Foreign Cinema: French Stars

14 January 2009

0Comments | Comment on this Article

This week FemaleFirst has been looking at the rise of French cinema, and year on year it seems to be breaking more and more into the mainstream and gaining a worldwide audience.

We continue this theme by looking at some of the country's biggest stars that have helped the French film industry become what it is today.

Jean Gabin was a major star kicking off his career at nineteen, it would go on to span over four decades, in a string of minor roles. But the First World War halted his acting as he completed his military career before returning to the theatre big screen and then the big screen in silent movies.

But by 1930 he had made the transition into talking pictures making a dozen movies in the short space of four years with recognition coming in 1934 for his role in Maria Chapdelaine.

With further success in La Bandera it wasn't until 1937 and the movie Pepe le Moko that Gabin received worldwide fame and this led to a role in Jean Renoir's big screen masterpiece la Grande Illusion, an anti-war film that was a massive box office hit and Hollywood came calling.

He turned down all his Hollywood offers until the Second World War when he moved to America after the German occupation of France. But Hollywood was not as successful a move as he hoped that it would be as being difficult to work with seriously damaged his reputation.

Gabin faced more problems back at home when he was fired from Les Portes de la Nuit and his career looked to be in tatters. However in 1954 he made a successful comeback in Touchez pas au Grisbi and his career once again flourished.

One of the biggest stars throughout the fifties and sixties was model, singer and actress Bridgitte Bardot who was one of very few European actresses who gained attention in America.

She made her film debut in 1952 in Le Trou Normand, a comedy, before going on to appear in some English movies such as Doctor at Sea and Helen of Troy.

But her husband Roger Vadim was not happy with the level of Bardot's success and went on to showcase her And God Created Woman in which she played an immoral teenager.

The film shot her to overnight stardom as the 1956 picture went on to be an international success. But America did not welcome her with open arms as her sex siren image was in keeping with American cinema at the time and she stayed in Europe.

Jean-Paul Belmondo was part of the New Wave of French cinema that swept the industry during the sixties making his debut in Jean Luc Goddard's Breathless in 1960 which short him to stardom.

He followed this success up with Leon Morin, Priest and The Fingerman before switching to more mainstream movies. Similarly Gerard Depardieu has had a very successful career moving between art-house movies to more commercial roles, as well as finding success in Hollywood.

But the French movie industry is riding on a new wave of talent as a string of actor and actresses have taken over Hollywood with great success. Leading the way is Amelie actress Audrey Tatou who moved into English speaking movies when she starred alongside Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code.

2008 was also a hit for the French actress as Marion Cotillard scooped the Best Actress Oscar for her role in La Vie En Rose and she to has moved into English speaking films as she stars alongside Johnny Depp and Christian Bale in this summer's Public Enemies.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

0Comments | Be the first to comment!