Anne Fontaine

Anne Fontaine (born Anne-Fontaine Sibertin-Blanc; 15 July 1959) is a Luxembourger film director, screenwriter, and former actress.[2] She lives and works in France.[3]

This article is about the filmmaker and actress. For other uses, see Anne Fontaine (disambiguation).

Anne Fontaine
Fontaine in 2020
Born
Anne-Fontaine Sibertin-Blanc

(1959-07-15) 15 July 1959
Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter, actress
Years active1980–present
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1994)​
[1]
Children1

Life and career

Born Anne-Fontaine Sibertin-Blanc in Luxembourg, sister of actor Jean-Chrétien Sibertin-Blanc, she went as a young child to live in Lisbon,[4] where her father, Antoine Sibertin-Blanc, is a music professor and cathedral organist. In adolescence she moved to Paris and trained in dance with Joseph Russillo[5] while continuing her academic education, including philosophy. Her husband is Philippe Carcassonne, the film producer, and they have an adopted son, Tienne, who was born in Cambodia.

While still dancing, she was picked by Robert Hossein to play Esmeralda in a 1980 theatrical production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame[6] and around this time started to use the name Anne Fontaine. She continued with acting and became known for her roles in comedies like Si ma gueule vous plaît... (1981) and P.R.O.F.S.(1985). An opportunity to be assistant director came with a 1986 stage version of Louis-Ferdinand Céline's Journey to the End of the Night at the Renaud-Barrault theatre.

Fontaine's first project as solo director, Les Histoires d'amour finissent mal... en général (Love Affairs Usually End Badly), won the 1993 Prix Jean Vigo. In 1995, she worked with her brother on the comedy Augustin. Two years later, she wrote and directed the successful Dry Cleaning (Nettoyage à Sec). It won the Best Screenplay award at the 1997 Venice Film Festival and is generally considered a milestone on Fontaine's way to becoming "an important figure in contemporary French cinema".[7]

In 1999 the character Augustin (Jean-Chrétien Sibertin-Blanc) re-appeared in Fontaine's film Augustin, King of Kung-Fu. How I Killed My Father was released in 2001, and Nathalie... followed in 2003. The 2005 film, Entre ses mains was widely described as a thriller: an "intimate thriller" according to Fontaine herself.[8] A third Augustin film, Nouvelle chance (also known as Oh La La) was released in 2006. Then came The Girl From Monaco in 2008 and Coco Before Chanel, her biopic of Coco Chanel, in 2009.

Fontaine's work is not easily categorised, though the phrase "psychological drama" is often used. She told a UK newspaper, "I try to work on my characters' blind side, in a kind of Freudian way: to ask, 'What are the things about themselves that they're unaware of?' I'm fascinated by the irony of fate, when something goes into a skid. All my stories have an element of cruelty in them."[9]

While knowing that the movement of "women's cinema" worked as a counter to the classical Hollywood system, Fontaine didn't like to identify with this. During an interview in 1998 with Eve-Laure Moros, she stated: "If people say that 'Nettoyage a sec' is a woman's film, I'm very surprised, I don't know what that means... I think that to be a filmmaker, as far as sexuality, it's something that's really de-sexualizing. That is, you become a bizarre thing, when you're directing a film---during the shooting, you're neither a man nor a woman, you're really something strange and very ambivalent."[10]

Filmography

As filmmaker
Year Title Credited as Notes Ref(s)
Director Screenwriter
1993 Les Histoires d'amour finissent mal... en général Yes Yes Prix Jean Vigo
1995 Augustin Yes Yes Nominated—Prix Un Certain Regard (1995 Cannes Film Festival)
1997 L'@mour est à réinventer Yes Yes Segment: Tapin du soir
1997 Dry Cleaning Yes Yes Golden Osella for Best Original Screenplay (54th Venice International Film Festival)
Nominated—César Award for Best Writing
Nominated—Golden Lion (54th Venice International Film Festival)		 [11][12]
1999 Augustin, King of Kung-Fu Yes Yes
2001 How I Killed My Father Yes Yes Nominated—Golden Leopard (Locarno International Film Festival) [13]
2003 Nathalie... Yes Yes [14][15]
2005 Entre ses mains Yes Yes Nominated—César Award for Best Adaptation
Nominated—Golden Shell (San Sebastián International Film Festival)
2006 Oh La La! Yes Yes
2008 The Girl from Monaco Yes Yes [16]
2009 Coco Before Chanel Yes Yes Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language
Nominated—César Award for Best Adaptation
Nominated—Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Nominated—European Film Academy People's Choice Award for Best European Film
Nominated—Lumières Award for Best Film
Nominated—Lumières Award for Best Director		 [17][18]
2011 My Worst Nightmare Yes Yes
2013 Two Mothers Yes Yes [19][20][21]
2014 Gemma Bovery Yes Yes [22]
2016 The Innocents Yes Yes COLCOA Audience Award
Norwegian International Film Festival - Andreas Award
Provincetown International Film Festival - Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
Valladolid International Film Festival - FIPRESCI Prize
Nominated—César Award for Best Film
Nominated—César Award for Best Director
Nominated—César Award for Best Original Screenplay		 [23][24][25][26]
2017 Reinventing Marvin Yes Yes [27]
2019 White as Snow Yes Yes [28]
2020 Night Shift Yes Yes
2021 Presidents Yes Yes

