Juliette Binoche (French IPA: [ʒyli'jɛt bi'nɔʃ]; born March 9, 1964) is an Academy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated French film actress. Affectionately nicknamed "La Binoche" by the French press, Binoche is well known worldwide for her roles
in popular, award-winning films such as The English Patient (1996) and
Chocolat (2000).
Biography
Early life and career
Binoche was born in Paris to Jean-Marie Binoche, a director, actor, and
sculptor, and Monique Stalens, a teacher, director, and actress.[1] Binoche's mother is Polish, and her maternal grandparents were imprisoned at
Auschwitz because they were intellectuals.[2][3] Binoche also has French, Flemish, Brazilian
and Moroccan ancestry.[4][5] Her parents divorced when she was four and Binoche, with her sister Marion, was
sent to a boarding school.
Binoche began acting in amateur stage productions, and at 17 she directed and starred in a student production of the
Eugène Ionesco play, Exit the King. The
next year, she studied acting at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts of Paris (CNSAD). She
found an agent through a friend and joined a theatre troupe in which she toured France, Belgium and Switzerland under the
pseudonym of "Juliette Adrienne."
After quiting the CNSAD, she began acting lessons with famed coach Vera Gregh. Following in
her mother's footsteps, she became a stage actress, occasionally taking small parts in French feature films. Her first screen
role was a small part in the 1983 television film Dorothée, danseuse de
corde by Jacques Fensten, which was followed by a similarly small role in the
provincial television film Fort bloque by Pierrick
Guinnard. When Binoche secured her first big screen appearance with a small supporting role in Pascal Kané's Algeria-themed Liberty Belle, she decided
to pursue a career in cinema.
1984 to 1991
Binoche's early films saw her firmly established as a French star of some renown. The recurring themes of these films were of
contemporary young women exploring their lives and their sexuality. Small roles in Les
Nanas (1984) and Adieu blaireau
(1985) led to more significant exposure in Jean-Luc
Godard's Je Vous Salue, Marie and Jacques
Doillon's La Vie de Famille which cast her as the teenage
step-daughter of Sami Frey's character. This film was to set the theme and tone of the early
career.
In 1985 Juliette Binoche secured the lead role in André Téchiné's Rendez-vous. The film premiered at the Cannes Film
Festival that year, winning Best Director. In 1986, Binoche was nominated for her first
César Award for Best Actress for the film. Binoche's next film was a role in Mon beau-frère a tué ma sœur by Jacques Rouffio, which was a
critical and commercial failure. Later that year, she starred opposite Michel Piccoli in
Léos Carax's Mauvais Sang. This film,
however, was a critical and commercial success, leading to Binoche's second César Award nomination.
In August 1986 she portrayed Tereza in Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being based on the Milan Kundera novel. This was Binoche's first English language
role and was a worldwide success with critics and audiences alike. After this success, Binoche decided to return to France rather
than pursue an international career.
In 1988 she filmed the lead in Pierre Pradinas's
Un tour de manège, a little-seen French film. Later that year she began work on
Léos Carax's Les Amants du Pont-Neuf.
The film was beset by problems and took three years to complete. When it was released in 1991, The Lovers on the Bridge
was a critical success. Binoche won a European Film Award for best actress as well
as her third César Award nomination.
1992 to 2000
Following the long shoot of Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, Binoche relocated to London for the 1992 productions of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and Damage, both of which considerably developed her international reputation. For Damage Binoche
received her fourth César Award nomination. In 1993 she appeared in Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors: Blue to
much critical acclaim. The film premiered at the 1993 Venice Film Festival. The
film also landed Binoche a César Award for Best Actress as well as a Golden Globe
nomination. Following this success, she took a short sabbatical during which she became mother of a son, Raphael.
In 1995 Binoche appeared in a big-budget adaptation of Jean
Giono's The Horseman on the Roof directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau. The film was a box-office success around the world and Binoche was again
nominated for a César Award for Best Actress. This role as a romantic heroine was to color the direction of many of her roles in
the late 1990s.
In 1996, Binoche appeared in A Couch in New York by Chantal Akerman. The film was a flop, but another 1996 film, The English Patient, based on the acclaimed novel and directed by Anthony Minghella, was a worldwide hit. It garnered nine Academy
Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Binoche.
