Catherine Deneuve - biography

Born in Paris in 1943, Catherine Deneuve is the third daughter of French actors Maurice Dorléac and Renée Deneuve.  Adopting her mother’s maiden name, she started making films as a teenager, achieving stardom at the age of 20 in Jacques Demy’s musical film, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg.  She then appeared in Demy’s next film, Les Desmoiselles de Rochefort, with her sister Françoise Dorléac, who died tragically in a car accident soon after (1967).

Catherine Deneuve earned great acclaim for her role as a schizophrenic killer in Polanski’s shocking psychological thriller Repulsion and, later, as a bored housewife who turns to prostitution in Buñuel’s surreal satire Belle du jour.  By the late 1960s she had established herself in France as a talented actress capable of tackling sensitive and demanding roles. 

Deneuve’s film career continued apace in the 1970s, when she would take the leading role in a variety of films, including action dramas and light comedies.  However, it was not until the 1980s that she achieved international fame and recognition.  Her reputation as a serious actress was bolstered for her part in François Truffaut’s Le Dernier Métrofor which she won critical acclaim.  Her appearance in Techiné’s thriller-romance, Le Lieu de crime, was also well received.

In 1992, she was honoured for her stunning performance in Regis Warnier’s Indochine with a César and her first Oscar nomination.  She continues to remain a high profile in French cinema, starring more recently in Techiné’s Les Voleurs and Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark.

She has two children, Christian Vadim by Roger Vadim and Chiara Mastroianni by Marcello Mastroianni.  Chiara Mastroianni appeared with Deneuve as her daugher in Techiné’s acclaimed 1993 film, Ma saison préférée.

A remarkably beautiful woman who is the epitome of Gallic elegance, Catherine Deneuve remains a popular and widely admired screen actress.  Her performances rarely fail to impress, characterised by inner fragility within a shell of composed feminine grace, making her perfect for the kind of French romantic dramas that international audiences adore.

“A lot of actors don’t like to see how they’ve done every day.”

“Acting is also working with people who invite you into their dreams and trust you with their innermost being.”

“Actors have to be there and do the work, and that’s enough.”

“Being a film actor is very different from a theatre actor.”

“Being an actor means being an instrument for someone else.  I want to give myself completely.”

“Being an actress is a very physical thing.  If I didn’t look the way I looked, I would never have started in films.”

“I go to the movies a lot, and I regret when I see some actor that I used to like, to find them offering no more surprises.”

“I have been involved in some films other actresses would not have done.”

“I never hoped that both my children would become actors.  I expected them to do something else.”

“I wouldn’t say no to being in a film with Jude Law.  I love English actors.”

“I’m not always the nicest person to meet, because I forget very easily that I’m an actress when I’m not working.”

“It’s very difficult for me to speak about being an actor.”

“To wait, for an actor, is not like someone who’s waiting to see the doctor.  It’s not the kind of wait where you get bored.”

“Truffaut loved actresses, and he was very intense.  All the actresses I knew wanted to do a film with him.”

“You suffer as an actor.  It’s difficult to be an actor and live a good life, especially today.”

“In America you need a bodyguard to go out.”

“Cinema is still a very young art form with extraordinary techniques and very impressive special effects but sometimes it seems the soul has been taken out of things.”

“Film is a very young art that is still evolving.  Soon, we shall reach a balance between content and technology.”

“I would have liked maybe to be in architecture or painting, something connected to the fine arts.”

“A star remains pinned on a wall in the public imagination.”

“I like being famous when it’s convenient for me and completely anonymous when it’s not.”

“They’ve brought me more publicity than any film I’ve done.  I’m recognised on every street corner in New York.”

“I have no physical courage, I’ve asked for a double.”

“Mississippi Mermaid was a very special experience because we only had the dialogues for the scenes we were shooting the night before.”

“Even if there are a lot women in films, there are few who are lesbians, that people know about.”

“I did important films when I was very young.”

