The Oscar-winning actress became emotional while sharing a meaningful message her mother gave her during her illness, speaking at the film’s premiere on September 7 at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Angelina Jolie shared an emotional message about illness during the premiere of her new film Couture.
In the movie her first role since portraying opera legend Maria Callas in Maria last year Jolie, 50, plays Maxine, an American film director who is diagnosed with breast cancer while working on a video for a Paris fashion event and dealing with a divorce.
At the film’s premiere on September 7 at the Toronto International Film Festival, the cast participated in a Q&A session led by TIFF’s Chief Programming Officer, Anita Lee. When an audience member who had recently lost a friend to cancer asked for a message of hope for those still battling illness, Jolie became visibly emotional. She paused, then expressed her sympathy: “I’m very sorry for your loss.”
Jolie went on to recall something her mother, Marcheline Bertrand who died of cancer in 2007 at age 56 once told her. During a dinner when people kept asking about her health, her mother said, “All anybody ever asks me about is cancer.”
Jolie urged everyone to remember that those going through difficult times are still whole people with full lives. “If you know someone who is going through something, ask them about everything else in their life as well,” she said. “They’re a whole person and they’re still living.”
Marcheline Bertrand was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1999 and later developed breast cancer before passing away in January 2007.
In 2013, Angelina Jolie chose to have a preventive double mastectomy after genetic testing revealed she carried a high risk of breast cancer. The tests showed she had a faulty BRCA1 gene, which gave her an 87 percent chance of developing breast cancer and a 50 percent chance of ovarian cancer.
In a New York Times op-ed titled “My Medical Choice,” Jolie explained that the surgery reduced her risk of breast cancer to less than 5 percent.
During the Q&A, director Alice Winocour emphasized that while Couture deals with cancer, it’s ultimately a story about life and its vibrant energy. “We didn’t want to bring anyone down with the topic of cancer quite the opposite,” she said, describing the film as a celebration of the spirit of survival.
Winocour also noted that Angelina Jolie immediately connected with the film on a personal level, given her own experience with breast cancer in her family, including the loss of her mother and grandmother. “She also related physically to the story, having undergone a double mastectomy herself to avoid the same fate,” Winocour added.
According to the official synopsis from TIFF, Jolie’s character Maxine takes a job in the Paris fashion world because it’s financially rewarding and she’s facing financial challenges. Amid a divorce and raising a teenage daughter, Maxine is also preparing her next film but her carefully controlled life begins to unravel after she receives a serious medical diagnosis.
Maxine’s personal struggles intertwine with the lives of two women she meets at work: Angèle (played by Ella Rumpf), an experienced makeup artist who’s writing a novel inspired by her time in the industry, and Ada (Anyier Anei), an 18-year-old pharmacy student from Nairobi who has just been discovered as a model and is adjusting to a completely new world. Each woman faces both minor and major decisions that will shape their futures and careers.
Last year at TIFF, Angelina Jolie attended to support her directorial film Without Blood, a gripping drama featuring Salma Hayek and Demián Bichir. Her 21-year-old son Pax was in the audience and joined others in giving her a standing ovation after the premiere.
Her eldest son, Maddox, 24, who worked as a production assistant on Maria, took on the role of third assistant director for Couture, which was formerly known as Stitches.