Sandrine Bonnaire (pronounced [sɑ̃dʁin bɔnɛːʁ]; born 31 May 1967) is a French actress, film director and screenwriter who has appeared in more than 40 films. She won the César Award for Most Promising Actress for À Nos Amours (1983), the César Award for Best Actress for Vagabond (1985) and the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for La Cérémonie (1995). Her other films include Under the Sun of Satan (1987), Monsieur Hire (1989), East/West (1999) and The Final Lesson (2015).

Sandrine Bonnaire
Born (1967-05-31) 31 May 1967 (age 57)
Gannat, Allier, France
Occupation(s)Actress, film director, screenwriter
Years active1982–present
Children2

Life and career

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Sandrine Bonnaire at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival

Bonnaire was born in the town of Gannat, Allier, in the Auvergne region. She was born into a working-class family, the seventh of eleven children. She grew up in Grigny, Essonne.[1] Her acting career began in 1983, when she starred in the Maurice Pialat film À Nos Amours at age 16, as 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 with her portrayal of the main character, a vagrant who fails both physically and morally, in Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi), directed by Agnès Varda. The film earned Bonnaire her second César Award. Vagabond premiered at the 42nd Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion. The jury deemed Bonnaire's performance among the best of the year, but decided against awarding her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress prize because both the actresses they judged to have given the best performances were in films that won major awards.[2]

Bonnaire worked again with Pialat on Under the Sun of Satan (Sous le soleil de Satan) which won the Palme d'Or at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. Monsieur Hire, directed by Patrice Leconte, followed in 1989, along with further work with directors Jacques Doillon and Claude Sautet.

In 1995, Bonnaire starred as an apparently simple maid in Claude Chabrol's widely acclaimed thriller La Cérémonie. The film and its stars won awards internationally, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 52nd Venice Film Festival for both Bonnaire and co-star Isabelle Huppert.

In 2004, Bonnaire starred in another Leconte film, Intimate Strangers, which was an arthouse box-office hit in the United States.[3]

In 2017, Bonnaire starred in Gaël Morel's film about reverse immigration, Prendre le large.[4] At the 8th Magritte Awards she received an Honorary Magritte Award from the Académie André Delvaux.[5]

In 2024, Bonnaire began the filming of Slow Joe.[6]

Personal life

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Bonnaire has a daughter from a relationship with actor William Hurt, whom she met in 1991 during filming of the Albert Camus novel The Plague (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. She wrote and directed the 2012 movie J'enrage de son absence with her ex William Hurt as the main role. Bonnaire and Guillaume Laurant divorced in 2015.[7]

Selected filmography

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Bonnaire at the 2009 66th Venice International Film Festival as member of the jury.

As actress

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Year Title Role Director Ref.
1982 Les Sous-doués en vacances Extra (uncredited) Claude Zidi
1983 À nos amours Suzanne Maurice Pialat
1984 Tir à vue (Fire on Sight) Marilyn Marc Angelo [8][9]
1985 Blanche et Marie Marie Jacques Renard [10]
Le meilleur de la vie (A Better Life) Veronique Renaud Victor [11][12]
Police Lydie Maurice Pialat
Sans toit ni loi (Vagabond) Mona Bergeron Agnès Varda
1986 La Puritaine (The Prude) Manon Jacques Doillon [13][14][15]
1987 Sous le soleil de Satan Mouchette Maurice Pialat
Jaune revolver Angèle Olivier Langlois [16][17][18]
Les Innocents Jeanne André Téchiné
1988 Quelques jours avec moi (A Few Days With Me) Francine Claude Sautet [19]
Peaux de vaches Annie Patricia Mazuy
1989 Monsieur Hire Alice Patrice Leconte
1990 La Captive du désert The captive Raymond Depardon
Verso sera (a.k.a. Dans la soirée) Stella Francesca Archibugi
1991 Le ciel de Paris (The Sky Above Paris) Suzanne Michel Béna [20]
1992 La Peste (The Plague) Martine Luis Puenzo [21]
Prague Elena Ian Sellar
1994 Joan the Maid, Part 1: The Battles
Joan the Maid, Part 2: The Prisons
Joan of Arc Jacques Rivette
1995 Les Cent et une Nuits de Simon Cinéma The female vagabond Agnès Varda
La Cérémonie Sophie Claude Chabrol
1996 Never Ever Katherine Charles Finch
1997 Die Schuld der Liebe (Debt of Love) Monika Andreas Gruber [22][23][24]
1998 Secret défense Sylvie Jacques Rivette
Stolen Life Olga Yves Angelo
1999 Au cœur du mensonge Vivianne Claude Chabrol
Est-Ouest Marie Régis Wargnier
2001 Mademoiselle Claire Philippe Lioret [25]
C'est la vie Suzanne Jean-Pierre Améris [26]
2002 Femme Fatale As herself Brian De Palma
2003 Resistance Lucette Todd Komarnicki
2004 Confidences trop intimes Anna Patrice Leconte
Le Cou de la girafe (The Giraffe's Neck) Hélène Safy Nebbou [27]
L'Équipier Mabé Philippe Lioret
2006 Je crois que je l'aime (Could This Be Love?) Elsa Pierre Jolivet [28]
Demandez la permission aux enfants Marie Eric Civanyan [29]
2007 Un Coeur Simple (A Simple Heart) Félicité Marion Laine [30][31]
2008 L'Empreinte de l'ange Claire Safy Nebbou
2009 Joueuse Hélène Caroline Bottaro
2013 Adieu Paris Françoise Dupret Franziska Buch
2014 Salaud, on t'aime Nathalie Béranger Claude Lelouch
Soul of a Spy Jacqueline Vladimir Bortko
Rouge sang Jacqueline Xavier Durringer TV film
2015 The Final Lesson Diane Pascale Pouzadoux
2016 Heaven Will Wait
2017 Capitaine Marleau Jeanne Dewaere Josée Dayan
A Season in France
Catch the Wind
2021 Happening Gabrielle Duchesne Audrey Diwan
Love Is Better Than Life Sandrine Massaro
2022 Umami Louise Carvin Slony Sow
Les Combattantes Éléonore Dewitt
2023 Dance First Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil James Marsh
2024 Limonov: The Ballad TBA Kirill Serebrennikov
Finalement Claude Lelouch

