The French actress has worked with greats likes Luis Bunuel and Roman Polanski, often playing bourgeois women who teeter on the edge. Celebrated as one of Europe's best actresses, she is not without controversy.
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12 'grandes dames' of French cinema
Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau: Hardly any other country has so many grandes dames of cinema as France. Here are some of the country's most unforgettable artists — and those who might still become one.
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Catherine Deneuve — the 'grande dame'
She is one of the most important French film actresses of our time. Born in Paris in 1943, it was the film "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" that made her famous at the tender age of 21. The woman with the flawless appearance and cool expression played in films by renowned directors such as Roman Polanski, Francois Truffaut or Luis Bunuel.
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Isabelle Huppert — the unapproachable
She seems unapproachable and distant. Just a facade? One who should know is director Michael Haneke (pictured left). Huppert is his favorite actress; their latest collaboration was on the drama "Happy End." The exceptional actress became famous with films like "The Lacemaker," "Madame Bovary" and "The Piano Teacher."
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Jeanne Moreau — star of the Nouvelle Vague
She shot films with almost every famous director. Moreau starred in very influential films such as "Elevator to the Gallows," "Jules et Jim" or "The Lovers." In 1965 her striptease with Brigitte Bardot in the revolutionary comedy "Viva Maria!" caused a real scandal. The legendary actress died in July 2017.
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Brigitte Bardot — the erotic icon
Speaking of Brigitte Bardot... She should not be missing from this list, of course. In the 1960s she became an erotic icon as an actress, singer and model. She made film history through her role in "Contempt" by Jean-Luc Godard from 1963. Here she's lounging with Maurice Ronet in "Les Femmes."
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Sophie Marceau — the Bond girl
In the 1980s she became a star and was the crush of many teenage boys after playing in "La Boum." After part two, the then 16-year-old got out of the contract so she wouldn't have to shoot a third part. Through the erotic drama "Descent Into Hell" she proved she was not an innocent teenager anymore. Here she is seen as a Bond girl in "The World Is Not Enough."
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Fanny Ardant — the muse
Fanny Ardant, Francois Truffaut's last muse and companion, is one of the most popular actresses on the screen and on stage in her home country. Director Truffaut discovered Ardant in a TV series and wanted to get to know her. A lunch with him and Gerard Depardieu followed. In 1981 she had her breakthrough in the "The Woman Next Door."
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Isabelle Adjani — femme fatale with humor
She celebrated her first major success at the Comedie Francaise, but it was Truffaut's "The Story of Adele H." that made her famous as a film actress. By working with many renowned directors she soon became one of the sought after cinema names in Europe — and her image changed from comedy actress to femme fatale.
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Juliette Binoche — the picky one
From a very young age, the daughter of a theater director and an actress was present on stages and celebrated her film debut at 18. It did not take long for Hollywood to take note. In 1996, she won an Oscar for best supporting actress in "The English Patient." Binoche is considered to be very headstrong: She refused a role in the blockbuster "Jurassic Park."
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Audrey Tautou — the fabulous
She is one of the divas of the new generation: Audrey Tautou. She couldn't completely rid herself of the image of the strange but lovable Amelie Poulain. The movie "Amelie" helped her with her breakthrough as an actress and she later starred in several other successful films. Tautou created a buzz internationally by playing alongside Tom Hanks in "The Da Vinci Code."
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Charlotte Gainsbourg — the daredevil
The daughter of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg created a stir in Lars von Trier's "Nymphomanic." The film shows a woman who experiments with her sexuality in all kinds of ways. It is not Gainsbourg's first appearance in a daring role. The film "Antichrist" (pictured), also directed by von Trier, gained a reputation as a scandalous film.
Long before her highly debated death scene in "Batman — The Dark Knight Rises" the beautiful Marion Cotillard was talked about. In 2011 she was named the best-paid French actress. Cotillard has shown that she can be very versatile — particularly in her role as Edith Piaf in "La Vie en Rose," for which she won an Oscar in 2008.
