Huppert, Isabelle

(1953- )

   Actress. Isabelle Huppert is one of France's major film actresses of the 1970s and beyond. She was born in Paris and grew up in Ville d'Avray. She studied at the Versailles Conservatory and the Conservatoire National d'Art Dramatique in Paris. Huppert debuted in film during her teens in Nina Companéez's Faustine et le bel été (1972). She then acted in Bertrand Blier's Les Valseuses (1974), Jean-Louis Bertucelli's Docteur Françoise Gailland (1975), and Liliane de Kermadec's Aloïse (1975), for which she received her first César nomination for Best Supporting Actress. One of her major early roles was in Claude Goretta's La Dentellière (1976). For her work therein she earned a César nomination for Best Actress, a British Film Academy Award for Best Newcomer, and Best Foreign Actress at the David di Donatello Awards. Soon after that acclaimed performance, Huppert was named Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her title role in Claude Chabrol's Violette Nozière. Later in the decade, she acted in Jean-Luc Godard's Sauve qui peut (la vie) (1979) and André Téchiné's Les sœurs Brontë (1979). In the 1980s, Huppert won the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival for her performance in Chabrol's Une Affaire des femmes (1988). She received César nominations for Best Actress for her interpretations in Maurice Pialat's Loulou (1980), Bertrand Tavernier's Coup de torchon (1981), and Une affaire de femmes (1988). In the same decade, she played leading roles in Benoît Jacquot's Les Ailes de la colombe (1980), Joseph Losey's La Truite (1982), Diane Kurys's Coup de foundre (1983), Blier's La femme de mon pote (1983), Godard's Passion (1984), Josiane Balasko's Sac de Nœuds (1985), and Andrzej Wajda's Les possédés (1988). She also appeared in the Anglophone films Heaven's Gate (1980), by Michael Cimino, and Cactus (1986), by Paul Cox.

   In the 1990s, Huppert finally took the César for Best Actress for her performance in Chabrol's La Cérémonie (1995). She remained a favorite of Chabrol's and played the title role in his Madame Bovary (1991) and a starring role in his Rien ne va plus (1997). In the same decade, she played principal roles in Jacques Doillon's La Vengeance d'une femme (1990), Werner Schroeter's Malina (1991), Christian Vincent's La Séparation (1994), Hal Hartley's Amateur (1994), Claude Pinoteau' Les Palmes de M. Schulz (1996), and three films by Jacquot: L'Ecole de la chair (1998), Pas de scandale (1998), and La Fausse suivante (1999). At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Huppert reaped more awards. She won a second Best Actress award at Cannes and a European Film Award for her work in Michael Haneke's La pianiste in 2001. She won Best Actress at the Montreal World Film Festival and the Lumière Award for her artful interpretation in Chabrol's Merci pour le chocolat (2000). She also shared a European Film Award and a Silver Berlin Bear for her role in François Ozon's 8 femmes (2002). Huppert remains an actress in high demand, starring in Patricia Mazuy's Saint-Cyr (2000), Schroeter's Deux (2002), Raoul Ruiz's Comédie de l'innocence (2000), Olivier Dahan's La Vie promise (2002), Haneke's Le Temps du loup (2003), David Russell's I Heart Huckabees (2004), Alexandra Leclère's Les Sœurs fâchées (2004), Christophe Honoré's Ma mère (2004), and Patrice Chéreau's Gabrielle (2005). She also works in the theater, inspiring standing ovations as Hedda Gabler at the Odeon Theater in Paris in 2005. Her range as an actress demonstrates her versatility and talent.