Karin Viard: A mother and partner in crime – Humour and heartfelt confessions on the red carpet of the César Awards 2025

She has moved through the decades without ever losing that signature bluntness and candour we all love about her. Karin Viard was back on the red carpet of the César Awards on 28 February 2025, and she didn't walk up the steps of the Olympia alone. By her side, a quiet but noticed presence: her eldest daughter, Marguerite, 26, in a black slit dress with her hair down, matching her mother like a wink to their rekindled bond.

A mother-daughter relationship that has weathered storms

What strikes you when you look at the two women today is how obvious it is: they have fun together. Yet, not so long ago, Karin Viard described their relationship as "a relational nightmare". Yes, you read that right. That was in February 2024, on a TV show. The actress, who had just finished filming Madame de Sévigné, confessed without a filter: "It was many extremely difficult, very toxic years. And I contributed to it without realising it, not knowing what to do, trying very hard with good intentions."

The crazy thing is that it was precisely upon receiving the script for Isabelle Brocard's film ten years ago that she fully realised the mirror held up between the 17th-century marquise and her own life. "I told myself: this is my story", she said. Ten years later, the war is over. Peace, for her, has the gentle feel of a late reconciliation.

"When you're celebrating your daughter's 25th birthday and you're the only one dancing"

If you still have doubts, just take a look at Karin Viard's Instagram account. In November 2024, she was celebrating her younger daughter Simone's 25th birthday. And what do you see? A mother in a black Courrèges dress, literally alone on the dance floor, grooving like a teenager. The caption is savage: "When you're celebrating your daughter's 25th birthday and you're the only one dancing." Alex Lutz himself reacted with a laughing emoji.

This ability to laugh at herself, to share her little moments of solitude with devastating humour – that's perhaps the Viard trademark. A mother who was never afraid to talk about sex with her daughters ("No taboos"), who raised them to be "free and independent women", and who now has to "struggle just to see them".

• Marguerite (born 1998): trained in makeup at D-Mai Paris, she worked behind the brush for her mother on the set of Les Apparences.
• Simone (born 2000): a graduate of the École supérieure d'art et de design in Reims, she made her first film appearances in Polisse and Le Bal des actrices.

The "2D cardboard mask": When Karin Viard doesn't take herself too seriously

And then there's that funny image floating around online: the famous "Karin Viard 2D cardboard mask". No one really knows who started this gag, but the actress, far from being offended, seems to have embraced this silly parody of her own face. Because that's also Karin Viard: an actress who can go from intimate drama (Les Chatouilles, César 2019) to total self-mockery in a snap. That ridiculous mask is kind of a symbol of a woman who refuses to get a big head, even after three César Awards and thirteen nominations.

Today, as she lives in perfect harmony with Manuel Herrero (married in June 2022), Karin Viard seems to have found that delicate balance between being a protective mother and a free woman. And if she continues to share such blunt confessions about her "long, violent years", maybe it's to remind us of a simple truth: you don't raise children without scars, but you can always laugh about it later. Alone on a dance floor, or under the spotlight of the César Awards.