“I like some of the early silent films because I love to watch how actors had to play then.  What would interest me today is to do a silent film.”

“I live very normally, I go out with my friends, we go to the movies, I queue, we go to restaurants.”

“I love vampire stories.  That’s why I did the movie.  Women especially were taken with that movie-even more so when it came out on video.”

“I think the clothes in Belle de Jour are very important to the style of the film.  Even today, it is still timeless.”

“I’m not an admirer of action movies.  I just think, Oh my God, it must be so tiring.”

“Sometimes it’s more difficult to do very simple, low-key films.”

“That’s what I like about film-it can be bizarre, classic, normal, romantic.  Cinema is to me the most versatile thing.”

“A woman has to be intelligent, have charm, a sense of humor, and be kind.  It’s the same qualities I require from a man.”

“Even if a woman is abused a very long time ago, it comes out in her life in a negative way.”

“I didn’t devote my life to acting.  I give a lot to my work, but my life has always been more important.”

“I’ve always been able to decide what was more important at different points in my life, but I never gave up personal things to work, never.”

“People don’t know very much about me.  They do not know what really goes on in my private life.”

“To have a public life, you still have the right to a private life.”

“I cannot imagine having a physical relationship with a woman.  I have not done that.  But I really love women.”

“I love to do very long and complicated scenes.”

“Love is suffering.  One side always loves more.”

“Some people fall in love with their co-stars and feel things that they never thought they would feel for them because they are touching.”

“From the start, marriage was instituted for contemptible, practical reasons - an idea of men.”

“I don’t see any reason for marriage when there is divorce.”

“Marriage is obsolete and a trap.”

“I admire directors so much, I find them incredible: they manage such a huge number of people of different characters, think of the money involved.”

“There are relatively few role models for young people.  We are in a society that is ruled by men.”

“Directors have to push me.  I have to be pushed up.  Not all the time, but often.”

“I like all these little animals that run and eat and hide all the time.  I like their faces, They seem to be scared and curious at the same time.”

“Opportunities are often things you haven’t noticed the first time around.”

“You get involved with a character after spending a long time waiting, and this demands a lot of energy and concentration.”

“All women who kill or have sexual obsessions or who are prostitutes have trouble with their fathers.”

“It has been very erotic and provocative for people to wonder about my feelings for women.”

“Men are good but women are magic.”

“I love to not work.  I like to travel.  I work maybe half the year, no more.”

“To work is a noble art.”

“Bjork is a very original, interesting person.  I like her very much.”

“I always try to keep that feeling of being on the edge.  I’m afraid of knowing too well and seeming mechanical.”

“I am frivolous.  Then I feel guilty.”

“I can be very critical on myself and on other people; I can be very demanding.”

“I choose my roles carefully.”

“I don’t enjoy.  I suffer from enjoying.  It’s very Christian.”

“I don’t live that much with the character.  I find it hard enough having to spend so many hours with the character during the day.”

“I get irritated, nervous, very tense or stressed, but never bored.”

“I had mice that I kept as pets when I was very young, and I’ve always liked the way they look.  Even rats.  I’m not scared of them.”

“I have a strong sense of responsibility.  I like to be directed, it’s true.  If I didn’t like that, I’d do something else.”

“I think anything that has to do with sexuality makes people very interested.”

“I was never a dangerous woman.  I’m not the prissy blonde woman that could take your husband away.”

“I’m lucky; people write scripts for me.”

“It’s always difficult to play a scene of physical violence because you’re always afraid that you don’t know your own strength and might hurt someone.”

“Lesbians and gays...  they still have to fight, even inside.  It’s not that simple, even if they seem to be accepted.”

“On Belle de Jour, the producer was very protective.  It was very hard for me.”

“People expect a lot more from someone they think looks interesting.  It’s a burden.”

“People who know me know I’m strong, but I’m vulnerable.”

“Polanski was very precise.  I think he still is.”

