How did you come up with the original idea about Demi-Sœur ?

I wanted to tell a simple story, the meeting of two people who come from completely different worlds and who end up finding each other. Antoinette « Nénette » Novack’s world is childhood, childhood forever. She may have been a victim of premature birth without the appropriate care modern times would have provided her. The world of Paul is first and foremost centered around a local pharmacy, without dreams, without friends, without real family, a solitary world from which he escapes by raising hermit crabs, those disgraceful crustaceans which live in the shells of others. Paul is an introvert, wrapped up in his own ego, like in a cocoon.

Why Nénette, why this sexagenarian child?

For me, acting is the only profession where one is still asked to “play” even at an advanced age. But playing a child, when one has long passed that age, is a true challenge. What I did is to imagine Nénette, her childish reactions, her sulking, disproportioned tantrums, intense joys, total naivety, and above all, her tremendous trust in the kindness of others. Bringing Nénette into being has not been easy, but once I had figured out the character, I made her stay the same, while her brother is the one who evolves and comes to her. Also, there are some small colorful pills, entrusted to Nénette by a punk-rocker who she met randomly, that will operate magic between her and her brother.