Annie Girardot

His filmography far exceeds one hundred films. He worked with the greats of European cinema, from classics like Luchino Visconti and Marcel Carné , to current directors of undeniable talent like Michael Haneke .

Annie Girardot was born in Paris on October 25, 1931, from an adulterous relationship, her father never recognized her, and he died when she was two years old, her mother was a midwife. She studied to be a nurse, but the bug for her acting caught on, and she entered the Conservatoire on rue Blanche, so in 1954 she joined the French Comedy theater company. Jean Cocteau was impressed to see her on stage, saying that “she was the most beautiful dramatic temperament of the postwar period.”

He made his film debut with Treize à table (1955), by André Hunebelle , although he continued with the “troupe” until 1957, and alternated appearances on radio, television and even in cabarets and magazines. In fact, her on-screen roles were minor, although with Jean Gabin she did Commissioner Maigret (1958) and she shone as a prostitute in Luchino Visconti’s masterpiece Rocco y sus hermanos De él (1960). She ironically fell in love with Renato Salvatori , an actor whose character in the film she repeatedly stabbed her. They married and had a daughter.

For Three Rooms in Manhattan (1965), adaptation of a work by George Simenon directed by Marcel Carné, he was awarded in Venice. She specialized in the roles of popular women, professionals of various trades, from a teacher to a police officer or a doctor. Precisely a role as a doctor gave her the César for best actress, she was in the film The Private Life of a Doctor (1977).

He worked with important French actors such as Philippe Noiret – The spinster (1972)-, Jean Rochefort – Love in absentia (1972)-, Alain Delon – Shock treatment (1973), Alias ​​the gypsy (1975)-, Lino Ventura – The slap (1975)-, Louis de Funès – Vote for the mayor (1978)-, With Fernando Rey , under the orders of Luigi Comencini , he made the funny comedy El gran atasco(1979). He never stopped working until illness prevented him, but it’s clear that the ’80s and ’90s were lesser times for his film career – instead he drifted into singing with Bob Decout, putting on musical shows where he lost a lot of money. , with small papers. His intervention in Exceptional Witness (1995) stands out, an original update of Victor Hugo ‘s work “Les miserables”, which gave him his second César. That is why it is surprising that the great Michael Haneke chose her for two of her unhealthy films that characterize him, The Pianist (2001) -third Caesar- and Caché (2005).

When he finds out he has Alzheimer’s, Girardot doesn’t back down. She publishes scrapbooks, while memory lasts, and even makes a film in which she plays a patient with this disease – Je préfère q’on reste amis -, and later lends herself to a documentary about her as an Alzheimer’s patient, He wants to make the world aware of the disease.