Jeanne Moreau - French actress, singer and film director: biography, personal life, filmography

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Singer, actress and director Jeanne Moreau, along with Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot, went down in history as one of the symbols not only of the "new wave", but also of French cinema in general. Talent, expressive appearance, wonderful vocal abilities allowed the actress to collaborate with a number of the world's greatest directors, to act in films of various kinds: from art house to television series. Moro's images have entered acting textbooks, and her freedom-loving nature, ability to behave with dignity made her a real icon for both actresses and ordinary women.

Childhood and youth

Jeanne Moreau was born on January 23, 1928 in Paris. Her family belonged to the we althy class and did not shy away from art: her mother was a ballerina in her youth. Jeanne's father worked in the hotel business. He owned a small hotel, the income from which was enough to provide for his family. However, the childhood of the future great actress cannot be called cloudless. In 1939, World War II began, and France was soon occupied by the Wehrmacht. The repression also affected the Moro family: her mother was arrested.

Despite all the hardships of life inoccupation, Moreau did not lose her innate love of life and artistry. Under the influence of her mother, Jeanne became interested in the theater, although her father at first took it with hostility. She received the necessary education at the acting department of the prestigious Higher National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris. As an actress, Jeanne Moreau first showed herself at the age of 19, playing the main role in the play "Midday Terrace".

Work in the theater

The performance of the beginning actress not only pleased the public, but also aroused interest from theater critics. After the debut performance, Jeanne was enrolled in the Comedie Francaise troupe. It was a real success: never before had such young actresses been accepted into one of the most famous theaters in France. For four years, Zhanna remained a key actress, participated in all the main performances. Even then, the basic principles of her work on the image were formed: Jeanne Moreau gave her heroines inner depth, feminine intelligence, and confidence was manifested in every word and gesture. Many world-famous directors personally asked Jeanne to play a role in their productions.

Going to the movies

Although the theater has forever become a second home for the actress, in the mid-50s she increasingly pays attention to cinema. For the first time on the screen, she appeared in 1949 in a cameo role in the film "Last Love".

Critics noted the lack of model data in Jeanne, without which in those years it was impossible to become a screen star. However, the actressshowed determination and even refused makeup. She successfully compensated for the inconsistency with the canons of beauty with acting skills. And although her first films are a series of insignificant and almost forgotten today thrillers, Moreau was able to make people talk about herself as one of the greatest actresses of her time.

Louis Malle and global success

In the biography of Jeanne Moreau, a special place is occupied by the fruitful collaboration that began with the novel with one of the most prominent representatives of the French new wave, director Louis Male. In 1957, she starred in his film Elevator to the Scaffold. The next picture - "Lovers" consolidated the success.

The plot of this film caused a heated discussion. Moreau played the unfortunate wife of an ever-busy rich man. An accidental acquaintance with a person of a completely different circle, who is contemptuous of the way of life of the French bourgeoisie, dramatically changes her life and raises a number of difficult questions. For 1958, it was an extremely explicit film, replete with explicit scenes. The controversy around him reached the United States, where the director of one of the cinemas was convicted for distributing this picture, but after an appeal to the Supreme Court, the charge was dropped.

Thanks to the film "Lovers" Jeanne Moreau finally became one of the biggest movie stars. Other eminent directors became interested in her, including François Truffaut, Michelangelo Antonioni, Orson Welles and Luis Buñuel.

On top of success

Unlike many other actresses who have becomedarlings of the public, Jeanne Moreau did not loosen her control over herself. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, she was able not only to dissolve in the director's intention, but also to let it pass through herself. She had friendly relations with many outstanding artists, whom she was always ready to help. So, when Truffaut ran into financial difficulties in preparing the film "400 Blows", Moreau gave him the necessary amount. But gratitude from the director was not long in coming. In 1962, he wrote the film "Jules and Jim" especially for Moreau, which the actress considered the best in her career.

The skill of Jeanne Moreau was awarded the prize of the Venice Film Festival for Best Actress in 1960. In an effort to create deep and thoughtful images, the actress was interested in all stages of film production. Sometimes she participated in writing the script, acted as a co-producer. The result of such an attentive attitude to his profession was his own films.

Directorial career

As a director, Jeanne Moreau directed three films: The Light (1976), The Teenager (1979) and Lillian Gish (1983). For the first two, she wrote the scripts herself. But, despite a long film career and rich experience, Moreau's projects as a director were not successful. Among the shortcomings of the first film were called excessive complexity, developing into pretentiousness, and bad acting. The failure of "Light" at the box office led to the financial ruin of Moreau. Longtime she had to pay the bills and even get into debt for this. In search of funds, the actress went to the United States, where she took part in the Broadway musical "Night of the Iguana" - a purely commercial project, too small for an actress of this level.

Recent years

The failure at the box office of "Light" resulted in the departure of the actress from the screens. For many years, she starred mainly in minor and episodic roles, occasionally agreeing to larger ones if she liked the project. In the early 1980s, she met television film director Josy Dayan. The women quickly became close friends, and Moreau often starred in her films. According to the memoirs of the actress, it was thanks to Diane that she realized that she could play age roles.

Departure from big cinema was compensated by activity in other areas. Moreau recorded several records, twice headed the Cannes Film Festival. The actress spent a lot of time searching for new talents. To this end, she visited the perestroika USSR and starred in the film by the Soviet director Anna Karamazoff. However, the audience reacted coldly to the film. This, and a conflict with the director over the final cut, prompted the actress to demand that the film be pulled from wide release.

The actress entered the XXI century as a master of the episode. The small roles of Jeanne Moreau in the films "Farewell Time" by Francois Ozon and "To the West" by Akhmed Imamovich reminded the viewer that heis dealing with an actress of the first magnitude. The last appearance on the screen happened when the actress turned 84 years old. She starred in the film of another long-liver from the cinema of Manuel di Oliveira (at the time of filming the director was 104 years old) - "Jebo and the Shadow".

Private life

Jeanne Moreau got married for the first time in 1949. Her chosen one was the actor and director Jean-Louis Richard. Although the only child of the actress, the son of Jerome, was born from this marriage, the couple quickly lost interest in each other. They officially divorced in 1964, but even before that they allowed themselves romantic adventures on the side. So, Moreau had an affair first with Louis Male, and then with Francois Truffaut. In addition to them, throughout her long life, the actress met with famous designer Pierre Cardin, actor Theodoros Rubanis and musician Miles Davis.

Moro married for the second time in 1977 to American director William Friedkin. However, this marriage did not last long. The couple broke up two years later.

On July 31, 2017, the actress died quietly in her apartment in Paris. Her body was discovered by a housekeeper.