Life is full of moments of transition and change. When night turns into day, winter into spring, or kids turn into adults. As intrinsic as these transformations are in human life, it makes sense that several pieces of media celebrate or simply narrate them as they are, and our protagonist has definitely mastered the art of portraying the raw and pure emotions of a person going through them. Her name is Valèria Sorolla, and while wearing Dior Fall 2023 at these pictures, she reflects on fame, music, happiness, and Laura, her role in the acclaimed film La consagración de la primavera, a character that, metaphorically enough, has helped this actress reach her particular and very first rite, just in time for spring.
Interview taken from METAL Magazine issue 48. Adapted for the online version. Order your copy here.
Her name has already been called in the place where most Spanish actors dream of hearing theirs, and with her first ever Goya Award nomination as best new actress, it seems as if the theme of the film, where her character is in constant search of those meaningful first times, has jumped out of the screen and manifested in real life. Her name was going to be called that night, but with the impeccable red Dior ensemble from the Cruise 2023 collection she wore for the occasion, she made sure the world remembered not only her name but her face. When someone wears red, and even more when someone wears Dior, it is very difficult not to naturally and instinctively turn our heads in their direction.
That has been her reality ever since the premiere of the film that gave her the nomination, La consagracion de la primavera. The name comes from Stravinsky’s very influential and controversial at the moment, ballet The Rite of Spring. Music plays an important role throughout the story and works as a sort of bridge between the two main characters, both of whom search for their own moment of realisation, a journey where they share paths for a moment but that starts and ends on their own. Valèria’s character appears on screen in every scene of the movie, and even if her presence is always there, the more meaningful moments end up being the long periods of silence, ones that just by the look on her face we can tell are not quiet at all in her head; inside it must sound like Stravinsky’s piece, contradicting, confusing, slightly stress-inducing, and above all things, passionate. It seems like an accurate description of the teenager’s years, a conversation we also have here.
Venturing into not only acting but also music and writing, Valèria represents a breath of fresh air in the industry. Without pretences and with an elegant simplicity to her, she finds happiness in her craft and in the applause. She’s now enjoying the best of both.
That has been her reality ever since the premiere of the film that gave her the nomination, La consagracion de la primavera. The name comes from Stravinsky’s very influential and controversial at the moment, ballet The Rite of Spring. Music plays an important role throughout the story and works as a sort of bridge between the two main characters, both of whom search for their own moment of realisation, a journey where they share paths for a moment but that starts and ends on their own. Valèria’s character appears on screen in every scene of the movie, and even if her presence is always there, the more meaningful moments end up being the long periods of silence, ones that just by the look on her face we can tell are not quiet at all in her head; inside it must sound like Stravinsky’s piece, contradicting, confusing, slightly stress-inducing, and above all things, passionate. It seems like an accurate description of the teenager’s years, a conversation we also have here.
Venturing into not only acting but also music and writing, Valèria represents a breath of fresh air in the industry. Without pretences and with an elegant simplicity to her, she finds happiness in her craft and in the applause. She’s now enjoying the best of both.
Hi Valèria, It’s nice to talk to you. How are you feeling?
Well, very well. Quite calm, I’ve been through a very busy time in my life, now I’m finally landing.
Last winter was not very cold, at least in Barcelona, but how are you welcoming spring?
Well, spring is my favourite season. So, I receive it with optimism. And I don’t know, with a little bit of weakness too.
It seems you are the type of person who is affected by the seasons and the weather in a more personal way, right?
I guess a little bit, but I like it, and I think it makes sense. In the end, we are at the mercy of these changes.
Since the release of your film last September, has it been all lights, cameras, events, and glitz, or is there a time in this growing fame when you need to reflect or stop and think more seriously and introspectively about what is happening to you?
Well, yes, there is what you were saying, this fame, but it’s f leeting fame, and the circle is small. To premiere a film like La consagración de la primavera is the biggest gift I’ve ever received, and I feel it has allowed me to grow exponentially as a professional and as a person in the spotlight. Another part of the work is as fragile as exposing yourself in front of a camera, and that brings out another kind of ref lection about what our profession involves, but it’s not an intrinsic part. Yes, it’s something more personal. How it affects you and how you’re living.
