On this spring morning, Sonia Rolland sports an afro hairstyle as dazzling as her features are harmonious. Like a freeze frame, this scene is coupled with the memory of the same woman, at 18 years old, her hair relaxed, wisely collected under a crown set with diamonds, her bust surrounded by an embroidered scarf, on which shines the inscription: Miss France 2000.
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Also read: Sonia Rolland: “The Miss France whirlwind creates jealousy and can destabilize a family”
That year, Sonia Rolland was the first woman of African origin to obtain the title of Miss France. “It was so unexpected,” she said twenty-five years later.
An unexpected destiny
is also the title of her first film, retracing the story of a teenage prisoner in a working-class city, who enters the Miss France competition (in replay on France2.) This film tends towards a universal message where dreaming and surpassing oneself outline a new possible trajectory.
Born in Kigali, Rwanda, to a French father and a Tutsi mother – both business leaders – Sonia had to flee Africa with her family, at the time of the Tutsi genocide, to settle in Burgundy in precarious conditions, in 1994. From adolescence, an ultimate dream drove her: to become an actress. Through determination, ambition and conviction, she was able to “forge a path.” After her election, Sonia Rolland entered the audiovisual landscape through roles in successful series and films such as
Quai d'Orsay
, by Bertrand Tavernier. Today, in parallel with her career as an actress – we find her in season 5 of the series
Tropiques critiques
on France 2 – she continues her work as a committed director. At 43, Sonia Rolland is an independent woman and a loving mother. To her two daughters, Tess, 16 years old, and Kahina, 13 years old, she above all wants to bequeath the values that have been transmitted to her: resilience and the conviction that one must give oneself the right to dream and the means to act.
Sonia Rolland poses with her daughters Tess and Kahina
In images, in pictures
See the slideshow09 photos
See the slideshow09 photos
Madame Figaro. – An Unexpected Destiny
was an audience success. What did you want to share with this autobiographical fiction?
Sonia Rolland. –
My story – exile, the election of Miss France, followed by my career as an actress – has something of a fairy tale. During the filming of
An Unexpected Destiny
, I thought of these young people who prevent themselves from living their dreams. I wanted to show to what extent the adventure of Miss France was a driving force for me. Contrary to clichés, assimilating this competition to an apology for the woman-object, Miss France can be a symbol of empowerment for women.
Who was Sonia Rolland in 2000, the year you entered the Miss France competition?
I was an angry young person, who had lived two diametrically opposed existences. I dreamed of being an actress, but there was no representation of black people in film and television. To project yourself as a mixed-race actress, you had to be a little crazy. This is what my mother told me when I told her about my vocation as a teenager. At that time, I was part of a theater class in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, where we had moved after leaving Rwanda in 1990. My mother had set up a café theater there frequented by writers and poets. Everything stopped when I was 14, when we left for France to flee the Tutsi genocide, the thirty years of which we commemorate this year.
Upon arriving in Burgundy, your family experienced social downgrading. How did you experience it?
We ended up in a public housing project, where we were on top of each other. It was incredibly violent. A printer for twenty years and a pioneering feminist, my father found himself working in a factory. My mother became a department manager in a supermarket, despite her qualifications. She was part of the 1% of Tutsis who had access to studies. We were the only African family in a town of 5,000 people and I was constantly exposed to racism. They called me “Banania” or “Snow White.” My mother imagined my future in basketball. My father was looking for a break and he jumped at the chance when an organizer asked me to participate in the Miss Burgundy competition.
In the early 2000s, to project yourself as a mixed-race actress, you had to be a little crazy
Sonia Rolland
What inspired you to become a director?
I first learned the profession of actress by following a theater workshop, but people looked at me from top to bottom, because I was Miss France. So I got into the habit of working with a coach. The desire to direct came to me during the filming of
Désordre
, by Étienne Faure. I founded a production house and directed two documentaries –
Rwanda
: From Chaos to Miracle
(2014) and
An Ordinary Life
(2015) – which trace the genocide in Rwanda.
What is your way of being feminist?
My father always told me: “If you want to be happy, you have to emancipate yourself.” And my mother comes from a dynasty of Tutsi women who encouraged their daughters to be free. I consider that I made a feminist choice in 2000, when I presented myself in front of millions of French people by assuming my femininity, my culture and my difference, in an institution where diversity was still little represented.
How are you raising Tess and Kahina, your two daughters?
I keep the values passed on to me by my parents. That said, these two teenagers also teach me a multitude of things. For example, they were the ones who pushed me to stop straightening my hair. Although they grew up together and adore each other, they have two different fathers and distinct character traits. Tess is a contemplative, blessed with a prolific imagination and a rich inner world. She is modest, discreet. Although she has had modeling experiences alongside me, her 1.82 m height makes her complex and she prefers to feed on the beauty that surrounds her. We are alike in our need to escape. Kahina, a hyperactive person, is closer to me in this way. She has a fiery character, throws herself into projects and is not afraid of anything. During the filming of my film, she replaced an actress at short notice. At 13, she expressed the desire to become an actress. It's difficult for his father (
the actor and director Jalil Lespert, Editor's note
) and me, who chose this profession, to curb his enthusiasm.
In
An Unexpected Destiny
, I wanted to show to what extent the adventure of Miss France was a driving force for me
Sonia Rolland
What are your projects ?
I finished filming
Entre-deux
, a film by Jonas D'Adesky, which we shot in Rwanda, with Jean-Hugues Anglade. I am also making a documentary on crossbreeding. We do not yet understand that France is made up of mixes, sometimes not visible. My mother told me: “People are not born racist, they become racist through lack of education. It’s up to you to educate them in tolerance.”