End of shooting for Amel Bent in the role of Malika Bellaribi

Singer Amel Bent Makes Actress

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Saint-Philippe de Meudon educational village, Friday, September 18.

As the students enter the classroom, the forecourt of the former Catholic orphanage overlooking a huge wooded park is in turmoil.

The shooting of one of the last scenes of the TV movie

, which is scheduled to be broadcast on France 3 in 2021, is preparing.

After directing Le

, with Zabou Breitman, Christian Faure is adapting the autobiographical novel by mezzo-soprano Malika Bellaribi here.

The singer Amel Bent plays the main role.

Published in 2008,

tells the story of a girl from the slums of Nanterre who, in the 1960s, suffered a serious accident.

As she admires the new sandals her mother just bought her, a truck hits her.

It was the beginning of many sufferings which took her away from her family and led her from hospitals to convalescent homes.

Cared for by the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul, she went to mass and discovered the sacred song.

Then begins a journey towards the success of what is now nicknamed "the diva of the suburbs".

A palpable emotion

On a bench facing the film crews that morning, Amel Bent and Malika Bellaribi are happy to meet again.

The day before, the two women shot a very moving scene together since it is the moment when the mezzo-soprano, during a concert, sees her mother for the first time in years.

“I tried to hide my emotion.

It moved me to have to sing in front of her, even if it's in playback, admits Amel Bent.

Often, I would cry between takes, under the eyes of Christian, Malika's husband, who told me with tears in his eyes: "I have to open my eyes and hold my wife in my arms to realize that is not she that I have in front of me ".

This sentence gave me a boost until the end of the shoot ”.

This shooting, Malika apprehended him slightly.

“Knowing that my story was going to be put into pictures, it surprised me at the time, I had a hard time believing it,” she says.

Then I realized that I was going to have to relive my past once again.

It scared me a bit ”.

Even though she did not know the lyric singer, Amel Bent, on the contrary, did not hesitate for a single second.

“On reading this scenario, I immediately planned a huge hole in my schedule to play this role so much I loved it.

I talked to some actress friends, Leïla Bekhti and Sabrina Ouazani, they told me to go for it ”.

"We do not let ourselves be redefined"

The singer with six albums and hundreds of concerts still had to face stage fright throughout the first week of filming.

“It was a first time for me, it scared me.

I was petrified but gradually, by seeking the empathy and kindness of the people on the team, I learned to relax.

»To play a character is an art that Amel has learned rigorously.

“I worked a lot for this role.

The more prepared I am, the less afraid I am, in theory (

).

I want to earn what I work for.

This is the secret of everything we do in my opinion ”.

All smiles, Malika congratulates her straight in the eyes and admits that she knew how to play “both the strong and vulnerable woman, which is no small task.

Seeing myself in her allowed me to calm down in relation to my story ”.

This story deals with the status of women, social condition, racism, and success through music.

Questions that these two artists of Algerian origin have been confronted with during their careers.

“Our paths were not marked out in the same way, but we managed to find a place in a world where there was none for us, welcomes the singer.

What I like is that we don't let ourselves be redefined ”.

Young woman from working-class neighborhoods, Amel adds: “They say that God only experiences those he loves.

I never said to myself: "it's impossible, I give up".

We can recognize ourselves on many levels in the story of Malika.

There are so many things in which I recognize myself as a Maghrebi, as a suburban woman, but also as an artist, as a woman, wife and mother, that I tell myself that this film can appeal to as many people as possible ” .

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