Red carpets are undoubtedly a moment of attention and perhaps tension for those who are the object of the flashes and the glances. How much does what you wear inf luence you in these moments?
I think it influences me a lot. They’re moments of exposure in which many emotions are concentrated on our profession and how we want to show ourselves to the world, and in the end, the clothes we wear are another layer of expression. Feeling in tune with what you’re wearing gives you the confidence to show the world who you are or who you want to be while you’re discovering it.
Tank top in ribbed cotton, denim boyfriend jeans with faded effect, étoile de voyage 90 square scarf in white multicolour silk twill, all DIOR.
One of your most iconic looks was a very striking and powerful red look from the Dior Cruise 2023 Collection that you wore to the Goya Awards. How did you experience this moment, and what was it like to do it with Dior?
I experienced the moment with great emotion because it was the culmination of a great learning experience, and it’s true that I chose a very picturesque skirt suit [laughs]. I don’t know how many times on the red carpet women are asked to show themselves in a certain way, and although things are slowly changing, I think this choice was a gesture where I had the opportunity to listen to what I needed at the moment because of the colour and the type of cut. It gave me strength.
Also in the photos accompanying this interview, you are wearing Dior, this time with looks from the Fall 2023 collection. How was the photo shoot? Is it very different to pose in front of a camera for a shoot like this than to perform in front of a camera?
One is more open, the other is more personal. It’s very different, actually. Because when they are taking your photos, you’re yourself, and it’s sometimes not easy to assume or channel, but it’s fun. It’s also a game. It’s a bit of interpreting yourself as you feel at the moment and with what you’re wearing.
You seemed to enjoy yourself during this photoshoot, wearing all these beautiful Dior looks. Has fashion always been present in your life? Has it interested you? Or are you developing this sense of style more now that your profession, in some way, demands you do it?
The truth is, it’s not something that has been very present. Throughout my life, I’ve enjoyed fashion as a spectator, but when I started working as an actress, I had access to a certain style and brands that had been inaccessible to me so far. I’m interested in fashion as I am in all artistic expressions beyond the trends, and I think fashion is a very powerful medium of expression.
So is there a word that defines your style? Or is it a bit of everything?
It depends on a lot, honestly. I don’t consider myself to have a very defined style; I always adapt to different situations because I think I have a very changing life, and you always have to adapt.
Diving more into your career, I am curious
about the process experienced in the time between the realisation of a project and the moment when it finally sees the light. How do you make that transition from living with something that for months was somehow intimate, only yours and a few other people’s, to suddenly sharing it in front of thousands of eyes that, without a doubt, do not have such a personal bond with it as the one who brought it to life?
It’s a very beautiful journey, and I think the hardest part is letting go. It’s nice to see how people who weren’t present receive it because you realise what really stands out the most from your work, and that’s the moment when you truly see how your work is perceived because, during the process, you give everything, from your tools as an actress to the time when you draw the character’s journey. But also, many things that have to do with your ambition, your dreams, and the relationship with the people in the team. So many things are mixed up. And the first time you do it, as it was in my case, not in front of the cameras but in the cinema, it’s very exciting, and it’s hard to let go of all this experience, but at the same time, I think the only thing left when we’re done shooting is precisely the process, and that’s why I think it’s so important to live it to the fullest, from the care to the delivery. I think in the case of this film, it’s something that was taken into account by the team, and I also lived it from the beginning. It’s noticeable.
Wool and silk top and skirt, J’Adoir slingbank pump in rani pink embroidered satin and cotton, CD Lock earrings in gold-finished metal, all DIOR.
This issue of METAL Magazine is about joy. I assume that doing what you love makes you happy, and receiving attention and praise for your work must also bring you joy. Are these different kinds of happiness?