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Lea Seydoux — the indie star
Seydoux is another French actress who became a Bond girl (here with Christoph Waltz in "Spectre"). She first became famous with "Blue Is the Warmest Color" — a film that both fascinated and shocked critics and audiences, particularly with its seven-minute lesbian sex scene. Together with co-star Adele Exarchopoulos and director Abdellatif Kechiche, Seydoux received the Golden Palm in 2013.
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It's a shame that the movie The Short Night never materialized. Alfred Hitchcock was meant to direct it and Catherine Deneuve was meant to play the leading female role, but the project was canceled in 1979 due to the director's deteriorating health.
Deneuve would have joined the many legendary "blondes" that Hitchcock cast in his cinematic masterpieces. Others include Kim Novak, Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren. It would have been exciting to see how the British-American director would have brought Deneuve and her talent to the big screen.
Early roles: Virtuous and unabashed
Deneuve, who is today revered as one of Europe's greatest film actors, was originally not blonde at all, but brunette. Director Roger Vadim insisted in 1963 that the then 20-year-old actress dye her hair blond for the role of the virtious Justine in Vice and Virtue. He said blonde hair would help her look more innocent. Vice and Virtue would become the Paris-born actresses' first notable role.
Catherine Deneuve gave a nuanced performance in 'Belle de Jour'Image: picture-alliance/Mary Evans Picture Library
Luis Bunuel's 1967 film, Belle de Jour, allowed Deneuve to show off her full acting range. She plays an attractive bourgeois young woman who lives out her erotic fantasies — in a brothel. A film like Belle de Jour was much more daring than 50 Shades of Grey, the 2015 blockbuster based on E.L. James' sadomasochistic erotic novel from 2011. And it wasn't just that Bunuel's film was released decades earlier; Deneuve's acting was also wonderfully skilled. She played her character with doe-eyed shyness on the one hand, and unabashed determination on the other.
A profound character actress
Three years earlier, she had perfected that particular shyness in the wonderful musical film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. In 1965, sheoutdid herself as atortured young woman in the Roman Polanski thriller Repulsion. Along with Belle de Jour, these movies alone would have been enough to secure Deneuve a place of honor in movie history. Then she topped that in the late 60s with the masterpieces Mississippi Mermaid by Francois Truffaut and Tristana by Luis Bunuel.
She always relished playing roles that allowed her to give viewers a glimpse of the abyss hiding behind a bourgeois facade. In light of this, the actress was once asked what "bourgeois" meant to her. One would have to define the word, she replied and shot back: "Because I left home when I was 16 and a half? Or because I made films with Polanski, Bunuel and Ferreri?" The young actress, courageous even then, stood by her daring roles.
A private and public persona
'Mississippi Mermaid' was adapted from a 1947 novelImage: picture-alliance/Courtesy Everett Collection
She would later use this courage again and again. She didn't scare easily, she once said — perhaps in reaction to the early death of her sister Francoise Dorleac. They starred in a few films together before Dorleac died in a car accident in 1967. It was a shock for Deneuve, and one she recovered from only slowly — and it may have contributed to why she often seemed so unapproachable.
She gave interviews and allowed glimpses into her private life only sparingly, and she kept her distance from the gossip of the tabloids. Yet,one cannot say that she shied away from publicity. She got undressed for Playboy magazine and was the face of Chanel, L'Oreal and Yves Saint Laurent advertising campaigns.
Independent in rolces and on #MeToo
She has been committed to the fight against abortion and the death penalty, as well as numerous other social issues. Most recently, she spoke out on the #MeToo debate, though not in a manner many might have expected. Deneuve was one of the initiators of an open letter directed against the growing breadth of the campaign, and her statements offended many women.
Even this seemed to fit in with who she was: Deneuve always attached great importance to her independence. The roles she chose to play in later years are proof. Cinematic masterpieces were fewer and more far between than in her heyday in the 60s and 70s, but she still had plenty of great appearances in front of the cameras.
Unlike other stars, Deneuve never took a long break. She shot about 100 movies over the past decades, including Dancer in the Dark (2000) with director Lars von Trier, the comedies 8 Women (2002) and Potiche (2010) from director Francois Ozon, and others with French directors like Andre Techine and Benoit Jacquot.