As actress
Year Title Role Notes
1980 Les Mystères de Paris Sarah TV mini-series
1980 Tendres Cousines Justine
1981 Si ma gueule vous plaît... Isabelle
1982 Caméra une première Alba TV series
1984 Le Mystérieux Docteur Cornélius Andrée de Maubreuil TV mini-series
1985 Entre chats et loups Carole Lambert TV movie
1985 P.R.O.F.S. Marite
1986 Grand hôtel Marite TV series
1987 Children and the White Whale Claudine TV movie
1988 Carte de presse Pauline TV mini-series
1986–1990 Série rose Mathilde / Mme Orlova TV series
1999 Pas de scandale Nathalie

See also

References
  1. Diatkine, Anne (9 January 2004). "Femme à fable". Libération (in French). Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  2. "Anne Fontaine". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  3. Colman, David (13 September 2013). "Upon Reflection, Anne Fontaine's Feminine Touch". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  4. Le Soleil, Canada (10 Feb 2006)
  5. Libération (9 Jan 2004)
  6. Libération
  7. Sexual Politics and "Dry Cleaning" with Directrice Anne Fontaine Archived 20 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Quoted in a review Archived 4 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine of the 2006 Australian French Film Festival
  9. Daily Telegraph (17 July 2004)
  10. Ritterbusch, Rachel (2008). "Anne Fontaine and Contemporary Women's Cinema in France". Rocky Mountain Review. 62: 68–81.
  11. "Hidden Desires Unfold in Mesmerizing 'Dry Cleaning'". Los Angeles Times. 26 March 1999. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  12. Stratton, David (19 October 1997). "Dry Cleaning". Variety. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  13. O'Hehir, Andrew (31 August 2002). ""How I Killed My Father"". Salon. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  14. Gates, Anita (14 April 2006). "French Star Power and Sex in Anne Fontaine's 'Nathalie'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  15. Elley, Derek (1 October 2003). "Nathalie . . ". Variety. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  16. Elley, Derek (14 August 2008). "The Girl From Monaco". Variety. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  17. September 23, Lisa Schwarzbaum Updated; EDT, 2009 at 04:00 AM. "Coco Before Chanel". EW.com. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  18. Morris, Wesley (2 October 2009). "Coco Before Chanel". Boston.com. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  19. Wise, Damon (21 January 2013). "Sundance film festival 2013: Two Mothers – first look review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  20. Ebiri, Bilge; York, a film critic for New; Vulture. "Ebiri on Adore: Two Hot Mothers, Two Hot Sons, Sexy Time". Vulture. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  21. Scott, A. O. (5 September 2013). "A Valentine for One, a Mother's Day Card for Another". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  22. Williams, Joe. "Flaubert gets a meta-movie makeover in 'Gemma Bovery'". STLtoday.com. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  23. Chang, Justin (31 January 2016). "Film Review: 'The Innocents'". Variety. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  24. Bradshaw, Peter (10 November 2016). "The Innocents review – a fervent drama about a wartime tragedy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  25. Holden, Stephen (30 June 2016). "Review: In 'The Innocents,' Not Even Nuns Are Spared War Horrors". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  26. "Review: 'The Innocents' strikingly tells of what befell a convent victimized during WWII". Los Angeles Times. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  27. Lodge, Guy (3 September 2017). "Venice Film Review: 'Reinventing Marvin'". Variety. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  28. Kennedy, Lisa (12 August 2021). "'White as Snow' Review: The Fairest of Them All". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anne Fontaine.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.