Angelina Jolie hosts intimate dinner honouring cancer survivors ahead of 'Couture' release

• Angelina Jolie stars in breast cancer drama Couture, released on 26 June
• Jolie lost her mother Marcheline Bertrand to cancer in 2007
• She hosted an intimate cancer survivor dinner at Atelier Jolie on 15 June

Angelina Jolie has opened up about the deeply personal nature of her new film Couture, in which she plays a woman diagnosed with breast cancer, hosting an intimate dinner honouring cancer survivors at her New York City creative space on Monday, ahead of the film's release later this month.

A role rooted in personal loss

In Couture, written and directed by Alice Winocour, Jolie, 51, portrays Maxine, an American film director who receives a breast cancer diagnosis while in Europe working on a fashion show segment. The role carries profound personal weight for the actress, whose mother Marcheline Bertrand died of ovarian and breast cancer in 2007.

In 2013, Jolie publicly revealed she had undergone a preventive double mastectomy after testing positive for the BRCA1 gene, which had increased her risk of developing breast cancer by 87 per cent.

Jolie speaks about the film's message

Speaking to PEOPLE, Jolie described Couture — which also follows intersecting storylines involving young model and immigrant Ada, played by Anyier Anei, and makeup artist Angèle, played by Ella Rumpf — as "a beautifully written piece about women from different countries."

She added: "It has something to say that I thought could be useful to people, showing how everyone is dealing with things that make us very human, and that if we can figure out how to live through challenges by leaning on each other and having more empathy towards one another, the better and less alone we will be."

Jolie also reflected on her character's journey, saying: "Alice is a wonderful director and approaches the stories of the women in Couture with sensitivity and hope. The film is not about an end for my character but rather about a renewed desire to live life until your last breath, which particularly resonates with me at this time in my life."

Dinner honouring cancer survivors

To mark the film's impending release, Jolie hosted a dinner for 20 guests at Atelier Jolie, her downtown Manhattan creative collective, on Monday. The event was catered by Eat Offbeat, a catering service run by immigrant and refugee chefs, and was attended by Columbia University General Internist and Literary Scholar Dr Rita Charon, as well as director Winocour. The gathering was designed to honour the strength of cancer survivors and the importance of community.

'I am not sure I was strong enough even five years ago'

The mother of six reflected candidly on her own readiness to take on such a vulnerable role. "I am not sure I was strong enough even five years ago to do this. To be open and trusting to share and be vulnerable again," she said. She also spoke about grief and isolation: "Things happen in life that take us off path. We lose ourselves and we feel isolated. I would have given anything to have my mother alive to be there for her grandchildren."

From Toronto to cinemas

Couture made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, where Jolie discussed her connection to the film with Variety. "I felt very vulnerable," she said at the time. Jolie wore one of her late mother's necklaces throughout the making of the film. "It felt so private that in my mind, it's probably the one film that doesn't feel like a film," she added.

During a post-screening Q&A at TIFF's Princess of Wales Theatre alongside Winocour, Rumpf, and Anei, Jolie responded to an audience member who had recently lost a friend to cancer and asked about the film's message of hope.

Drawing on her mother's words, Jolie said: "I think I will say that one thing I remember my mother saying when she had cancer, she said to me once, we had had a dinner and people were asking her how she was feeling and she said, 'All anybody ever asks me about is cancer.'"

She continued: "So I would say, if you know someone who is going through something, ask them about everything else in their life as well, you know? They're a whole person and they're still living."

Couture opens in cinemas on Friday, 26 June.