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Verónica Echegui

(Madrid, 1983)

has long shown herself capable of anything.

And even more.

She did it just at the moment when she decided to split the screen in two at the hands of Bigas Luna in

Yo soy la Juani.

The latest demonstration of her ability to break and tear can be seen in the romantic comedy

The Book of Love,

by Analeine Cal y Mayor, where she directly -besides falling in love wildly as she touches on the genre- she speaks English with a Mexican accent.

Or vice versa.

In addition, soon we will see her in the most anticipated series of the year:

Dr. García's patients,

based on the novel by

Almudena Grandes.

What leads you to choose a Mexican project filmed in English? I am clear that careers are chosen.

Projects come to me and you decide what you want to do.

And I chose this one because I love languages.

So simple. And what do romantic comedies have that, despite everything, are still there? Love.

Nothing more.

The central theme of both romantic comedies and life itself is love.

Love is the meaning of existence and the engine of everything that exists.

I can't imagine life without him.

Nothing would exist... Not even romantic comedies. Convincing.

On the other hand, romantic comedy has a lot of self-deception.

The love of the life of which he speaks has little to do with that of

Notting hill,

for example. It depends on the romantic comedy.

Some have done us all a terrible favor.

Many of them are an idealization by definition problematic.

But there are others that do adapt to the ambiguity and to what relationships really are. Whenever we talk about ideal love, the one who usually comes out worst off is the woman... Yes, the roles are not always adequate.

The pattern that is still repeated today is that of a woman who is not a woman if she is not in a loving relationship.

Still now the woman is not fulfilled if she is not with someone.

I see it around me.

If a woman of a certain age is not in a relationship, something is supposed to happen.

The stigmas and prejudices are there.So why did she agree to do a romantic comedy?This one is different.

What I like about this film is that it presents two characters, he and she,

so that they need each other without any of them possessing something like the absolute truth.

Let's just say they learn from each other. Also, the one who holds the reins in the relationship is her character... Yes.

In fact, we changed things in the script.

I didn't like that my character was complaining all the time without accepting that what happens to her is partly because she has decided so.

I don't like women to feel like victims.

The book of love,

he is the writer and she is the one who writes in truth.

And that, logically, is denounced.

Remember the case of María Lejárraga, ghostwriter of her husband Gregorio Martínez Sierra.

Do you think it is necessary to turn the rules of the genre upside down and denounce what is not fair? It is absolutely necessary.

The audiovisual is there to entertain.

But you can learn thanks to him.

Like it or not, cinema has an educational function.

Offer models.

And for this reason it is important that it fairly portrays the entire spectrum of characters that society is capable of.

For a long time, cinema has portrayed the female reality in a biased way. I think of

Pretty Woman

.

Should we put an end to it and the glamorization it offers of prostitution? You have to see things from the perspective of the time.

It is clear that from this moment that we live now Pretty woman or places the woman in a desirable place.

She is very childish.

But the 80s were different times.

There is a lot to discuss about it and it is good that this debate exists because that means that we are evolving.

And it is also good to look back and not do it from the current standard.

If we did it like this, we wouldn't see a single classic film because the role of women is terrible in almost all of it. Speaking of roles, his first role in Yo soy la Juani was already a declaration of intent.

Did she imagine then where she is now? I remember hearing Carmen Maura say that it is best not to have expectations and go day by day.

My case is the opposite.

Since I was little I wanted everything and my goal was to be the best actress on the planet and win an Oscar.

Over time I have been gaining in humility.

It is a complicated career and just the fact of working is an art.

He had idealized that of the cinema.

My passion is acting and telling stories.She has already made her debut as a storytelling director in a short film that won the Goya, Tótem Loba... Yes, and I'm thinking about the script for the feature film.

I am developing it.

It will go ahead for sure, but I don't know when. That film was an example of committed cinema and from a perspective, let's say, very feminist... I don't feel capable of speaking for others.

But in my case, I like that cinema stirs me, helps me understand and takes me further.

I am interested, being a woman, to talk about how I have lived that experience.

I don't want to teach anyone what is bad or good.

My intention is always constructive.

I am interested in stories that provoke me and make me take sides. If Spanish cinema this year is defined by anything, it is by the irruption of women.

Do you recognize yourself in this, in your own way, a revolution? The feeling I have is that society's interest in listening to women's stories has grown.

Is there.

And that is why we have been encouraged.

We are heard now and not before.

The scenario, let's say, is the right one.

But, the truth is, it is difficult for me to make statements on issues that I have not studied and that, therefore, it can be said that I am unaware.

As a citizen, I do hear more women talk about what they feel.

And that's good. Soon we will see Dr. García's patients, based on the novel by Almudena Grandes.

How did the vision of your work and of the series change after the death of the author? When I said yes to the project, Almudena was alive and it was just before shooting began that she died.

I was so excited to meet her.

It was terrible news, but at the same time it is a very powerful impulse to commit myself to the project to the fullest.

We owe it to them. What do we have to expect? I am convinced that it will generate debate.

In life, if the past is not recognized, there is no way to heal.

The wounds of the past have to heal before closing.

If we don't recover the history of our country, it stays with us like a ghost.

That is the only way forward, but I respect all positions.

I was so excited to meet her.

It was terrible news, but at the same time it is a very powerful impulse to commit myself to the project to the fullest.

We owe it to them. What do we have to expect? I am convinced that it will generate debate.

In life, if the past is not recognized, there is no way to heal.

The wounds of the past have to heal before closing.

If we don't recover the history of our country, it stays with us like a ghost.

That is the only way forward, but I respect all positions.

I was so excited to meet her.

It was terrible news, but at the same time it is a very powerful impulse to commit myself to the project to the fullest.

We owe it to them. What do we have to expect? I am convinced that it will generate debate.

In life, if the past is not recognized, there is no way to heal.

The wounds of the past have to heal before closing.

If we don't recover the history of our country, it stays with us like a ghost.

That is the only way forward, but I respect all positions.

If we don't recover the history of our country, it stays with us like a ghost.

That is the only way forward, but I respect all positions.

If we don't recover the history of our country, it stays with us like a ghost.

That is the only way forward, but I respect all positions.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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