Helen Mirren, 79 years old: “For centuries it was taken for granted that women should magically disappear at the age of 50. But that’s not the case. We are still present, alive, active, interested, energetic, brazen, annoying “

Dame Helen Mirrenthe actress interpreter of The Queenfilms for which he won an Oscar winner in 2007 as the best actress, is a habitué of Cannes Film Festival And also this year he trod the red carpet at the Croisette as a guest of honor of L’Oréal Paris, for 28 years official partner of the Festival.

During the event, for the fifth consecutive year, the prize will be awarded by the cosmetic brand L’Oréal Paris Lights on Women’s Worth Awardchaired by the Oscar -winning actress and Ambassador L’Oréal Paris Viola Daviswhich will take over from Elle Fanning and Kate Winslet as sworn. It is not just for this event that Helen Mirren has arrived on the French Riviera. She who is from 2014 Spokeperson of L’Oréal Paris, was invited with the rest of the Ambassador family to the The Dîner Women of Worththe exclusive Dinner Party dedicated to women’s empowerment. On this occasion, Oréal Paris will celebrate two important goals: the twenty years alongside Eva Longoria and the forty years of collaboration with Andie MacDowell, voice and historical face of the brand.

The day before treading the Cannes 2025 red carpet for the film La Venue de l’avenir I met her on a video call via Teams, for the second time, and our conversation was illuminating.

Being in Cannes with L’Oréal Paris is a symbol of beauty and empowerment. What is the personal message that embodies with your presence?
«L’Oréal Paris says through people like me, Jane founded, Viola Davis, Andie MacDowell That you can enjoy your physicality and your appearance, without being superficial, at any age. We women do not have an expiry date. When you are fifty or sixty years you don’t suddenly stop feeling pleasure for the results that mascara or body cream gives you or a new haircut, or if you choose to dye them or not to tin. Life does not stop and you still like everything. And I think that we ambassadors, of a certain age, of L’Oréal Paris this we represent. We are all very busy in life. I just finished five film projects, one after the other. Andie is an incredible actress. Jane is enormously engaged in her professional and political life. We are all very proactive and this also shows that there is no time limit for a woman. “For centuries it was taken for granted that women should magically disappear at the age of 50. But that’s not the case. We are still present, alive, active, interested, energetic, brazen, annoying “

Speaking of energy, between sets, red carpet, and all the work commitments it has, from where does it take its office?
“I try to eat rightly. I’m not a fixed with well -being, I don’t go to the spa. Even if I went there and I really liked it, but I don’t do it regularly. I always say I do everything, but it’s not true. I don’t smoke, which is important. I like to sleep and I rest enough, I am almost not training as much as I should, if I did it then I would really have energy! But I’m quite lazy. I think I have a natural curiosity for life in general, for people, for the world, for cultures and for communities. It’s a bit my job. If I’m tired, hold my teeth and go on. I recently did it for a year and a half. I don’t like complaining. Indeed I hate the groping people».

Have you always embodied the harmony between beauty and intellect, how essential has been essential for its path? How do you think this combination is perceived today?
«I hope you are right. I would like to be much smarter than I am and I love being with people smarter than me and learning from them. I am horrified by the obsession that is today for appearing, it is clear, of course, in a massive way by cell phones, from the Internet, by Tiktok, from social media and by the fact that all girls today put on as models. I was not obsessed with my appearance when I was younger, I was worried or interested, I always loved makeup, but today this is real obsession. I recently saw in Rome a girl who was photographed by her mom in front of a statue, she could have five or six years and, the most horrible thing she has ever seen, it was that she posed her mouth with the classic pound of the stars. Who has learned to be photographed like an adult woman? I am interested in, they excite me and intrigue me many other things in addition to beauty. It is precisely the monothematicity of the conversations that I find very worrying, we should talk about many other things ».

Has it always been sure of himself in life, and if not, what helped her become the person you are?
“I wasn’t sure at all. I don’t know if someone knew how insecure I was, honestly part of the reason I became an actress was because I was so insecure in my everyday life that reciting over the years, helped me become more confident, at least I knew what I had to say. And I became growing and realizing that you are not the center of the world and nobody really cares about you. When you are insecure you think “everyone looks at me, nobody finds me fun and see me ugly”. The truth is that others don’t care about you, people worry about yourself, you worry about yourself. I learned to let go of the paranoia and live life to the outside and not inwards ».

Is there any advice he wanted to receive when he was younger?
«I think you can only learn by experimenting. It doesn’t matter what advice you are given to you. It is useless. But there may be a strange word or phrase that arrives in a particular moment in your life, which takes on meaning for you and perhaps works. I remember what the director of my school told me who was a nun, because I attended a school of nuns: “There is only one thing that you should be afraid of, and it is fear itself“. A thought that I brought with me for a long time because I felt it was a really good advice. Fear is a very dangerous thing, it can lead you to racism and in all ugly places, it can make you lose courage. He gave me that advice when I was ten and I imagine that he had a certain effect because I still talk about it ».

In addition to the director is there a woman who inspired her in life?
«Oh my God, Anna Magnani. For his personality, his approach to work, his brilliance on the set, and then for the fact that it was Italian ».