Alba Rohrwacher on A Good Little Soldier: Navigating Corporate Survival
September 14, 2026
In the recent Venice Film Festival screening of A Good Little Soldier, Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher delves into her multifaceted role as Carla, a high-flying HR executive grappling with the brutal realities of corporate culture. The film, directed by Stéphane Brizé, critiques corporate hypocrisy through Rohrwacher’s character, who begins her journey promoting her Parisian insurance firm’s inclusivity efforts with a video showcasing disabled employees. However, her aspirations are swiftly dismissed by her CEO, played by Vincent Lindon, leading to a series of challenging workplace scenarios that reveal the superficiality ingrained in corporate language and dynamics.
Set against the backdrop of Paris, a “nightmare zone” as Rohrwacher describes it, the film employs a verite style, featuring a largely non-professional cast whose contributions reflect real office experiences. This marks Rohrwacher’s second collaboration with both Brizé and Lindon, following their work in Out of Season.
Rohrwacher emphasizes the importance of internal connection in portraying her character. She recounts Brizé’s request for her to learn French authentically, allowing her to believably embody the role of an Italian woman navigating a French corporate environment. Real-life testimonies from office workers significantly influenced her portrayal, highlighting the emotional struggles of falling victim to a relentless, often abusive system.
As Carla strives to manage workplace bullying crises while maintaining her parenting duties, the narrative underscores her plight. Rohrwacher reflects on Carla’s naivety, depicting her as a “child” struggling to reconcile her trust in a flawed system. Lindon, in his limited but impactful presence, embodies the harsh CEO, contrasting his more sympathetic roles in their previous works.
The film’s intense atmosphere is punctuated by dynamic soundscapes, driving home the relentless pressure facing the protagonist. Rohrwacher describes the filming experience as consuming, likening it to being “possessed” in a space that feels inescapable.
Beyond A Good Little Soldier, Rohrwacher has another film at the festival, Una Storia, where she portrays a mother experiencing an identity crisis as her daughter prepares to leave home. Reflecting on the societal contrasts between the French and Italian perspectives of motherhood, she humorously notes, “Maybe one is warm, and the other is devout. Maybe in the middle there is the solution!”
As the film concludes, Rohrwacher posits that Carla remains trapped within the corporate system, ultimately not emerging as a hero but instead gaining awareness of her precarious position within an unforgiving environment.
