In Years and years, Emma stars as Vivienne Rook, an unsettling acclaimed British businesswoman turned into a far right politician who achieves success as the world is falling apart and a dystopic future is upon us.

The incredible rise of this charming and charismatic leader (despite the bad things she offers) and the screaming crowd that helps her get in power, should awaken our consciences and make us reflect on today’s political and social landscape.

Vivienne Rook looks similar to some populist politicians that we can recognise from real life.

Emma Thompson, playing this role, said she feels frightened for the fast rise of populism in the world and she is afraid for young people’s future.

Emma fights everyday for human rights and for minorities and we know she is also against Brexit, so seeing her play the role of a woman so different from her way of being is mesmerizing and chilling at the same time.

Emma reflects that, “If you give that kind of rhetoric air time, it proliferates because people find it a lot easier to hate and discriminate than they do to include and to feel compassion and empathy about people who aren’t directly related to them. It’s easy to scare people into feeling loathing, and we’ve seen it happen again and again. I try to make her as funny, self-deprecating and as charming as possible because we need to understand why people vote for her. But she turns into an absolute monster.”

This stunning performance as a negative character shows us once again how great an actress she is!