Angelina Jolie gets candid about deeply personal story behind 'Couture'

Angelina Jolie has spent decades telling powerful stories on screen, but her latest film may be the one that hits closest to home.

The Oscar-winning actress stars in Couture, a drama centered on a filmmaker diagnosed with breast cancer while working in Europe.

For Jolie, whose mother Marcheline Bertrand died after battling ovarian and breast cancer, the role carried a deeply personal weight.

Calling the film "a beautifully written piece about women from different countries," Jolie said it explores how people navigate life’s most difficult moments together.

"It has something to say that I thought could be useful to people, showing how everyone is dealing with things that make us very human, and that if we can figure out how to live through challenges by leaning on each other and having more empathy towards one another, the better and less alone we will be."

The actress admitted the project arrived at a moment when she was finally ready to be emotionally open again.

"I am not sure I was strong enough even five years ago to do this. To be open and trusting to share and be vulnerable again," she said.

Jolie also reflected on the absence of her mother, whose loss continues to shape her life.

"Things happen in life that take us off path. We lose ourselves and we feel isolated. I would have given anything to have my mother alive to be there for her grandchildren."

Perhaps the film’s most powerful lesson came from a memory of her mother’s own cancer journey.

"All anybody ever asks me about is cancer," Jolie recalled her mother saying.

Her advice? "If you know someone who is going through something, ask them about everything else in their life as well, you know? They're a whole person and they're still living.”

With Couture, Jolie is not just telling a story about illness – she is telling one about resilience, connection and finding reasons to stay happy in hardest chapters of life.