Marion Cotillard: Parenting makes me sparkle

Marion Cotillard says she feels a “real sparkle” since becoming a mother.

The French actress gave birth to son Marcel, her first child with partner Guillaume Canet, in May. The 35-year-old star finds it soothing to spend time with her baby and has developed a strong bond with him.

“I am indeed totally calmed down by motherhood. I wasn't particularly stressed before, but I feel a lot of bliss, a real sparkle,” Marion told the French edition of Elle. “With my son, we haven't been together for a long time, but I feel like he's always been there and I have never learnt so much since being with him."

Marion went on to talk about choosing a name for her son. She revealed the name Marcel has special meaning for her family.

"Actually, this name comes from a lot of different roots, because I have several Marcels in my family,” she explained. “The first time that I thought about calling my son Marcel, if one day I had a son, was years ago. I was on a boat, in Japan with some friends, and they told me that they called their son Marcel, and I found it sublime."

Marion also spoke about how motherhood has affected her career. She has landed a role in new Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises – where she is believed to be playing a villain as well as Bruce Wayne's ally Miranda Tate – and says she spoke to director Christopher Nolan about how to juggle her baby and her filming demands.

"I called him in order to explain it to him, and as he was in the stage of writing the movie at that moment, he told me that he would try sorting out the schedule,” she added. “He called me back a few months later and said that it would be a ‘kids-friendly’ set.”