“Prostitution happens to you because of troubles you had.  In reality no woman would choose to do that.”

“Sex is a big question mark.  It is something people will talk about forever.”

“The story is more important to me than the part.”

“This book was company for me - I wrote these things when I was in hotels, far from where I normally live.  I never intended to publish it.”

“When I first see the dailies, I look only at myself, but then you start to see the scene.”

“You can express a lot of things, a lot of action without speaking.”

Catherine Deneuve has appeared in the following films:
Les Collégiennes (1957)
L’Homme à femmes (1960)
Les Portes claquent (1960)
Et satan conduit le bal (1962)
Les Parisiennes (1962)
Dossier 1413 (1962)
Le Vice et la vertu (1963)
Vacances portugaises (1963)
Les vacances portugaises (1963)
La Costanza della ragione (1964)
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)
Les Plus belles escroqueries du monde (1964)
La Chasse à l’homme (1964)
Un monsieur de compagnie (1964)
Repulsion (1965)
Les Petits chats (1965)
Das Liebeskarussell (1965)
Le Chant du monde (1965)
La Vie de château (1966)
Les Créatures (1966)
Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1967)
Belle de jour (1967)
Benjamin (1968)
La Chamade (1968)
Manon 70 (1968)
Mayerling (1968)
The April Fools (1969)
La Sirène du Mississippi (1969)
Tout peut arriver (1969)
Tristana (1970)
Peau d’âne (1970)
Ça n’arrive qu’aux autres (1971)
Liza (1972)
Un flic (1972)
L’Événement le plus important depuis que l’homme a marché sur la lune (1973)
Touche pas à la femme blanche (1974)
Fatti di gente perbene (1974)
La Femme aux bottes rouges (1974)
Zig zig (1975)
L’Agression (1975)
Le Sauvage (1975)
Hustle (1975)
Si c’était à refaire (1976)
Anima persa (1977)
March or Die (1977)
Casotto (1977)
L’Argent des autres (1978)
Écoute voir... (1979)
Ils sont grands, ces petits (1979)
À nous deux (1979)
Courage fuyons (1979)
Le Dernier métro (1980)
Je vous aime (1980)
Le Choix des armes (1981)
Hôtel des Amériques (1981)
Le Choc (1982)
L’Africain (1983)
The Hunger (1983)
Le Bon plaisir (1984)
Fort Saganne (1984)
Paroles et musique (1984)
Speriamo che sia femmina (1986)
Le Lieu du crime (1986)
Agent trouble (1987)
Fréquence meurtre (1988)
Drôle d’endroit pour une rencontre (1988)
La Reine blanche (1991)
Contre l’oubli (1991)
Indochine (1992)
Ma saison préférée (1993)
François Truffaut: Portraits volés (1993)
La Partie d’échecs (1994)
Les Cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma (1995)
O Convento (1995)
Les Voleurs (1996)
Généalogies d’un crime (1997)
Sans titre (1997)
Place Vendôme (1998)
Le Vent de la nuit (1999)
Belle maman (1999)
Pola X (1999)
Le Temps retrouvé (1999)
Est – Ouest (1999)
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Je rentre à la maison (2001)
Absolument fabuleux (2001)
The Musketeer (2001)
Le Petit poucet (2001)
8 femmes (2002)
Au plus près du paradis (2002)
Um Filme Falado (2003)
Rois et reine (2004)
Les Temps qui changent (2004)
Palais royal! (2005)
Le Concile de pierre (2006)
Le Héros de la famille (2006)
Après lui (2007)
Persepolis (2007)
Un conte de Noël (2008)
Je veux voir (2008)
Bancs publics (Versailles rive droite) (2008)
Mes Stars et moi (2008)
La Fille du RER (2009)
Cyprien (2009)
Mères et filles (2009)
L’homme qui voulait vivre sa vie (2010)
Potiche (2010)
L’Amour fou (2010)
Les Yeux de sa mère (2011)
Les Bien-aimés (2011)