Hafsia Herzi, director of La Petite Dernier: “Making this film was a filmmaker’s duty”

This is undoubtedly the year Hafsia Herzi. Awarded last February with the César for best actress for her performance in Borgothe Marseillaise goes behind the camera for the third time with the brilliant The Little Last. The sensitive portrait of a teenager in search of emancipation, torn between her faith and her desire for women. We met the filmmaker in a Parisian café to discuss this feature film.

Vanity Fair. How did this idea of ​​adapting come about? The Little Last the Fatima Daas ?
Hafsia Herzi. Following the release of my first film, You deserve a love, the producer Julie Billy contacted my agent to offer me the adaptation of the book. I was finishing my second feature, Good mother. I didn’t have an idea for a third feature film, so it was perfect. I really fell in love with the story, for this character never seen before in the cinema. Moreover, Fatima has repeated it a lot: writing this book was a duty because, in her youth, she had no representation. I also considered that making this film was a filmmaker’s duty. Besides, there are lots of people who send me messages to thank me for the film.

How did you approach this transposition?
It wasn’t easy because the book is, in its form, a little unstructured. It’s the style, it’s what makes it charming and it also leaves room for the imagination. My condition for accepting this project was to maintain a certain freedom. Fatima Daas really trusted me, she was the one who validated my name, so it went very well.

One of the major differences with the book is the absence of the father. He only appears in the background in your film…
He is quite violent. From the start, I didn’t want to film it, it was too heavy. For me, we’ve already seen it 50 times in the cinema. I more wanted to show something positive. Fatima made my decision very well. It wasn’t mentioned contractually, but I made him read the different versions. In all friendship and without constraint. And straight away, she told me: “You did well.”

When you read the book, what images came to your mind?
The first reading was the discovery phase. The second was more to see what could be interesting. I knew from the start that I didn’t want to film childhood. It’s complicated to shoot with children, to find a little girl who looks like the adult character. I said to myself: “Anyway, with the family, we will understand.” Fatima’s asthma, which she suffers from, also interested me. There was something symbolic about what she felt inside herself. Besides, I called on a real pulmonologist to play his doctor. Religion is part of his daily life. From the second version, I knew that the prayer would serve as a setting and an opening. Starting the film in this way allowed us to get to the heart of the matter.

You have done investigative work in lesbian circles. What answers were you looking for, beyond the coming out testimonies?
At first, I doubted: will I succeed in understanding the character? It was necessary for the film. Good motherit was a bit close to me, but I had to talk a lot with my mother and with the women of that generation. And there, the same, I carried out investigative work. I went into the field, I talked, I did a lot of research, as if I were going to make a documentary. I needed to go to the places where the character goes, to try to understand her, to put myself in her place without judging her. I had several questions around emancipation, identity, lack of communication with loved ones. Very quickly with Fatima, we talked about our families, our mothers, and we very quickly understood each other.