I think they’re different. They probably mixed at some point. There’s a type of happiness that has more to do with the vocation and with a probably more intimate desire, and the other one has more to do with validation, but I think both are important to move forward because, through the validation of others, we also get the strength to keep going. But what really matters is what makes you happy, regardless of everything that is around you. Although it’s true that this may be very idealistic.
La consagración de la primavera is a film that could be described as a drama; your character, Laura, is a young girl halfway between adolescence and adulthood. Do you think that in real life, at this age, we tend to live and see life more dramatically than happily?
I think there are very explosive moments of happiness, but it’s true that maybe the moment in which we realise everything that comes with growing up and becoming independent, all the dark sides that it has, is very scary, and that’s why we surely live moments in a more dramatic way.
How was your life at Laura’s age? Were you happy?
Well, let’s see, I wouldn’t go back to my teenage years, but I don’t remember it as a painful time. But it’s true that today I feel more stable, more confident than at that time, and more optimistic.
When deciding to follow an artistic or creative path professionally, there is added pressure for young people because of the discourses we always hear about stability or the ease of building a quote unquote successful life around these disciplines. Was this the case for you? Did you have any fears or doubts, or, on the contrary, have you always been convinced that this was the world you wanted to live in?
Well, it’s true that it’s something I always wanted to do, and therefore all my training was focused on that. I never thought about doing something else. My family supported me in that decision. Although that’s not the reality for all people who want to dedicate themselves to this, in the end, you have to start from a position of certain privilege to live from it. Well, not necessarily, but it’s true that there are people who have it easier than others, and it’s a very unstable profession to which many concepts like success and fame apply. It’s true that very few people end up working on this, and fewer people end up being successful. So, I’ve always had a lot of hope with this profession because I’ve always been clear that it’s what I’m passionate about, and in the end, I’ve been doing it for many years. Therefore, I’ve been able to play a lot of key roles and gain confidence with the different jobs I’ve done, but it doesn’t stop. It doesn’t stop that instability or that insecurity regarding the future; it doesn’t disappear.
Going back to the film, it’s very much about those silent rites of passage that we experience throughout our lives, moments or situations where it’s clear that we don’t come out the same as we went in. Can you think of any such moments that have had an impact or significance in your life?
I think that, like my character, Laura, the first time I lived outside my parent’s house, it was also linked to a more mature learning. To start walking my path and to start having clearer wishes about what I wanted to do, I decided that I wanted to make movies. At that moment, I hadn’t seen many movies, and suddenly the cinema came to me. In that stage, some dreams started to be forged, and some relationships were formed. It was a stage where many things happened, and that also has to do with leaving your comfort zone.
Tank top in ribbed cotton, denim boyfriend jeans with faded effect, étoile de voyage 90 square scarf in white multicolour silk twill, all DIOR.
In addition to being a transitional moment in your acting career, this film has also strengthened your positioning in the industry; the Goya nomination is proof of that. With such a big and symbolic recognition as this, do you feel you are already over the most difficult period, or do you think you are still on the road to your own recognition?
Well, the truth is that I feel very fortunate that my work is being recognised and validated by all these professionals, whom I admire so much. I feel that that confirms learning or professional growth. Clearly, there has been a before and after for me since I shot this film, and right now I feel like I’m back to how I was before. All these experiences that I have lived have given me a lot of confidence to move forward, and I also think that with all this process, some fears have been released, and I think that is also important to mature as a person and as a professional.
Besides your acting career, art is present in your life in many other ways, such as Puro Pedrito, your musical project. What makes you want to mix the lyrics of Calderón de la Barca with booty-shaking rhythms, as you describe it?
The project was born from mixing urban music with the lyrics of Calderón de la Barca because, in the end, all the members of the band come from the world of theatre, and we are quite familiar with the theme. The desire to make urban music comes from a place of complete experimentation and, without any pretences, just seeing where that mix takes us.
Laura was depressed by bachata because of the sad lyrics; what do Calderón’s lyrics evoke in you?
