Born October 22, 1943 in Paris, France to stage actors Maurice Dorléac (1901-1979) and Renée Simonet (1911-2021), Catherine Dorléac, known professionally as Catherine Deneuve, was the second of three acting sisters. Older sister Francoise Dorléac (1942-1967) was the bigger star until her tragic death in an automobile accident at the age of 25.
Deneuve made her film debut in 1956 at the age of 12 in a supporting role in 1957’s The Twilight Girls. She did not become a star until 1964’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
As famous for her beauty as she is for her acting, Deneuve has had a long list of romantic partners beginning with French director Roger Vadim when she was 18. They were together from 1961-1964 and had son, actor Christina Vadim, in 1963. She then married English photographer and director David Bailey in 1965 who she divorced in 1970. She was with Italian superstar Marcello Mastroianni from 1970-1974 with whom she had actress daughter Chiara Mastroianni in 1972. She was with Irish cinematographer and director Hugh Johnson from 1982-1983 and French journalist and TV executive Pierre Lescure from 1984-1991. She has kept subsequent relationships private.
Following the success of Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Deneuve won further acclaim for Roman Polanski’s 1965 film, Repulsion before working for Demy again on 1967’s The Young Girls of Rochefort, quickly followed Luis Bunuel’s acclaimed Belle de Jour that same year.
Terence Young’s 1968 English language remake of Mayerling opposite Omar Sharif, Stuart Rosenberg’s 1969 Hollywood comedy The April Fools opposite Jack Lemmon, and Francois Truffaut’s crime drama Mississippi Mermaid opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo that same year proved her versatility. Bunuel’s 1970 film, Tristana opposite Fernando Rey was another artistic triumph.
Although busy throughout the 1970s, it wasn’t until 1980 that Deneuve had another career triumph with Truffaut’s The Last Metro opposite Gérard Depardieu for which she won the first of two Franch César awards out of 14 nominations.
Tony Scott’s stylish 1983 horror film, The Hunger opposite David Bowie and Susan Sarandon was another career highlight.
Régis Wargnier’s 1992 film, Indochine earned Deneuve her second César and her first and only Oscar nomination to date. More recent successes include Lars von Trier’s 2000 film, Dancer in the Dark, Francois Ozon’s 2002 film, 8 Women, 2007’s animated film, Persepolis, and Arnaud Desplechin’s 2008 film, A Christmas Tale.
Still in constant demand, Catherine Deneuve has the starring role in Léa Domenach’s Bernadette at 80.
ESSENTIAL FILMS
THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (1964), directed by Jacques Demy
Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film at the 1964 Oscars and another four at the 1965 awards including Best Original Screenplay and Best Song, “I Will Wait for you”, this beloved sung-through musical made a major star of Deneuve as the 17-year-old shop girl in love with gas station worker Nino Castelnuevo who is left pregnant when he is drafted. Rather than waiting for his return, she marries another man. The haunting love story was followed by Demy’s similar The Young Girls of Rochefort co-starring Denueve and her sister, Francoise Dorléac supported by Gene Kelly and George Chakiris.
REPULSION (1965), directed by Roman Polanski
Deneuve plays a young Belgian emigree to England, a sensitive and glacial part-time manicurist who spends most of her time in the apartment she shares with her sister and the sister’s boyfriend in a London apartment. Deneuve and Polanski were runners-up at the 1965 New York Film Critics awards for their work on this unique horror film, losing to Darling’s Julie Christie and John Schlesinger. This was Polanski’s first film in English, preceding Rosemary’s Baby by three years. The excellent supporting cast includes Yvonne Furneaux, Ian Hendry, John Fraser, and Patrick Wymark.
BELLE DE JOUR (1967), directed by Luis Bunuel
Based on Joseph Kessel’s 1928 novel, Deneuve had the role of her career in Bunuel’s most commercially successful film as a young upper-class French housewife who keeps rejecting the sexual advances of her handsome surgeon husband, played by Jean Sorel, without knowing why. Her sexual life is instead given to elaborate fantasies involving dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and bondage. Bored, she takes a job as a part-time prostitute in a discreet establishment run by lesbian madame Geneieve Page, working only in the afternoon while her husband is at work. Michel Piccoli and Pierre Clementi co-star as two of her clients.
INDOCHINE (1992), directed by Régis Wargnier
Deneuve won her second César and received her only Oscar nomination to date in this Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film. An epic tragedy about France’s failure in Vietnam, the film’s narrative foreshadows the fate of an even bigger failure by the U.S. The actress plays a French landowner in 1930s Indochina who adopts the orphaned daughter of Vietnamese friends. In a love-hate relationship with a French naval officer (Vincent Perez), she discovers that he is has been having a relationship with her adopted daughter on the side in this long but rewarding historical drama.
8 WOMEN (2022), directed by Francois Ozon
Deneuve leads an all-star cast in this comic whodunit that received twelve César nominations including Best Picture, Director, Actress (second billed Isabelle Huppert), Newcomer (third billed Emmanuelle Béart) and Supporting Actress (sixth billed Danielle Darrieux). In grand Agatha Christie tradition, a man has been murdered surrounded by eight women in an old mansion who are unable to call the police or leave. Deneuve plays the wife of the murdered man, and Darrieux who played Deneuve’s mother in The Young Girls of Rochefort again plays her mother here.
CATHERINE DENEUVE AND OSCAR
Indochine (1992) – Nominated – Best Actress