In 2013 Deneuve was awarded the European Film Prize for her life's work Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Catherine Deneuve: A 'dazzling butterfly'
"Catherine Deneuve is more than beautiful. She bears a secret — one that lures audiences into darkened movie theaters in the hope that one day they will find out what it is," film publicist Adolf Heinzlmeier once said. "There, in the darkness of the movie theater, it will emerge and fly away as a dazzling purple butterfly."
October 22 is the 75th birthday of Catherine Deneuve — that great actress of French and European cinema. Her face was chosen in 1985 to personify France's national hero, Marianne, and busts bearing her likeness will adorn French town halls across the nation for years. There could hardly be a greater honor for an actress in the country where cinema was born.
10 European film icons from the post-war era
Screen legend Gina Lollobrigida, one of Italy's most celebrated actresses, turns 90 on July 4. Her career paved the way for many, including her rivals. Here's a look at 10 timeless European icons.
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Gina Lollobrigida: 'The most beautiful woman in the world'
Audiences and press alike loved her. The Italian actress, born just outside Rome in 1927, became one of the biggest names in European film during the 1950s and '60s. Widely known as "La Lollo," she managed to celebrate success in Hollywood as well. Lollobrigida retired from acting in the early 1970s after more than 25 years in the biz.
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Sophia Loren: Rival and arch enemy
Lollobrigida didn't lack for competition, with Sophia Loren's career taking off right about the same time. Six years her junior, Loren reveled in and milked her status as a sex symbol, further fueling the feud between the two actresses. Loren continued to be active as an actress for many years and still seems to enjoy the attention.
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Claudia Cardinale: Much more than just a cowgirl
Another actress soon joined the ranks of the busty Italians leading the way in European cinema. Claudia Cardinale featured in a number of outstanding roles directed by some of Europe's greatest directors, such as Luchino Visconti or Federico Fellini. The talented brunette managed to highlight her charms as well as her daring side in Western classics like "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968).
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Brigitte Bardot: Mother of all pouts
In neighboring France, another sex bomb was advancing to new heights in film. Brigitte Bardot showcased the best of La Republique Francaise starring in such unforgettable movies as "And God Created Woman" (1956) and "Love Is My Profession" (1958). Bardot also retired from acting in the 1970s and turned her focus to animal welfare.
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Catherine Deneuve: Enigmatic allure
By the 1960s, Bardot's compatriot Catherine Deneuve started to attract a following in her own right. Her parts, however, were more subdued than those of the ladies who predated her, not exclusively pandering to male fantasies but bringing cinema into an age of complex roles. Her talent for acting has allowed Deneuve to continue featuring prominently in films to this day.
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Romy Schneider: Tragic beauty
The 1960s and '70s were Romy Schneider's golden era. Born in Vienna, the actress achieved her breakthrough in Germany in the role of "Sissi" in 1955. She later moved to France where she became one of the most charismatic and outstanding performers of European film. But her private life was anything but happy. In 1982, Schneider died under tragic circumstances.
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Irene Papas: Greek icon
Actresses from smaller European nations were also able to conquer the hearts of audiences across the continent in the decades after World War II. Among them was Irene Papas. The Greek actress, also venerated as a great singer in her home country, achieved her biggest international success in 1964 with "Zorba the Greek." Papas went on to perform in numerous European and Hollywood movies.
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Tatiana Samoilova: Russia's beauty
Naturally, most audiences in Western Europe focused on Italian, French, German and British films. Postwar female icons from Eastern European countries were almost entirely overlooked. The biggest star of Russian film was Tatiana Samoilova, who celebrated world success with "The Cranes Are Flying" in 1957.
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Krystyna Janda: Intellectual star
Poland is the home country of several outstanding actresses who celebrated international success. In the 1970s, Krystyna Janda became famous for her performances in films directed by her countryman Andrzej Wajda, followed by international co-productions alongside stars like Lino Ventura (seen here in "Espion, leve-toi" in 1982). Back in Poland, Janda is also known as a singer and author.
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Penelope Cruz: Emotions on screen
One of the biggest female stars of the European continent hails from Spain. Born in 1974, Penelope Cruz became a star in her home country before achieving fame in Europe and Hollywood. She has given a number of brilliant performances, especially when working with one of her favorite directors, Pedro Almodovar - like here in "Volver" in 2006.
