaëlle" , where the enthusiasm was exceptional, what memories do you have of it?

It's pretty mind-blowing. Astrid and Raphaëlle has become a cult series over there. It's getting crazy ratings. And so, they went so far as to invite us there for a week. I was Madonna for a week. That's it, it's incredible.

How do you explain the success of the series in Japan?

The series addresses very universal themes: friendship, difference, tolerance. Then again, it's very well crafted and written. The Japanese are very fond of shots of Paris and France, in general. And Astrid has been shopping in a Japanese grocery store since she was little. She knows Japanese words. She's reassured by Japanese culture, which is very codified and very socio-normative. So, for her, it's something that speaks to her because there aren't so many unexpected things. And people don't touch each other; in the subway, you don't touch each other. You don't brush against each other. No one will ever push you. It's almost Astrid's paradise, and what's more, her boyfriend is Japanese. And what's more, like Astrid, she never, never, never changes her look; she's a bit like a manga character, really.

Are you surprised by the international success of this series?

I'm always amazed when something works. But that's because when I start something, I tell a story. I don't think about what it's going to be like afterward. So, when I start something, I don't think it's going to be a huge success. But I find it magical. I find the scale it takes on quite overwhelming. But every time I finish a season, I put down my little shoes and my little backpack. And I say goodbye to them as if I'll never see them again. I'm still amazed when people tell me there will be another season.

And is it difficult, physically, to play Astrid?

Physically, she's the opposite of me. I walk with my feet like a duck, because I did classical dance. She walks with her right foot a little inward. She puts her toes down first. And then, with the heel, she rolls her foot out backwards. So, there you go. And then, her head, always like that, crooked, after a while, it pulls in the back of my neck. And then, with my fingers stuck together, that's why I put a ring on afterward. A big ring. Because otherwise, I end up with my fingers crossed. There you go. Otherwise, I'm fine. Are you okay? (laughs).

Did you measure all this preparation before embarking on the role?

I'm the one who created this little young woman. Afterwards, I didn't realize it would last so long. So, I went all-in for 21 days of filming. And then, we said to ourselves, we'll never see her again. I said to myself, I might as well do everything I can. When we were in Japan, I found myself at a fan meeting, in a cinema, with a giant screen. And there, we had to watch, because I have trouble looking at myself. And they showed the Japanese people's favorite sequences. And so there, I had to watch, since I was in front. And I found it absolutely adorable, the connection, the friendship between Astrid and Raphaëlle. I understand that people melt. So I hadn't taken that step back yet and the extent of it. But I can visualize where it touches people, in fact.

Do you have any feedback from autistic people?

Full. Again, this morning, a young woman wrote to me. I recognize myself so much in this series, in your gestures, in your voice, in your reactions. It helped me manage my crises, to be able to anticipate them. I also have people who are diagnosed thanks to this. Because Raphaëlle is my thimble. But I am Raphaëlle's compass. That is to say, I am her guide. And so, thank you for showing that we too are useful and that we too make compasses.

"Aspergirl," "A Little Something Extra," "Handi Gang," "Toulouse-Lautrec"... we have the impression that fiction is increasingly talking about difference in order to democratize it or inform people.

Above all, it's time to highlight it, whatever the difference. We're still in a world that struggles with gender differences. We're still women. I'm not going to claim something, but we still brought 100% of the humans on this Earth into the world. And we're still treated like a kind of sub-minority to be controlled. I think the world has a problem with difference. Religions pose a problem. Colors pose a problem. And disability poses a problem. Everything poses a problem, in fact. So yes, it's time to highlight difference and, above all, to bring a little tolerance. Is it utopian? Yes. But we want to believe it so much. Yes.

The series has been moved to "Alexandra Ehle" with Julie Depardieu and Bernard Yerles, how did you experience it?

So, I had a really bad experience as Astrid, because taking Astrid out of her world, out of her place, out of her bearings, for me, it was ultra-difficult (laughs). It was great. But me, Astrid, it's not a character that you take and put somewhere else, in fact. It's much more complicated than that. And then, obviously, script-wise, we mixed two genres. Astrid is funny, but despite herself, in relation to her reaction gap in situations, Alexandre Ehle, we're no longer sure of the assumed comedy. So, we had to find a middle ground. But afterward, it was very nice. And if we do the return match, they come to our house.

So, bringing Astrid to Japan, to have a storyline logic, when we know what she represents there, is both possible, but very complicated...

This is Astrid's autistic paradise. So, I think it's much less complicated to take her to Japan than to take her to Bordeaux, to a wacky coroner.

But could it be a story arc, going to Japan?

It's our dream. It's their dream, too. There's a real demand, too. After all, we're all adults, we all know how this business works. It's co-production, it's co-writing, it's financing, it's all that. After that, will it happen or not? I only believe what I see, what happens. But then, if it happens, I'm in heaven. Because then, we'd still be on the international launch of a series. On a level rarely equaled. A pilot episode that starts with 21 days of filming and ends with a co-production in Japan. Now, I'm dying of love and happiness. It would be crazy.

You're lucky, because outside of Japan you recently filmed in the Marquesas Islands for an episode of "Murders in..."

I did Murders in Bayeux before, so I'm not criticizing Bayeux, but I gave my share before (laughs). But the Marquesas Islands and Tahiti are the other side of the world. So, it's true that if you don't go there to work, you have to take the time to go there. It was exceptional. I don't even have words to describe this project, it was so crazy. The humans there, the Marquesas Islands, are nature first and foremost, and a few humans around. And so, we have total respect. We are in osmosis, in fact, with everything that breathes. There are wild horses everywhere, goats, pigs. It's fabulous. And the humans there, I learned a lesson in kindness and humility. Almost all the people who were on our set didn't do this job in real life. And they were invested and shared. It was crazy. I ate raw fish for five weeks.

There's another project coming up, which was announced not long ago by TF1, it's "Filip," a one-off about Filip Nikolic from 2be3...

We chose to tell the story through the prism of the love story between Filip and Valérie Bourdin, who was his partner. And so, it's a story about highlighting Filip from a different angle than just the 2be3 singer who had sublime abs. It's about telling a little about the man and their love story that was at the center of his life. And which is an absolutely moving, passionate, and exciting love story. I'm completely in love with this project. At the same time, objectively, I think we're making something amazing. Filming is going wonderfully well. My partner, Mikaël Mittelstadt, who plays Filip, is exceptional.

Did you meet Valérie Bourdin to prepare for the role?

Yes. It was overwhelming, moving. I feel a huge responsibility since it's the first time I've played someone who exists. I'm not going to try to be Valérie. Firstly, because she's not well documented since at the time we weren't in the fashion for permanent videos and all that. And she was rather in the shadows with her man whom she loved dearly. We must remember what they went through and as a music group, they went through something of bottomless violence, we treated them like products. We put them at the head of the gondola and then we put them in the cellar. Without any transition, without any explanation. Over a very short period of time. It highlights this side of our profession that can also exist, which is the difference between the artist, the product, the creation, the merchandise, all that. It can be very violent.