The Film Experience

The French movie star of French movie stars turns 75 today. She's won two prizes at Cannes, two at Berlinale, and two at the Césars (with 12 additional nominations) in her career that's been as lustrous as the famous golden hair. Catherine Deneuve hasn't been as celebrated in recent years as Isabelle Huppert (who is 10 years younger) but her list of classics, hits, and indelible experiments is long: Belle de Jour (BAFTA nomination), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Young Girls of Rochefort, Repulsion, Mississippi Mermaid, Tristana, Donkey Skin, The Hunger, The Metro (César win), Indochine (Oscar nomination, César win), East/West, Pola X, Dancer in the Dark, 8 Women, and Kings and Queen among them.

The last eight years have been quiet but it wasn't so long ago that the one-two-three punch of voice work in the Oscar-nominated Persepolis (2007 -- she voiced both the French & English versions), an amazing performance in Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale (2008), and the delights of François Ozon's comedy Potiche (2010) made an impact...

Unfortunately the last time she made international news was not for a film role but for that infamous letter from French women about the Me Too movement which SNL successfully lampooned...

Deneuve and Huppert photographed in 2017 at Cannes

But whether or not she'll get her own Elle in her 70something years to reinvigorate international fandom is immaterial in a way. She's already in the pantheon with so many classics behind her. And, an important note: she's more than earned that Honorary Oscar that we keep campaigning for and hoping that the Academy will wise up and provide.

Here are beautiful photos and film stills of Deneuve with which to celebrate her 75th birthday but if you've never seen any of her most famous films listed above, fix that! You can merci beaucoup us later for recommending them.

Belle de Jour -- it's only one of the greatest films ever madeRepulsion