When brilliance is innate, there is little point in hiding it. Something like this happened to Catherine Deneuve: He never sought success, but he ended up embracing it until he made it his own. The oldest icon of French cinema has never stopped working or causing fascination. He doesn’t make an effort to get roles, they come to him on their own. It’s what happens when time passes, no one forgets you and everyone remembers you. So mysterious, hermetic and talented, the actress turns 80 this Sunday.
Daughter of theater actors Renee Simonot y Maurice Dorléac, Catherine Fabienne Dorléac He debuted in the world of acting when he was only 14 years old. For her first film, The schoolgirls, He chose his mother’s surname, which formed an artistic name that remains recorded for posterity in the history of the seventh art, fashion and, ultimately, the social and cultural sphere. And all this, curiously, without seeking fame.
“I prefer to stay in the background and observe,” he said. The truth is that many highlight his icy and reserved character. He never sought to make too much noise, on the contrary. She already said it Luis Buñuel: “It is beautiful as death, seductive as sin and cold as virtue.” The Mexican director and the performer never got along completely, because she never understood the filmmaker’s extravagant guidelines in the first film they made together, Beautiful day (1967).
From good girl to eternal enigma
In this feature film, the artist played a prostitute who lived a double life. Buñuel wanted Deneuve to undress from her, but she refused. For many, this gave the actress greater attractiveness, which a few years later she repeated with the director to work in Tristana (1970) y The woman with red boots (1974).
However, their first project together earned the performer the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival – one of many of the awards she received throughout her career, with 120 titles behind her. And not only that, since he separated her from the roles in which she was infantilized and turned into a good girl. Deneuve was no longer that. Her figure embodied an adult and immense enigma.
The protagonist of Indochina -film for which she was nominated for an Oscar- conquered personalities such as Roger Vadim, director with whom he worked and went through a romantic relationship that lasted four years. Just like she did with Brigitte Bardot, his ex-wife, the filmmaker advised Deneuve to dye her hair to enhance her magnetism. It was from then on that she began to be known as ‘the ice blonde’.
Several loves, but only one ‘I do’
The interpreter’s first child, Christian (1963), was the fruit of this relationship. Then came Chiara (1972), which was born during the actress’s relationship with the Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni. Both shared projects and starred in one of the most emblematic couples of the time for almost five years.
Deneuve only married once, and that was to the British photographer David Bailey. Their marriage lasted from 1965 to 1972 and gradually faded away between misunderstandings and compromises. After the divorce, the artist spent a period of isolation. She never wanted to go through the altar again, but she did allow herself to meet other men.
The performer inspired the director François Truffaut, which, alluding to his film siren of the mississippi, He stated that the actress’s beauty caused as much happiness as suffering. This definition, like others, sharpened that character of muse that she also conquered another great: Yves Saint Laurent.
The designer dressed her for the first time for a premiere where the star was going to meet the queen Isabel II. Since then, both began a friendship that lasted until the designer’s death and that continues through his relationship with the eponymous brand.
An irreparable tragedy
However, on the other side of a successful career, some tragedies marked Deneuve for the rest of his life. The worst of them was saying goodbye to her sister, the also popular actress Françoise Dorléac, who died in a traffic accident at the age of 25. With her he shared films, directors and even a love – they both fell in love with Truffaut.
In 2019, Deneuve caused concern when she was admitted to hospital to be treated for an ischemic stroke. During the filming of In his lifetime, He suffered “unforeseen ailments” caused by excessive consumption of alcohol, tobacco and poor eating habits. The artist was not living in the best of times, since a few months ago she had been highly criticized for defending men’s “right to bother” during the wave of Me Too.
Bourgeois, controversial and free
Her behavior especially angered French feminism, which she herself had joined decades ago by positioning herself in favor of abortion. In 1971 she signed, along with intellectuals such as Simone de Beauvoirthe statement known as The manifesto of the 343 bitches.
Deneuve has always genuinely fought for her independence and freedom, quietly and elegantly enjoying life, drawing the necessary limits and ignoring social judgments. No one knows her better than herself: “They see me as cold and bourgeois, but I’m not going to waste my time with people I don’t know.”