She was Lieutenant Hélène Vallon for two years in “La Crim’” (currently airing on France 2 on Friday evening). Isabel Otero is the only woman to have filmed thirty episodes for a series.
Since 2005, she has been playing the role of a police commissioner in “Diane, Femme Flic” on TF1.
Yes, the beautiful and smiling Isabel has a fondness for the Police!
Last June 28, Commissioner Otero stopped us at Karément for a professionally amiable interrogation.
Nice-Première: Diane, who is Isabel Otero?
Isabel Otero: Someone perpetually in search. Always moving, increasingly interested in the human being. She started by being interested in the human being in relation to herself, then in others. She is someone on a quest for integrity, who has a true penchant for nature and is in the process of fulfilling it.
N-P: What draws you to nature?
I.O.: Peace. (Smile) I am a contemplative person even though I am always moving. At some point, I need to stop, to contemplate. I defined several parameters and looked for a place with these parameters: A place that would overlook the landscape.
N-P: Sea or Mountain?
I.O.: It’s the mountain, from afar you can see the sea, but I am at 800 meters altitude. It’s a bit like an eagle’s nest, and it’s a place of peace. There’s nothing. I wait all day for the rumor that doesn’t come.
N-P: What do you think of rumors?
I.O.: I am no longer interested in rumors.
N-P: And about journalists?
I.O.: I don’t think anything of them. My grandfather was an extraordinary journalist during the civil war in Spain. He did his work extremely well. So what do I think of journalists in general? When they do their job well, I think well of them, but some do their work poorly, they don’t listen. Otherwise, I have nothing against journalists. Journalism is a very beautiful profession when one is integral.
N-P: What was your first role?
I.O.: (Smile) I was 10 years old and played the role of the Sun in Prévert’s poem. “The Burial of the Dead Leaves.” “And here comes the sun passing in the sky…”. (Smile)
N-P: Are you a sun?
I.O.: Yes, I think I am, sometimes. (Smile)
N-P: And the police? What do you think of it?
I.O.: I don’t particularly like the police. I have no affinity with it. I find it important, indispensable, but I do not like police states. The police is important for managing a community; it is needed, but a police state: No.
N-P: The police bring peace.
I.O.: It should bring peace.
N-P: Do you support an association?
I.O.: There is one, but it doesn’t call on me often enough. So I don’t know if I’ll go elsewhere. Generally, I am ready to support. I used to support this association somewhat affectively, but I am ready to support many associations concerning children. Greenpeace offered me to defend trees, but I prefer to defend children.
N-P: If you were a tree, which one would you be?
I.O.: A cedar. (Smile)
N-P: Why?
I.O.: Because they live long. It seems as if the cedar doesn’t need the hand of man to sculpt itself. It does it alone. One always has the impression that it is…
N-P: Beautiful?
I.O.: Yes, that’s true. The cedar embraces the sky. An oak, for example, is a big ball with a trunk; the fir tree, it reminds me of a pointed hat, the maple, it seems fragile. The cedar… (Smile)
N-P: Listening to you talk, it seems that you are a passionate person?
I.O.: Yes, I am very passionate.
N-P: And what are you so passionate about?
I.O.: First, humans. If I had to give a revealing character trait, it would be humanism in general. I love people, and it’s also why I do this job. Because I find it fascinating to explore…
N-P: To invite yourself into the viewer’s home?
I.O.: To invite and to invite people to live through you. When you’re an actor, you invite people toward you. I like that. I started by doing theater, and fundamentally that’s why I love this job: taking things from people. I find people fascinating. As soon as it’s about injustice, I am the first to rise. When people rally under a common banner against injustice, I am the first to cry, for example. That’s what I talk about when I speak of humanity.
N-P: Currently, you are one of the heroines of TF1’s police series “Diane, femme flic”. Now, could Isabel tell us about Diane?
I.O.: She is a policewoman who is somewhat atypical in the sense that she works with her husband. That’s what I liked about the series. Ideally, she made me think of Katharine Hepburn in “Woman of the Year”. It’s a couple that works together and brings work problems to bed. The comparison is elevated because it’s such a sublime and magnificent film, and they are extraordinary, so I’m certainly not going to compare myself to Katharine Hepburn. But there was a kind of mixture: a big bear and a mischievous young woman, which I liked. Otherwise, it’s more comedy than action, and that’s also what I like. Diane is a rather light character, and that doesn’t displease me because I played very dramatic characters, so it does me good.
N-P: Diane isn’t about to stop then?
I.O.: (Smile) We have two episodes in the fall in September. Next year, we’re doing four, and after that, we will see. Six episodes for sure (Smile).
N-P: What role would you like to play?
I.O.: Many (Smile)
N-P: In theater or cinema?
I.O.: Many, I like this profession; I’d like to do many things. (Smile)
N-P: Does theater attract you?
I.O.: Yes, I’m going to try to do theater for 2007. There’s a play I care about, and I’m trying to promote it. It’s called: “Coup de cœur.” It hasn’t been performed yet. It’s a creation.
N-P: Finally, if I tell you “First” or “Premiere,” who or what do you think of?
I.O.: Of my daughter, Anna.
