Sandrine Bonnaire (; born 31 May 1967) is a French

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

who has appeared in more than 40 films. She won the César Award for Most Promising Actress for ''

À Nos Amours À, à ( a-grave) is a letter of the Catalan, Emilian-Romagnol, French, Galician, Italian, Maltese, Occitan, Portuguese, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Vietnamese, and Welsh languages consisting of the letter A of the ISO basic Latin al ...

'' (1983), the César Award for Best Actress for '' Vagabond'' (1985) and the

Volpi Cup for Best Actress The Volpi Cup for Best Actress is an award presented by the Venice Film Festival. It is given by the festival jury in honor of an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance from the films in the competition slate. It is named in honor o ...

for ''

La Cérémonie ''La Cérémonie'' is a 1995 crime drama film by Claude Chabrol, adapted from the 1977 novel ''A Judgement in Stone'' by Ruth Rendell. The film echoes the case of Christine and Lea Papin, two French maids who brutally murdered their employer's wif ...

'' (1995). Her other films include '' Under the Sun of Satan'' (1987), ''

Monsieur Hire ''Monsieur Hire'' () is a 1989 French crime drama film directed by Patrice Leconte and starring Michel Blanc in the title role and Sandrine Bonnaire as the object of Hire's affection. The film received numerous accolades as well as a glowing review ...

'' (1989), '' East/West'' (1999) and ''

The Final Lesson ''The Final Lesson'' (french: La Dernière Leçon) is a 2015 French drama film directed by Pascale Pouzadoux and starring Sandrine Bonnaire and Marthe Villalonga. The film is based on the 2004 novel ''La Dernière Leçon'' by Noëlle Châtelet ...

'' (2015).

Life and career

Bonnaire was born in the town of

Gannat Gannat (; Auvergnat: ''Gatnat'') is a commune in the Allier department in central France. Gannat was a sub-prefecture until 1926, with a population of around 5,800 inhabitants. There is a castle (the Château de Gannat), two churches of which ...

, Allier, in the

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label= Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Au ...

region. She was born into a working-class family, the seventh of eleven children. She grew up in Grigny, Essonne. Her acting career began in 1983, when she starred in the Maurice Pialat film ''

'' at age 16. She played a girl from Paris beginning her sexual awakening. In 1984 she received the César Award for Most Promising Actress. Her international breakthrough came in 1985 when she played the main character in '' Vagabond'' (''Sans toit ni loi''), directed by

Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter, photographer, and artist. Her pioneering work was central to the development of the widely influential French New Wave film ...

, for which she won her second César Award. She portrays a vagrant who fails both physically and morally. The film had a profound effect on actress and singer Miss X (blogtalkradio.com/miss-x) who saw it age age 18-19, and began traveling solo at age 20. The film premiered at the

42nd Venice International Film Festival The 42nd annual Venice International Film Festival was held on 26 August to 6 September 1985. Jury The following people comprised the 1985 jury: * Krzysztof Zanussi (head of jury) (Poland) * Guido Aristarco (Italy) * Gaspare Barbiellini Am ...

, where it won the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguis ...

. The jury deemed Bonnaire's performance among the best of the year, but decided against awarding her the

prize because both the actresses they judged to have given the best performances were in films that won major awards. Bonnaire worked again with Pialat on '' Under the Sun of Satan'' (''Sous le soleil de Satan'') which won the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. ''

'', directed by

Patrice Leconte Patrice Leconte (; born 12 November 1947) is a French film director, actor, comic strip writer, and screenwriter. Life and career Leconte grew up in Tours, and began making little amateur films at 15. He went to Paris in 1967 and studied at Ins ...

, followed in 1989, along with further work with directors

Jacques Doillon Jacques Doillon (; born 15 March 1944) is a French film director. He has a habit of giving lead roles to inexperienced young actresses in his films on family life and women. Some actresses to break through are Fanny Bastien, Sandrine Bonnaire, Ju ...

and Claude Sautet. In 1995, Bonnaire starred as an apparently simple maid in

Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues a ...

's widely acclaimed thriller

. The film and its stars won awards internationally, including Best Actress at the 52nd Venice Film Festival for both Bonnaire and co-star

Isabelle Huppert Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world", she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality. She is the recipient of sev ...

. In 2004, Bonnaire starred in another Leconte film, '' Intimate Strangers'', which was an arthouse box-office hit in the United States. In 2017, Bonnaire starred in Gaël Morel's film about reverse immigration, ''Prendre le large''. At the 8th Magritte Awards she received an

Honorary Magritte Award A Magritte Award (french: ) is an accolade presented by the Académie André Delvaux of Belgium to recognize cinematic achievement in the film industry. Modelled after the French César Award, the formal ceremony at which the awards are presented ...

from the

Académie André Delvaux The Académie André Delvaux is a Belgian professional organisation dedicated to the promotion and development of Belgian cinema. Founded in 2010, it is responsible for the annual Magritte Awards, Belgium's principal film awards. History The Acad ...

Personal life

Bonnaire has a daughter from a relationship with actor William Hurt, whom she met in 1991 during filming of the

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...

novel ''

The Plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

'' (''La Peste''). They acted together in ''Secrets Shared with a Stranger'' (1994). In 2003, she married actor and screenwriter Guillaume Laurant, with whom she has a second daughter. They divorced in 2015.

Selected filmography

As actress

As director/screenwriter

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Sandrine Bonnaire's Cinématon – A 4 minutes online portrait by Gérard Courant
*

at Film Reference

at Allocine {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnaire, Sandrine 1967 births Living people 20th-century French actresses 21st-century French actresses Best Actress César Award winners French film actresses French film directors French television actresses French women film directors French women screenwriters French screenwriters Magritte Award winners Most Promising Actress César Award winners People from Allier Volpi Cup for Best Actress winners