Alexandra Favalli Breaks Down in Tears Over Maya and Leonard’s Clash in ‘Ici Tout Commence’!

In an episode of “Ici tout commence” airing Friday, February 21, 2025, Leonard (played by Thomas Vilan) finds out that Maya has betrayed him and demands an explanation from his best friend. Unfortunately, her reasons for her actions don’t suffice for him… It seems they have reached a point of no return.

Speaking to AlloCiné, Alexandra Favalli, who portrays the protagonist, discusses this twist in the story and delves into her character’s reactions…

AlloCiné: Why did Maya send that email in “Ici tout commence”?

Alexandra Favalli: It was a completely impulsive act. In fact, Maya often acts first and thinks later (laughs). It was her last resort to survive; when Leonard announced his good news, she felt like, ‘If I don’t act now to stop this, it’s the end of me. I will have nothing left to dream about, it’s all over‘. It was selfish, but if Leonard, her only anchor in life, is gone, she believes it’s all over…

Does she realize the severity of what she’s done to Leonard?

Actually, she realizes it fairly quickly, meaning she sends the email and immediately knows it was wrong. However, her true guilt emerges when Leonard finds out someone sabotaged his project. Seeing Leonard unhappy makes her understand the gravity of her mistake.

Do you enjoy acting out the scenes of conflict between Maya and Leonard?

Absolutely, I couldn’t have asked for a better acting partner than Thomas! My acting skills don’t naturally include crying, shouting, or being sad. But with him and our coach on set, everything flowed so smoothly!

I was so nervous about not being able to deliver a good performance that I actually started crying for real! I believe those were genuine tears during the scene where they argued because I was terrified that it wouldn’t turn out well… And it actually turned out great. I’m so pleased! We worked incredibly hard, giving it 120-130%, easily. (laughs)

Are you and Thomas Vilan as close off-screen as you are in “Ici tout commence”?

I think we’re even more connected than Leonard and Maya, actually. We’re so close that yelling at each other like that… When Thomas did it to me, it was awful! I love him so much in real life, and it would hurt me so much to have done that to him. But we got into it: ‘OK, I just stabbed you in the back, now scream at me!’ (laughs)

Did you enjoy playing a darker version of Maya?

Definitely. What she did was wrong, but it wasn’t done with malice or spite. It was done out of love… It’s completely absurd, we agree, but it was done out of love. It was incredible to play out mean actions with a pure heart! And it was also very challenging to perform. It involved balancing two emotions…

Stay tuned for more in “Ici tout commence”, airing Monday through Friday at 6:35 PM on TF1.