Red Carpet Lineup: Cannes '17, French Actress Heaven
Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at 5:00PM It's been a little overwhelming looking at all the gowns on display at Cannes but before we get 10 whole days behind, let's celebrate the Gallic glory of French actresses. The 70th Anniversary Cannes party that the festival threw itself in the middle of its week long party had the biggest collection of international stars imaginable including these nine giants of French cinema after the jump...
Huppert, Deneuve, Cotillard, Binoche
Isabelle Huppert, Catherine Deneuve, Marion Cotillard, and Juliette Binoche would surely be on anyone's shortlist of Biggest French Stars of all time. (Including yours, right? Tell us who you'd add for a perfect batch of 5-10 in the comments!) They were all there for the 70th bash in these lovely gowns.
TRIVIA: Only Huppert and Binoche have won Best Actress at their home country's most prestigious event. Binoche for Certified Copy (2010) and Huppert twice for Violette (1978) and The Piano Teacher (2002). Deneuve (one of the greatest movie stars of all time, from any country, if you ask me) has had to settle for two special prizes during the Aughts. All four of them have been Oscar nominated with Cotillard and Binoche both winning and getting a second nomination as cherry on top. They've all won Best Actress Césars as well: Huppert for both La Ceremonie (1995) and Elle (2016), Deneuve for both The Last Metro (1980) and Indochine (1992), Cotillard for both A Very Long Engagement (2004 *supporting*) and La Vie En Rose (2007), and Binoche for her incredibly mysterious and altogether sensational work in Trois Coleurs: Bleu (1993)
Ledoyen, Exarchopoulos, Béart, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Maïwenn
With Virginia Ledoyen and Emmanuelle Béart (♥︎ one of my earliest foreign actress obsessions via Manon of the Spring) both at the same fest as Deneuve and Huppert we have half of an 8 Women (2002) reunion! Curse you Ludivine, Firmine, and Fanny for not showing up! Tell me what could possibly be more important than this event?! (Danielle Darrieux is excused despite being an indispensable member of that famous all-actress cast because she just turned 100 years old and centenarians aren't required to do anything they don't feel up to!)
Adele Exarchopoulus and Maïwenn both made time for the event as well they should. Finally a huge round of applause and welcome back to Dame Kristin Scott Thomas who had threatened to quite acting but finally got back to work last year so we'll be seeing the results soon. YES! (In case you were unaware, she's originally British but she's called France home since she was 19 and makes lots of French films)
In conclusion: VIVE LA FRANCE!
P.S. Two bonus Deneuve pics from the festival
With Charlotte Gainsbourg at the Women in Motion Dinner
With Andre Techine and Huppert at the premiere of "The Killing of a Sacred Deer"
Reader Comments (18)
Juliette Binoche won Best Actress at Cannes for Certified Copy!
Juliette looks incredible! Déesse!
Roger´s right! In fact I think she's the only actress to win best actress at the big 3 European festivals (Cannes, Berlin & Venice)
Can we add Isabelle Adjani to that fantastic foursome at the top :)
Rami: Bingo.
Carlos - The other red headed Goddesss, Julianne Moore, has also won the European triple crown.
Tyson: ah, true! La Binoche was the first but Moore joined her after winning at Cannes for Maps to the Stars (her Berlin win was shared, but guess that should still count!)
Rami & Mike -- yep, she's the biggie who's not pictured. How do we get a big comeback for her?
A shared Berlin award should definitely still count. Not counting it would be like saying that Barbara Streisand didn't win a Best Actress Oscar just because it was a tie.
The fifth greatest french actress is a toss for me between Isabelle Adjani & Charlotte Gainsbourg so I guess Adjani wins just because of the age thing but also "Possessio"n which is the original "Antichrist" (and don't get me wrong I love Charlotte & "Antichrist")
Nathaniel, this post IS heaven. those four goddesses have given some of the greatest performances in the cinema! deneuve may not be in quite the league as an actor, but agreed she is a genius movie star. terrific post!
Huppert/Deneuve/Cotillard/Binoche are all just divine. I agree with those who would add Isabelle Adjani, who is a legend in her own right. It's so thrilling to still see Huppert just as daring in her 60s as she has been all her career.
And - is it blasphemous to say that Charlotte Gainsbourg has never really done it for me as an actress? She's definitely brave and committed, sure, but something about her just doesn't click for me (maybe it's because I hated Antichrist and found Nymphomaniac to be a bore). And Kiki stole the show from her in Melancholia.
Aaron- are you saying you don't get the Gainsbourg? Brave, committed & hall mighty talented Gainsbourg since she been a child? (Have you seen "L'Effrontée"? "La Petite Voleuse"? "La Bûche"? and so many other smart, weird, compelling performances by her?) well you have too 'cause she's one hell of an brave actress!
It would be nice to see Anouk Aimee and Jeanne Moreau celebrated at Cannes as welll and of course Madame Danielle Darriesux, now a stately 100.and Micheline Presle, almost 100.
I always have the feeling that French actresses choose what they wear, awful or not. I respect that. We all know that's not the case in Hollywood.
Isabelle Adjani
Anouk Aimeé
Fanny Ardant
Stephane Audran
Juliette Binoche
Maria Casàres
Marione Cottilard
Danielle Darrieux
Catherine Deneuve
Edwige Feuillère
Annie Girardot
Isabelle Huppert
Anna Karina
Jeanne Moreau
Michele Morgàn
Micheline Presle
Emmanuelle Riva
Delphine Seyrig
Simone Signoret
Simone Simon
I forgot that Julianne Moore won Best Actress for Maps to the Stars!
That bodes well for a certain actress earning raves in several challenging and singular films at Cannes this week.
I know it's a different jury but Maps to the Stars was hardly a slam dunk.
Julie Delpy, Eva Green, and Audrey Tautou are all bubbling under the Top Tier of French Actresses I guess, but my favorite of all of them is the one frequently mentioned here: Isabelle Adjani. She kind of starts up where everyone leaves off.