After this international hit, Binoche returned to France and began work on Claude
Berri's Lucie Aubrac opposite Daniel
Auteuil, which was based on a true story. Binoche was released from the movie six weeks into the shoot, however, over
differences with Berri regarding the authenticity of his script. Next she worked again with André Téchiné for Alice et Martin (1998) followed in 1999 by Children of the Century in which Binoche played the role of 19th-century French writer
George Sand.
2000 saw Binoche appear in four successful, but different, roles. Firstly was
La Veuve de Saint-Pierre by Patrice Leconte which saw Binoche nominated for a César Award for best actress. Next she appeared in
Michael Haneke's Code Unknown, a film which
was made following Binoche's approach to the Austrian director. Binoche made her Broadway debut in Harold Pinter's Betrayal for which she was nominated for a
Tony Award. Back on screen, Binoche was the heroine of the Lasse Hallstrom film Chocolat for which she won a
European Film Award for Best Actress and was nominated for an Academy Award and a
BAFTA.
Between 1995 and 2000, Binoche was the advertising face of the Lancôme scent Pôeme, her image adorning print campaigns and a TV advertising campaign. There were three commercials
featuring Binoche for the perfume, including an advert directed by Anthony Minghella
and scored by Gabriel Yared.
2001 to 2006
Following the success of Chocolat, Juliette Binoche returned to France for an unlikely role. Jet Lag (2002) opposite Jean Reno saw Binoche play a ditzy
beautician. The film was a box-office hit in France and saw Binoche once again nominated for a César Award for best actress. In
2003, Binoche featured in an Italian TV commercial for the chocolates Ferrero Rocher.
This ad played upon her Chocolat persona and featured Binoche handing Rochers to people on the streets of Paris. Next
Binoche went to South Africa to film John Boorman's
In My Country (2004) opposite Samuel L.
Jackson.
Binoche then teamed up with Michael Haneke again for Caché in 2005. The film was an immediate success, winning best director at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. Binoche was
nominated for a European Film Award for Best Actress for her role. Binoche's next film was Bee Season with Richard Gere. Mary (2005) saw Binoche collaborate with Abel Ferrara for an
investigation of modern faith and Mary Magdalene's position in the Catholic Church. The film was an immediate success, winning the Grand Prix at the 2005 Venice Film
Festival.
2006 saw Binoche take part in the portmanteau work
Paris, je t'aime appearing in a section directed by Nobuhiro Suwa. Binoche appeared at the 2006 Venice Film
Festival to launch A Few Days in September, by
Santiago Amigorena. Later in the month she traveled to the Toronto Film Festival for the premiere of Breaking and Entering, her second film with Anthony Minghella in the director's
chair.
2007 onwards
2007 marks one of Juliette Binoche's busiest years. The Cannes Film Festival saw
the premiere of Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge by the Taiwanese
director Hou Hsiao-Hsien. The film was well received by international critics and will
debut around the world throughout 2007. Currently awaiting release are Dan in Real
Life with Steve Carell, Paris by
Cédric Klapisch and Désengagement
by Amos Gitai. As of July 2007 Binoche is busy at work on L'Heure D'été by Olivier Assayas. Following that
Binoche will star in Certified Copy for Abbas Kiarostami and The Other
Man for Richard Eyre opposite Liam Neeson. In the
July 2007 issue of Cahiers du Cinema Binoche mentioned that she would be auditioning
for the Rob Marshall musical Nine, currently in pre-production.
Personal life
Binoche has two children: Raphaël (born on September 2, 1993), whose father is Andre Halle, a professional scuba diver, and Hana (December
16, 1999), whose father is French actor Benoît
Magimel, with whom Binoche starred in the 1999 film Children of the
Century. Binoche is currently romantically involved with Argentine writer/director Santiago Amigorena.
Painting
In the 1991 film Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, in which Binoche portrays an
artist, the paintings used in the film were Binoche's own work. She also designed the poster for the film.
Binoche exhibited work done in collaboration with the French designer and artist Christian
Fenouillat in 1993. They plan to collaborate again in the future and are currently working on pieces themed by
Cinema.[6]
Charities
Binoche is involved with a number of charities, including being a patron of the Cambodian
charity Aspecta since 1992. She is also godmother to nine Cambodian orphans.
In 2004 Binoche organised an auction for Médecins Sans Frontières in which
disposable cameras were given to numerous celebrities and then auctioned off; the winner of each camera would then develop the
pictures to reveal that celebrities chosen subject.
Awards
Won
Nominations
Filmography
References
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External links
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