French Celebrities Bio | Juliette Binoche

In a recent interview with the BBC, the French actress Juliette Binoche was asked what she would have been had she not become an actress. Her response was that in all likelihood she would have been a painter. Given that her mother was a teacher, actress and director and her father a sculptor, director and actor, it was probably a decision made close to home, with a creative career almost inevitable.

The film going public can thank her for making the right choice. She has made more than 40 movies since her dazzling lead debut in André Téchiné’s wonderful tale of adolescent sexuality and confused identity Rendez-Vous, a film which marked her out as an instant star. She was nominated for a César – the first of many – a year later. Her next successful French role was in Léos Carax’s avant-garde thriller Mauvais Sang, in which she acted opposite screen legend Michel Piccoli, playing his younger lover.

With the French cinema-going public now familiar with her talent, international acclaim was soon on its way, thanks to a romantic drama set against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Prague in 1968. In 1988, she gave an intense and memorable portrayal of a jealous lover in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, a performance in which Binoche was 'almost ethereal in her beauty and innocence' according to the influential Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert.

With her stock now on the rise, Binoche picked roles carefully, working with many leading directors in both English and French-speaking roles. Now one of France’s truly bankable stars, during the 1990s she starred in Louis Malle’s Damage (1992), Polish director Kieslowski’s stunning trilogy Red, White and Blue (1993 and 1994) as well as the film version of Joanne Harris’s smash-hit story Chocolat (2000). Awards nomination piled up from both sides of the Channel and the Atlantic, with another standout performance given in Michael Haneke’s chilling drama Hidden (2005).

Away from the film set, the actress – known affectionately and simply as La Binoche in France – is politically active and a generous charity worker (she is godmother to five Cambodian children). She used her profile for good at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, where she highlighted the illegal detention of Iranian director Jafar Pahani.

The same year, fellow screen legend Gerard Dépardieu caused a storm by saying “I would really like to know why she has been so esteemed for so many years. She [Binoche] has nothing. Absolutely nothing.” The comments caused a furore in France, with everyone from Catherine Deneuve to former Cahiers du Cinema editor Jean-Michel Frodon speaking out in support of Binoche.

Tuesday, January, 11th at 12.15 by Katharine Barrau