“From TV Host to Cannes Darling: The Remarkable Rise of Actress Virginie Efira”

2023-05-26 11:04:36

Virginie Efira is at the Cannes Film Festival to present two films, Love and forests by Valérie Donzelli, as well as Nothing to lose by Delphine Deloget, an opportunity for The Pathfinder to come back to the astonishing journey of this actress as prolific as she is talented. Portrait.

Virginie Efira keeps talking regarding her. After proudly displaying her pregnancy belly as a blanket Teleramathe Belgian actress created a sensation on the Croisette with Love and forests, this week. Presented in the Cannes Première selection, and directed by Valérie Donzelli, the film tells the toxic relationship in which Blanche (Virginie Efira) finds herself locked up, victim of the marital hell erected by Grégoire (Melvil Poupaud).

“A French-style Cameron Diaz”

Unsurprisingly, the press hailed the performance of the prolific actress whose cinematographic choices have for several years been as impeccable as they are astonishing. However, when we discover Virginie Efira on Megamix, a musical program broadcast on Club RTL, then on M6 as presenter of La Nouvelle Star, nothing suggests that viewers have before them the next darling of French-speaking cinema.

Trailer of Love and forests.

If tele-hook, like Opération Séduction, another show she hosted in the 2000s, made her one of the faces of the channel, this is only one step; a springboard for those who dream of being a child of Hollywood and the Cannes Film Festival from their Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek.

Spotted by director Philippe Lefebvre who offered her, in 2010, her first film role in The Whistlerthe presenter then worked with Dominique Farrugia in Love is better with two (2010). “We were looking for a French-style Cameron Diaz” remembers the former comedian and producer in the columns of Parisian. If since the actress has moved away from the genre, this project will initiate a series of romantic comedies in which Virginie Efira reveals her comic genius, and a promising acting virtue.

With My worst nightmare (2011) d’Anne Fontaine, 20 years apart (2013) with Pierre Niney, or even A tall man (2016), Virginie Efira cut her teeth on the big screen and enjoyed her first successes. However, it will take until 2016 for Justine Triet offers him the dramatic role that will change his career, that of Victoria, a forty-something in the midst of an existential crisis, in the eponymous film. Presented at the Cannes Film Festival at the opening of La Semaine de la critique, the film was hailed by the press at the time: the former presenter who dreamed of the red carpet now has her place in the big leagues.

Virginie Efira and Melvil Poupaud in Victoria. © Ecce Films

Virginie Efira, the new movie star

This first recognition from her peers triggers Virginie Efira’s veritable filming bulimia. In seven years, the prolific artist has made 16 films with renowned directors. In particular, she passes in front of the cameras of Catherine Corsini, Anne Fontaine, Rebecca Zlotowki, Albert Dupontel, and even Paul Verhoeven, in order to interpret in turn singular and dramatic female characters through which she lets a Subtle range of playing, always fair.

The desire for a child (The Children of Others), sexuality in the Catholic cloister (Blessed), bipolarity (Waiting for Bojangles)… Virginie Efira explores all fields of cinema and captures strong subjects. In one of his last films, See Paris once more of Alice Winocour, she lends her features to a survivor of an attack suffering from post-traumatic stress; a performance that earned him his first César in February 2023.

César for Best Actress awarded to Virginie Efira.

A few months following her coronation, she is back on the Croisette to present two films, Love and forests by Valérie Donzelli, but also Nothing to lose by Delphine Deloget. In the latter, presented in the Un Certain Regard selection, the actress plays a mother forced to fight once morest social services and justice in order to recover custody of her son following a domestic accident.

In previous years, Virginie Efira had come to present Blessed (2021), then Don Juan (2022). For the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, the actress has therefore decided to move up a gear by presenting two films simultaneously, yet another symbol of her artistic productivity, which she does not hesitate to make fun of, especially when she receives the César for best actress, last February: “At the same time, I made 63 films this year, so arithmetically, I had given myself a few chances”.

French actors conquering the Croisette

French cinema seems to have taken over the Cannes Film Festival this year. After Jeanne du Barrypresented at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival, Benjamin Laverhne and Melvil Poupaud respectively presented the biopic on Abbé Pierre, and Love and forests. On his side, Benoit Magimelwith whom Virginie Efira shared the poster in See Paris once moreis the poster of three feature films presented at Cannes. Omar the Strawberry, The Passion of Dodin Bouffant, Rosalie count among their ranks the actor recently Caesarized for Pacifiction.

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We can also mention Anaïs Demoustier. Present during the fortnight as President of the Camera d’Or Jury, she also presented the film The Time to Love alongside Vincent Lacoste meanwhile French voice ofElementaryclosing film of the Cannes Film Festival, this Saturday, May 27.

French and French-speaking cinema is therefore showing a strong presence, this year at the Cannes Film Festival. A real artistic conquest led mainly by Benoît Magimel and Virginie Efira, and this despite the Hollywood appointments that will also have marked the fortnight.

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