Your character is very strong and doesn’t care what other people think. Do you relate to her?
I don’t know what a strong character really means. She’s rebellious and she has a kind of reflex, where she’s disobedient. She’s like, “Oh, I’m a rebel.” I’m a rebel but I think in many ways she’s quite weak and vulnerable. In a way I feel like she has to go home. She cut off her childhood and her family and her religion and her community, a bit like a kind of limb. I see it slightly differently. I see it like she has to go back and reconnect with her past. If you’re always running from something then you’re not really free.

Are you someone who will speak up at the risk of not being liked?
Really more than anything else in the world I admire people who are willing to stand up for the truth and risk not being liked. For me that is the most beautiful human quality. But am I like that? I hope so.

What were you like as a kid?
I was quite shy, yeah, believe it or not. And a tomboy.

You produced this film – were you looking for a story with two female central figures?
Yes. I was looking for a story about two women. I found many that were set in the 1950s when being gay was taboo. There was something about this one. It’s up the road from where I grew up in North London but I don’t know anybody from this community. I have no access to it. Nobody does unless they grew up in it.

Were you raised Jewish?
My dad came from a Jewish family. My mum was raised Catholic. She converted because my dad wouldn’t have married her otherwise, so I grew up with an understanding of both those religions. I am just not a religious person. I don’t practise any religion. What’s interesting to me is the similarities between religions … I am really interested in ending the prejudices. Faith is a beautiful thing. I don’t have it yet. Maybe one day I’ll find God.

How did you prepare for your sex scene with Rachel McAdams?
I think particularly as a woman, when you have a sex scene you’re always kind of like, “Ugh is this really necessary for the story? If this scene wasn’t in the film wouldn’t the film still make sense?” In this case, the scene was absolutely totally necessary. It’s like the centre of the film.