As director/screenwriter

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Year Title Cast Notes Ref.
2007 Elle s'appelle Sabine (Her Name is Sabine) Sabine Bonnaire Documentary
Cannes Film Festival - Directors' Fortnight or Critics' Week
French Syndicate of Cinema Critics - Best First Film
Globe de Cristal for Best Documentary
Nominated - Cannes Film Festival - Golden Camera
Nominated - Chicago International Film Festival - Best Documentary
Nominated - César Award for Best Documentary Film
2012 J'enrage de son absence William Hurt, Alexandra Lamy Feature film [32]
2016 Marianne Faithfull - Fleur d'âme Marianne Faithfull, Sandrine Bonnaire Documentary film

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Film Result
1984 César Awards Most Promising Actress À nos amours Won
1986 Best Actress Sans toit ni loi Won
1988 Sous le soleil de Satan Nominated
1990 Monsieur Hire Nominated
1995 Joan the Maiden Nominated
1996 La Cérémonie Nominated
2000 Est-Ouest Nominated
2009 Best Documentary Film Elle s'appelle Sabine Nominated
1995 Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup for Best Actress La Cérémonie Won

References

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  1. ^ "Premiere Artist Profile". premiere.fr/. 31 May 1967.
  2. ^ "Venice Festival awards top prize to Varda film". New York Times. 7 September 1985.
  3. ^ At A Popular Annual Showcase in New York, Considering French Cinema's Identity Crisis
  4. ^ Cinéma : Sandrine Bonnaire, digne et fière dans "Prendre le large", France TV Info, 5 November 2017
  5. ^ Meskens, Joëlle (2 February 2018). "Sandrine Bonnaire mise à l'honneur aux Magritte: "Le cinéma, c'est ma façon d'être citoyenne"". Le Soir (in French). Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  6. ^ "Sandrine Bonnaire tunes into music biopic 'Slow Joe' (exclusive)". Screen Daily.
  7. ^ Col, Louise (8 March 2016). "Sandrine Bonnaire : célibataire et heureuse depuis son divorce de Guillaume Laurant". Terrafemina (in French). Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Tir a Vue (1984)". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  9. ^ "Aka: Fire on Sight". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  10. ^ "Blanche et Marie". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  11. ^ "Le Meilleur De La Vie". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  12. ^ "Aka: A Better Life". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  13. ^ "La Puritaine". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  14. ^ "La Puritaine". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  15. ^ "Aka: The Prude". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  16. ^ "Jaune revolver". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  17. ^ "Jaune revolver". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  18. ^ "La Puritaine". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  19. ^ "Aka: A Few Days with Me". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  20. ^ "Aka: The Sky Above Paris". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  21. ^ "Aka: The Plague". Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  22. ^ "Die Schuld der Liebe". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  23. ^ "Die Schuld der Liebe". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  24. ^ "Aka: Debt of Love". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  25. ^ "Mademoiselle (2001)". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  26. ^ "C'est la vie (2001)". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  27. ^ "Aka: The Giraffe's Neck". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  28. ^ "Could This Be Love?". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  29. ^ "Demandez la permission aux enfants". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  30. ^ "Un coeur simple (2008)". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  31. ^ "Simple Heart (2008)". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  32. ^ "J'enrage de son absence". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
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