Akademik

(1949- )

   Actress. Fanny Ardant's career in French cinema began in 1979 when she caught the eye of François Truffaut while acting in a television soap opera. Trained in classical theater, Ardant had been unable to do better than bit parts on television and in film until that point. Truffaut's decision to cast her opposite Gérard Depardieu in La Femme d'à côté (1981) changed the course of Ardant's career. Her performance drew wide critical acclaim and won her a nomination for the César.

   Since her film debut, Ardant has been a consistent presence on the screen in France. She is known for her capacity to bring to life independent, intelligent, but very sensual older women, quite often in historical periods during which women were allowed to be none of these things. Some of her best-known performances can be found in Alain Resnais's La Vie est un roman (1983) and L'Amour à Mort (1984), Truffaut's Vivement dimanche (1983), Costa-Gavras's Conseil de famille (1985), Michel Deville's Le Paltoquet (1986), Pierre Beuchot's Aventure de Catherine C. (1990), Yves Angelo's Le Colonel Chabert (1994), Patrice Leconte's Ridicule (1996), Gabriel Aghion's Le libertin (2000), François Ozon's Huit Femmes (2001), and Anne Fontaine's Nathalie (2003). She again received a César nomination for her performance in Vivement dimanche, but did not win the award until 1997, when she received the César for her performance in Aghion's La Pédale douce.

   Probably because of the success of Le Colonel Chabert and Ridicule in the English-speaking world, Ardent has also been cast in several English-language films. In 1995, she was cast in Sydney Pollack's Sabrina, and in 1998 Shekkar Kapur cast her as Marie de Guise in his biopic, Elizabeth, based on the life of Elizabeth I of England. Other international films in which Ardant has appeared include Michaelangelo Antonioni's Al di là delle nuvole (1995), Franco Zeffirelli's Callas Forever (2001), Ettore Scola's La cena (1998), and Mario Martone's L 'Odore del sangue (2004). Ardant married Truffaut in 1981.