DENEUVE, CATHERINE

Deneuve, Catherine: translation

(1943- )

Actress. Catherine Deneuve is one of France's most celebrated film actresses. The actor Maurice Dorléac is her father, and the actress Françoise Dorléac was her sister. Deneuve went into the family business, but took her mother's name as a stage name, not her father's.

Deneuve made her film debut inAndré Hunébelle'sLes Collégiennesin 1957. She went on to do a number of other films with remarkable directors, includingMarc Allégret'sLes Parisiennes(1962),Roger Vadim'sLe Vice et la vertu(1963),Pierre Kast'sLes Vacances portugaises(1963), andJacques Demy's popular and critically acclaimedLes Parapluies de Cherbourg(1964). Deneuve won the Etoile de Cristal de l'Académie du Cinéma for Best Actress for her performance in the film. Other films made during this early, "starlet" part of her career includeEdouard Molinero'sChasse à l'hommes(1964),Claude ChabrolandJean-Luc Godard'sLes Plus belles escroqueries du monde(1964), Roman Polanski'sRepulsion(1965),Jean-Paul Rappeneau'sLa Vie de Château(1966), and Demy'sLes Demoiselles de Rochefort(1967).

There was a turning point of sorts in her career in 1967, when she starred in Luis Bunuel'sBelle de jour(1967). The film, which scandalized some in France, established Deneuve as a serious actress, allowing her to shed her starlet aura. The range of roles she was able to play increased from that point forward. She appeared in such films asFrançois Truffaut'sLa Sirène du Mississipi(1969), Demy'sPeau d'âne(1970), Bunuel'sTristana(1970),Jean-Pierre Melville'sUn flic(1972), Rappeneau'sLe Sauvage(1975),Claude Lelouch'sSi c'était à refaire(1976) andA nous deux(1979),Yves Robert'sCourage fuyons(1979), and Truffaut'sLe Dernier métro(1980), a film for which she won theCésarfor Best Actress.

In 1985, Deneuve's cultural standing was demonstrated by the fact that her face was used as the model for the statue of Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic.Another indication of this cultural prestige is her appearance in a number ofheritage films, including Alain Corneau'sFort Saganne(1984),Régis Wargnier'sIndochine(1992), and Raoul Ruiz'sLe temps retrouvés(1999), an adaptation of the novel by Marcel Proust. She won a César for Best Actress and was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance inIndochine.

Other films in which Deneuve has appeared includeAndré Téchiné'sLe Lieu du crime(1986),Ma saison preférée(1993),Les voleurs(1996), andLes temps qui changent(2004),Philippe de Broca'sL'Africain(1983),Jean-Pierre Mocky'sAgent Trouble(1987),Alain Resnais'sContre l'oubli(1991), Ruiz'sGénéaologies d'un crime(1997),Léos Carax'sPola X(1999), Wargnier'sEst-Ouest(1999), and François Ozon's8 femmes(2002).

In 1998, Deneuve won the award for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her performance inNicole Garcia'sPlace Vendôme, and the Silver Bear for life achievement at Berlin in 1999. She has acted in several international productions, including Sergio Citti'sCasotto(1977), Dick Richards'sMarch or Die(1977), Lars von Trier'sDancer in the Dark(2000), Peter Hyams'sThe Musketeer(2001), Tonie Marshall'sAu plus près du paradis(2002), and Manoel de Oliveira'sO Convento(1995) andUn Filme Falado(2003).