Mariska Hargitay sees mom Jayne Manfield’s compassion in Olivia Benson

On the surface, Olivia Benson and Jayne Mansfield have nothing in common.

One is a rape survivor and a fearless and intelligent police detective Law and order: Unit of special victimsWhile the other is best known as a bomb of the 1950s whose voluptuous active ingredients even made Sophia Loren gives it a most serious eye.

But Mariska Hargitay learned to crop her point of view of the character she played for more than 20 years and that of her deceased mother, understanding that the putting voice of Le Mansfield and the image of sexy pin-up limited the parameters that her very intelligent mother was forced to work inside.

“It was incredible to see how women were treated and really put in a box,” said Hargitay Weekly entertainment. “It is something against which I was fighting personally in all directions. And now, how incredible it is to see women redefine.”

This redefinition is at the heart of My mom Jayne, The beginnings of director of Hargitay and a documentary on her efforts to better understand the mother whom she has never really known (Mansfield died in a tragic car accident in 1967, while Hargitay was only 3 years old). In the film, Hargitay explains the shame she feels for years during the career of her mother and the image “stupid blonde”.

“”[Her] The career made me want to do it differently, “said Hargitay in his mother’s documentary, who played the classic violin and piano, and spoke five languages.” I denied the part of myself who was my mother’s daughter. “”

With the film, Hargitay resumes her identity, finally allowing her to see parts of herself in her mother whom she had long tried to ignore or deny. But East Stronging that someone so determined to fight against the character of the 1950s bomb of Le Mansfield ended up portraying a strong and intelligent detective for the majority of his career. Was it an intentional repudiation of what Mansfield represented?

“I don’t know if I thought that at a conscious level,” said Hargitay. “But everything on Law and order And the character felt so well. That was what I wanted to do, what I felt I was capable of. I loved this character. I was sure a thousand percent that I wanted to do it. I had never been more sure of anything. When I read it, I said to myself: “that’s it”. Playing a woman with this kind of strength was so just for me. “”

She continues: “In the end, I chose roles and made very specific choices on the kind of career that I wanted to have. So that has definitely played a part unconsciously.”

However, Hargitay also says that she now recognizes that her response to the image of her mother was also an answer to the system that gave women very few options on the screen. “This is why the character of Olivia Benson, I do my own rules,” she explains. “No one tells me what to do. Olivia and I are together and that we are thinking about things in a different way rather than accepting the limits that are granted to us – or that patriarchy wants to put us on us. The way my mother was certainly treated how I decided to cross the world.”

In the film, Hargitay addresses his mother directly, saying: “I see myself in you for the first time – in your smile, in your laughter.” By extension, does that mean that it can now see Mansfield games in the character she described for more than two decades?

“His compassion,” said Hargitay about a potential shared trait between her mother and Olivia Benson. “I know that [my mom] was a deeply, deeply kind, compassionate and empathetic and loving person. But Olivia is intrepid and certainly not afraid of confrontation. It constitutes its own rules and lives by a different code. “”

Hargitay says that she was also able to see her mother in a new light thanks to Gloria Steinem, which Hargitay attributes in the film.

“Gloria was a hero and one of my mentors,” she explains. “It was an extraordinary friendship. He was someone with whom I identified myself and who made me feel in many ways. Someone who, when I fought with my mother’s image, I could look.”

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The actress says that she knows a full moment in a full circle given this new appreciation that she has for her mother. “It was glorious. I am so impressed by what she did, what she did and what she sailed,” said Hargitay. “Her determination, her appetite and her ambition, what she wanted to achieve, while wanting this full life, it is really extraordinary. And I believe in so many ways that she was ahead of her time.”

My mom Jayne First this evening at 8 p.m. HE on HBO.