In 1890s France, a 19-year-old kitchen maid named Augustine (Soko) suffers a grand mal seizure while serving at a dinner hosted by her employers. They pack her off to the Salepêtrière Hospital, an imposing all-female facility in Paris that specialized in the little understood disease called “hysteria” that had a variety of mental as well as physical symptoms. The facility’s most senior physician, Martin Charcot (Vincent Lindon), takes an interest in the young girl and, in order to secure some much-needed funds for his institution, starts grooming Augustine for lecture-hall demonstrations of her spectacular fits. The demonstrations impress potential funders and are reviewed in the press like theatrical performances. Though illiterate, Augustine is savvy enough to understand her place in Charcot’s career goals and the two soon begin a back-and-forth dance where it’s not always clear who is in control. We now know that some of Charcot's research was a bit misguided, but he was still a pivotal figure in the treatment of such maladies and his work had a major impact on a young Sigmund Freud who studied with him for a time. As for the real-life Augustine, she walked out of Salepêtrière one day, disguised in men’s clothing, and was never heard from again.

25-year-old singer/songwriter Soko, formerly known as Stéphanie Sokolinski, gives a remarkable performance as Dr. Charcot’s most famous patient. She was nominated for a César in 2010 for her performance in “In the Beginning,” with François Cluzet and Gerard Depardieu, and has received major acclaim for her powerful role in “Augustine,” directed by Alice Winocour and co-starring Vincent Lindon and Chiara Mastroianni. I talked to Soko in Los Angeles where she was putting the finishing touches on her new album which will be released later this year. 

MSN Movies: I was blown away by your performance in this film. I can’t imagine anyone else but you in that role.

Soko: That’s what I kept saying to them!

I was familiar with your work as a singer/songwriter but didn’t even realize you were an actress, too. How did you end up in this film?

My agent sent me the script very unofficially. I didn’t even want to read it because I was making my album and was very focused on doing that. I feel very schizophrenic if I start mixing different parts of my life. But when I finally read the script I flipped out and thought, “This is the role of my life! No one else will be able to do it as well as I can!” Believe me, I’m not usually so self-confident but I was just so sure I could do it. 

Were there many other actresses vying for the part?

Oh, yes! And they didn’t even want to see any professional actresses—they were convinced that they needed to find an unknown face. I said, “What are you talking about, I’m completely unknown!” But they said, “No, not you!” And for like eight months, my agent would call every week and ask if they’d found someone. When they said no, he’d say, “Can you please let Soko audition?”

Oh, you hadn’t even auditioned in all that time?

No, I had just read the script and was obsessed with it. I was having dreams about Augustine and felt that I really, really, really had to play her. But they just refused to see me.  And so finally, after seeing like 800 girls, they finally agreed to let me come to Paris to audition. And it obviously went really well because I got the part!

Did you spend much time researching the real Augustine?

No, Alice forbade me to.

I’ve seen photos of her and it’s crazy how much you actually look like her.

Alice had decided that physical appearance wasn’t going to be a factor in the casting. She was looking for someone who was super wild but also shy, strong and weak at the same time, someone who could be both the victim and the master. She totally removed from her head what Augustine looked like but in the end when we were looking at photos, she kept saying, “Oh my God, you totally look like her!”

Bing: More on Soko | More on 'Augustine'

I think the topic of “hysteria” is so fascinating. On the one hand, at least Charcot was believing these women, he wasn’t accusing them of being witches or anything like that. On the other hand, it seemed like “hysteria” became an umbrella term that was often used to keep women in their place. Interesting that this diagnosis no longer exists.

It has evolved into different shapes. All of those women who are interviewed on camera in the film are real mental illness patients and those are all their real stories. Alice interviewed so many girls and wanted to see how these things are translated today. Most of the symptoms are things like anorexia, bulimia, and self-mutilation.

Do they now think that with patients like Augustine that it wasn’t something genetic as much as the result of some horrible trauma in her life?

Yes.

The “fits” that your character has are amazing to watch. Was that part of your audition process?

They definitely asked me to have a fit! I think most of the girls were jut screaming their lungs out and totally forgot like the sexual aspect of it but I was like touching myself all over and pulling at my skirt and they were like, “Okay, she’s not scared of that part of the story!”

When you were doing those scenes, were they meticulously choreographed, or were you just letting go in those moments and going to a different place?

J.J. Abrams’ second entry in the rebooted “Star Trek” franchise had no trouble taking a huge lead in the North American box office this weekend. But even with a whopping $70M haul during its first three days, studio execs seemed disappointed that the new film didn’t have bigger numbers, and critics were hotly divided over the film’s merits. But there has to be rejoicing at Paramount that the younger Kirk, Spock, and gang brought in more than twice of what Tony Stark managed to earn in his film's third week.

“Star Trek Into Darkness,” the #1 film, earned $70.5M (at 3,868 theaters) proving that the franchise is anything but dead, despite some dire predictions by Trekkies who are less than ecstatic about the latest adventure by the Enterprise crew. The #2 film, “Iron Man 3,” was still able to amass $35.1M in its third week (at 4,237 theaters) for a new domestic total of $337M. Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby,” at #3, added $23.4M (at 3,550 theaters) to its now $90.1M domestic gross. Those top three films are miles ahead of the rest of the movies on our list. The #4 film, “Pain and Gain,” pulled in only $3.1M (at 2,429 theaters) while “The Croods,” at #5, made $2.75M (at 2,373 theaters) for a new domestic total of $176.7M.

The Jackie Robinson drama “42” slipped to #6 in its sixth week, earning $2.73M (at 2,380 theaters) for a domestic gross of $88.7M. At #7, Tom Cruise’s “Oblivion,” earned $2.2M (at 2,077 theaters) and a new domestic total of $85.5M. “Mud” stayed put at #8 this week, earning $2.16M (at only 960 theaters) while “Tyler Perry Presents Peeples” plummeted to #9, with $2.15M in ticket sales (at 2,041 theaters). At #10, “The Big Wedding” brought in $1.1M (at 1,442 theaters) for a domestic total of $20.1M in its fourth week.

As we move closer to summer blockbuster time, we’ll see three big movies open next weekend: the Wolfpack returns to Las Vegas for more crazy antics in “The Hangover Part III,” a motley group of retired criminals reunites for one last job in “Fast & Furious 6,” and a teenage girl tries to save the world in the animated 3D “Epic.”