She makes an average of two films a year, is one of the few French actresses to have won an Oscar and boasts of being crowned best actress at the three biggest film festivals – Cannes, Berlin and Venice. Juliette Binoche is not afraid of failure.
On Saturday, March 9th, the Parisian, who was born into a family of artists, will be 60 years old. She is not afraid of decline, she said in an interview published a few days ago. She quickly realized that ups and downs are an integral part of life. And added: Her safe place is her inner life.
Sensual and idiosyncratic
Headstrong, demanding and complex: these are the roles she loves. One of her most famous films is “Chocolat”, in which she plays a woman who is attacked because of her tolerance alongside Johnny Depp. One of the highlights of her career is “The English Patient,” for which she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1997. She herself says regarding her acting: “I have fiery energy. I think we are born with it. I can’t change it. I throw myself into everything I do.”
Picture: REUTERS
She appeared on stage as a child, initially in the theater, which she is still loyal to today. At the beginning of the 80s she received her first small film roles. In the same decade she achieved her international breakthrough in 1988 with “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”.
Many suitors, no marriage
Binoche charmed numerous men with her charm – but she never married. She was offered several marriage proposals, but she rejected them all, she told the Daily Mail. She needed relationships, she explained, but sometimes when she was in one she felt claustrophobic. “It’s regarding the feeling that I still have my freedom, that I have choices.”
The list of her ex-partners is long, starting with the two fathers of her children. Her son Raphaël, born in 1993, comes from her liaison with the professional diver André Hallé. The father of her now 24-year-old daughter Hannah is France’s award-winning actor Benoît Magimel.
Presidents are also said to have been among her admirers, such as the late former head of state François Mitterrand, who was known for his numerous women’s stories. As Georges-Marc Benamou, journalist, writer and Mitterrand confidant, wrote in his book “Ledernier Mitterrand” published in 1997, Binoche is said to have been a woman who surpassed everyone for the former head of state. Understandable.
