MIOUMIOU

Miou-Miou: translation

(1950- )

Actress. Born Sylvette Herry, Miou-Miou (the stage name was given to her by French comedianColuche) began her career in the early 1970s. She had bit parts in films such asGeorges Lautner'sQuelques messieurs trop tranquilles(1973), Gérard Pirès'sElle court,elle court la banlieue(1973), andGérard Oury'sLes Aventures de Rabbi Jacob(1973), before being cast inBertrand Blier'sLes Valseuses(1974). The film became a French classic, and Miou-Miou instantly became a star.She made more than sixteen films in the 1970s alone, including Lautner'sPas de problème! (1975) andOn aura tout vu(1976), Jean-Pierre Blanc'sD'amour et d'eau fraîche(1976), Alain Tanner'sJonas qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000(1976), andClaude Miller'sDîtes-lui que je l'aime(1977), in which she played oppositeGérard Depardieu, her costar inLes Valseuses. In 1979, she appeared inLa Dérobade, a film for which she won aCésarfor Best Actress.

Miou-Miou continued to be a star in the 1980s. She appeared in a number of films, including Yves Boisset'sLa Femme flic(1980) andCanicule(1984), Lautner'sEst-ce bien raisonnable? (1981) andAttention!Une femme peut en cacher une autre(1983), Michel Drach'sGuy de Maupassant(1982),Bertrand Blier'sTenue de soirée(1986), andMichel Deville'sLa Lectrice(1988). In 1983, she gave what was considered one of her best performances in Diane Kurys's semi-autobiographical film,Coup de foudre. This gained her a great deal of international attention, as the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. She became known as an actress well suited to play atypicalwomen, frail and helpless on the surface, yet who are capable of uncommon strength. Her 1988 performance inLa Lectriceis a case in point.

In the 1990s, Miou-Miou continued to appear regularly in film. She had a number of acclaimed roles, most notably inLouis Malle'sMilou en mai(1990),Patrice Leconte'sTango(1993),Claude Berri's epic version of Émile Zola'sGerminal(1993), and Anne Fontaine'sNettoyage à sec(1997), a role written for her. The decade also marked something of a slowdown in her film career, as she redirected her energies toward political activism. She has continued to act but reduced her schedule from the four to five films per year she once did. Since 2000, she has appeared in several films, including Claude Mouriéras'sTout va bien,on s'en va(2000), Dominique Cabrera'sFolle embellie(2004), and Berri'sL'Un reste,l'autre part(2005). Her most recent films are Michel Gondry'sThe Science of Sleep(2006), Gérald Hustache Mathieu'sAvril(2006), and Thierry Klifa'sLe Héros de la famille(2006). Director Anne Fontaine once called Miou-Miou "the most popular actress of her generation." Fontaine's characterization is for the most part true, since, even in semiretirement, Miou-Miou remains one of the most widely recognized of French screen actresses.