They awaken a lot of curiosity in me. In the end, we used those lyrics because they referred us to a collective imaginary that we believe has not died, despite the fact that they are old lyrics. We have a song called La fama, and it is a theme that appears now in many urban music songs. It seemed interesting to us to recover texts that speak of these themes from the past.
Do you find a significant difference between acting and musical expression? What tools does one discipline give you that the other doesn’t?
Well, I think both can take you to the same places. Although it is true that for me, the actor’s expression has something more to do with my academic training and putting myself at the service of telling stories that are often very thought out or trying to get to very specific places. Music has a more experimental function to connect with emotions in a more raw way without putting myself in a game that has some rules. But it is true that I think the positions can be exchanged. For example, I also trained myself in music. But it is true that because of how my profession has developed, in the end, one has occupied a more significant space, is more professional, and is more towards the public, while the other has stayed in a more intimate place. Although I have made creations like the one you mentioned.
Is your musical project still alive?
For now, it is there. I hope we can do a concert. It would be very fun. But for now, my life is more linked to fiction than music. Not only to cinema but also to theatre, I have a creative company with which I have been for some years, with which we do several projects, and I am also starting to write, which is something that I would like to do.
Wool and silk long dress, bracelet, all DIOR.
How cool! Writing for theatre, for films, for yourself ?
For now, I am co-writing a script.
Speaking of objectives, what is your dream?
Well, maybe it is a bit repetitive, but in the end, living from my profession and doing projects that move me.
How do you spend your free time? What do you like to do that makes you happy?
My profession takes up a big part of my life, and I am very happy that it is like that. Although it is true that it is important to find other spaces to develop, in my case, the things that make me happy are very simple: I like being with my friends; I like moving my body and taking it to other places through yoga; I also like to eat a lot. I don’t have any surprising hobbies. I do think it is important to cultivate a life beyond the professional.
Totally
Oh, I like to read a lot!
Me too! Any authors or books you could recommend?
Well, I like a lot. The first one that came to mind is also by a film director and musician, a person with whom I connect a lot. I like it a lot precisely because of that. Her name is Miranda July, and the novel that I love is called The First Bad Man.
One of Laura’s sentences that stayed with me was “I always want to do something, but in the end, I never end up doing anything”. Does it happen to you?
Well, I think that procrastination is something very typical of our time, and it is a bit inevitable to be affected by it, but I would say that I am a very active person; I get up very quickly to do things. I would say that I do not identify with that phrase, but we all have moments.
What is something you have always wanted to do?
I would like to write. And learn to make decisions.
Wool and silk top and jacket DIOR.
Silk and wool long dress, small Lady Dior My ABCDior bag in caramel beige cannage lambskin, Dior Tribales earrings in gold-finish metal with white resin pearls and mirrors, C’est Dior slingback pump in nude patent calfskin, all DIOR.
Cotton denim Tie’n’Dior jacket and trousers, tank top in ribbed cotton, small Lady Dior My ABCDior bag in rani pink cannage lambskin, La Parisienne necklace in gold-finish metal with white resin pearls and mirrors, all DIOR.
Wool and silk long dress, rani pink saddle bag with strap in smooth calfskin, all DIOR.
Silk shantung skirt, Dior Tribales earrings in gold-finish metal with white resin pearls and mirrors, La Parisienne necklace in gold-finish metal with white resin pearls and mirrors, all DIOR.
Bags credits:
Small Lady Dior My ABCDior bag in lambskin with white Cannage motif. – Small Lady Dior My ABCDior bag in caramel beige Cannage lambskin. – Medium Dior Caro bag with mariniere chain in blue lambskin. – Saddle bag with shoulder strap in smooth Persian pink calfskin. – Small Lady Dior My ABCDior bag in Persian pink cannage lambskin.
Small Lady Dior My ABCDior bag in lambskin with white Cannage motif. – Small Lady Dior My ABCDior bag in caramel beige Cannage lambskin. – Medium Dior Caro bag with mariniere chain in blue lambskin. – Saddle bag with shoulder strap in smooth Persian pink calfskin. – Small Lady Dior My ABCDior bag in Persian pink cannage lambskin.