Isabelle Huppert

When contemplating an actress such as Isabelle Huppert, the temptation is to draw up an impressively long list of names of artists including some of the greatest who have been lucky enough to direct her, on stage and in film, or to have simply been partners in the same cast. This fact demonstrates more than the recognition of the great talent of an actress: it rather manifests the extraordinary openness of a woman. This text endeavors to focus on what is essential, being fully aware that it is impossible to cover everything.

First, there were drama classes, followed by studies at La Rue Blanche – ENSATT and the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique (CNSAD). In cinema, Isabelle Huppert has been directed by Claude Goretta (“The Lacemaker,” BAFTA award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles), Claude Chabrol (“Violette,” Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival; “Story of Women,” Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival; and “La Cérémonie,” Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival and César award for Best Actress), Jean-Luc Godard, André Téchiné, Maurice Pialat, Patrice Chéreau (“Gabrielle,” Special Golden Lion for the Overall Work at the Venice Film Festival), Michael Haneke (“The Piano Teacher,” Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival), Benoît Jacquot, Jacques Doillon, Claire Denis, Christian Vincent, Laurence Ferreira Barbosa, Olivier Assayas, Patricia Mazuy, Diane Kurys, Caroline Huppert, François Ozon, Anne Fontaine, Joachim Lafosse, Eva Ionesco, Serge Bozon, Catherine Breillat, Mia Hansen-Løve, Pascal Bonitzer, Guillaume Nicloux, and Samuel Benchetrit. Prominent international directors include Michael Cimino, Joseph Losey, Otto Preminger, the Taviani brothers, Marco Ferreri, Hal Hartley, David O. Russell, Andrzej Wajda, Werner Schröter, Rithy Panh, Brillante Mendoza, Joachim Trier, Hong Sang-soo, and Paul Verhoeven (“Elle,” which won numerous distinctions, including the Golden Globe, the Gotham Award, and the Independent Spirit Award, as well as nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the César Award for Best Actress). Isabelle Huppert served as Head of the Jury at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival and the 34th Tokyo International Film Festival. In recognition of her lifetime achievement, the Berlin Film Festival awarded her the Honorary Golden Bear in 2022.

During her career on stage, both in France and internationally, Isabelle Huppert was directed by leading figures such as Robert Wilson (“Orlando” by Virginia Woolf, adapted by Darryl Pinckney), Heiner Müller (“Quartett”), Peter Zadek (“Measure for Measure” by William Shakespeare), and Claude Régy (“Jeanne au bûcher” by Paul Claudel and “4.48 Psychosis” by Sarah Kane, for both of which she was required to remain almost entirely motionless throughout the play). Other directors include Bernard Murat (“A Month in the Country” by Ivan Turgenev), Jacques Lassalle (“Medea” by Euripides, for the Festival d’ Avignon), Éric Lacascade (“Hedda Gabler” by Henrik Ibsen), Yasmina Reza (“Le Dieu du carnage”), Krzysztof Warlikowski (“A Streetcar,” based on the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, and “Phèdre(s)” by Wajdi Mouawad, Sarah Kane, and J. M. Coetzee), Benedict Andrews (“The Maids” by Jean Genet, for Sydney Theatre Company and in New York, for which she shared the stage with Cate Blanchett), and Luc Bondy (“Les Fausses confidences” by Pierre de Marivaux). More recently she has participated in the American production of Florian Zeller’s “The Mother in New York”, in Tennessee Williams’s “The Glass Menagerie”, directed by Ivo van Hove, and in Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard,” directed by Tiago Rodrigues and premiered in the Cour d’honneur (main courtyard) of the Festival d’Avignon. She holds the French Molière Lifetime Achievement Award and has won the 16th Europe Theater Prize in Rome.

She is working with director Robert Wilson for the third time.