OPINION COLUMN #25
14 years ago, I wrote my first play. The plot was about five women, five resistants, during WWII German Occupation. They were a puzzle of real witnesses of history. But they also were, each in their own ways and despite only one being written “for me”, pieces of soul, mind and heart.
I played Louise, the one written “for me”, for 6 years. Louise, the youngest, the most spontaneous, the most naive. The one who still has everything to learn, although she has already learned the hard way. When I turned 29, I felt the need to get some distance between me and the show, and the character. I left Louise and that younger version of myself behind.
2 years ago, for technical reasons, I went back into the field. I started to play one of those resistants from time to time (because I am lucky enough to be the mother of a teenage 13 year-old show!). And today, as I am about to turn into Lucienne, I realize fate put every character on my way right in chronological order and time. As I was trying to fit in my own life through their own shoes.
In 2024, Ambre, 21, as I was way in my thirties, jumped into my life. Ambre who is stuck at a crossroads, her heart in between the frying pan and the fire, indecisive between the ancient version of herself, her old choices, and who she has become with the war, without really allowing herself to be that newself. Ambre who wants to be bold but doesn’t dare. Ambre who, more than the others, is stuck in between two worlds without crossing to the other side.
In 2025, I welcomed Olga, 27, a mother. For the first time in my life, I was a mum. While I wanted to but couldn’t be one yet. But I mostly welcomed Olga who has lost everything and must live with absence, grief, escaping hopes. Olga who doesn’t belong to the livings anymore but doesn’t to the dead either. Olga who fights with all her will to feel alive.
This year then, I am about to follow Lucienne’s footsteps. A year younger than me. And I still don’t know what part of me she is. When I was 20 and writing the play, she was the fiercest feminist part of me. She still is. But something else is awakening to her touch. Something I can’t name. Something I don’t really want to expose. But I know it represents the moment I now belong. What I feel inside. What I have to understand about myself. Like an evolution rendezvous.
Madeleine is awaiting… Maybe I am not old enough yet. Maybe we are supposed to meet later on.
And I like this surprise of life, those pieces of me I gave birth to 13 years ago and follow my steps still, both demanding and healing, to help me go through the other side of the miror.
Justine T.Annezo – March, 1st 2026 – GTM+1
Fleeting Wor(l)ds 