Karin Viard, mother and accomplice: confessions and humour on the red carpet of the 2025 César Awards

She's sailed through the decades without ever losing that free-spirited tone, that straight-talking charm we love about her. Karin Viard was back on the red carpet of the Césars on 28 February 2025, and she didn't walk the Olympia steps alone. By her side, a quiet but noticeable presence: her eldest daughter, Marguerite, 26, in a black slit dress and loose hair, matching her mum like a nod to their rediscovered bond.

A mother-daughter relationship that's 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, opened up without a filter: “It was many extremely difficult, very toxic years. And I contributed without realising it, not knowing what to do, despite my best intentions.”

The crazy thing is that it was actually when she received the script for Isabelle Brocard's film ten years ago that she fully saw the mirror held up between the 17th-century marquise and her own life. “I thought: this is my story,” she said. Ten years later, the war is over. The peace has the tenderness of a late reconciliation.

“When you're celebrating your daughter's 25th and you're the only one dancing”

If you still have any 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's the scene? A mother in a black Courrèges dress, literally alone on the dance floor, busting moves like a teenager. The killer caption: “When you're celebrating your daughter's 25th and you're the only one dancing.” Even Alex Lutz reacted with a laughing emoji.

This ability to laugh at herself, to share her little moments of loneliness with devastating humour – that's 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 “work hard 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 de 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 doing the rounds online: the famous “2D cardboard mask of Karin Viard”. No one's quite sure 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 winner in 2019) to total self-mockery in a snap. That ridiculous mask is a bit of a symbol of a woman who refuses to get a big head, even after three César wins and thirteen nominations.

Today, while she's happily loved up with Manuel Herrero (married in June 2022), Karin Viard seems to have found that fragile balance between being a doting mum and a free woman. And if she keeps sharing such raw confessions about her “long, violent years”, it's perhaps to remind us of a simple truth: you don't raise kids without scars, but you can always laugh about it later. Alone on a dance floor, or under the César spotlight.