The Best French Actress?

Definitely not Leslie Caron, but a good dancer.

Leslie Caron is a wonderful actress, but the French don’t consider her a “French” actress because most of her career has been in American and English movies. Her mother, by the way, was American.

Ahem?

I didn't know that because when Caron went to Hollywood she knew no English.

She was Juliette Binoche's mother in Damage (1992) and still had the French accent.

Um, Isabelle Adjani, hello, OP?

Isabelle Hupert was excellent in Catherine Breillart’s Abuse of Weakness and also as the nosy, menacing postmistress in La Cérémonie.

I made my first trip to Paris in the 1990s and was sipping my first morning at a lovely and typical outdoor cafe on the Champs-Elysees having an espresso and croissant and who strolled by? Leslie Caron, wearing an elegant long woolen cape with a matching scarf. It couldn't have been a more appropriate welcome to the city.

Adjani has the most Cesars. Le sondage est une abomination américaine !

Anne Parillaud

Danielle Darrieux

Best how?

One great performance that perfectly defined a character so well that no other to take the role has been able to compete?

Consistently good but mostly does B or lower film/tv/theatre?

did hit after hit after hit back in the day but now is limited to adult diapers, insurance and yogurt commercials?

It's a minor crime that Huppert does not have an Oscar.

I voted for Isabelle Huppert, but I secretly want to see anything/everything in which Catherine Deneuve appears.

Arletty

They are all really lushes lol

[...]

So many omissions on this poll. Have you even heard of Arletty or Falconetti? I mean, mon Dieu!!!

But Isabelle Adjani should be on any list of great actresses. She was/is a prodigious talent. Her performance in L'histoire d'Adele H. is one of the greatest of modern cinema.

Mon Dieu!

R6, R9 and R18 beat me to the comment, but I’ll add that Adjani not only the most talented, but she is also is also the hottest French Actress.

Alida Valli

Out of this list, I've always liked Eva Green and Lea Seydoux.

Never forgiven Juliette Binoche for stealing Lauren Bacall's Oscar.

Leslie Caron is okay but I never considered her that great an actress. Possibly because I've only seen her in musicals like An American in Paris, Gigi, and Daddy Long Legs. I might change my opinion if I ever watch her dramatic roles.

Isabelle Adjani is massively overrated. She got smoke blown up her ass at age 18 by the French media and it's never stopped since then.

Of this list I'd say Jeanne Moreau and Isabelle Huppert.

Claudette Colbert

[quote]It's a minor crime that Huppert does not have an Oscar.

🖕🖕🖕

Fanny Ardant

Simone Signoret

Michele Morgan

[...]

Bien sûr que oui R28.

Deneuve IS a great actress, and she is a workhorse. Those of you who see 10 or 20 French films in your lifetime have no idea what kind of actress she is.

R21 Just how did Juliette Binoche steal the Oscar from Betty Bacall??!

Binoche was in The English Patient. Bacall was playing, well, Betty Bacall.

[...]

I liked Deneuve's older sister, Francoise Dorleac, who made it as a star before Catherine entered films. Unfortunately, she died young in an auto accident. She was a gorgeous brunette and great with her sister in "Young Girls of Rochefort", in Truffaut's "The Soft Skin" and quite hilarious in "That Man from Rio" opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Leslie Caron was quite good in "The L-Shaped Room" getting an Oscar nomination I believe.

Queen Isabelle.

Deneuve could not have pulled off this monologue, one of my all-time favorites (actress category).

R32 So from the 80s on. That's 40 years of workhorse production. Deneuve shows up and does the job, multiple times a year. She has a good range, in my opinion.

Am I allowed to say ... Romy Schneider ?

I consider her a French actress no matter what.

Anyway, I voted for Jeanne Moreau.

Isabelle Hupert is in a class by herself.

Simone Signoret has a Best Actress Oscar, so she's a glaring omission from this list too.

So is Simone Simon

R37 Simone Signoret was on the original list! Sorry

The greatest performance by any actress ever in a film was by the French actress Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc.

Adjani has given so many brilliant performances and she's so beautiful that her exclusion seems intentional and troll-y. Her work in Camille Claudel was breathtaking.

Falconetti and Jeanne Moreau tie for first place. Deneuve is a great beauty and icon of the 60s but she is not a gifted actress. Leslie Caron was a phenomenal multi faceted talent and while she may not be fully French as noted above, she is heavily associated with Paris through her work. Binoche is indeed talented but she never reaches the great heights that Jeanne Moreau did ( at least in my opinion).

So many actresses from France keep playng the same character over and over again, such as Huppert, Deneuve, Adjani. Then they get a part that shows damn, the bitch CAN act; Huppert in 8 Femmes, for example. There are actresses from France who do consistently good work in their films, such as the Sandrines, Kiberlain and Bonnaire. And Isabelle Carré, Catherine Frot and Karen Viard. But for perfection of character and consummate performance, my vote goes to Simone Signoret in Madame Rosa/La Vie Devant Soi. A truly memorable piece of acting.

And if we're discussing actresses who act in French, don't forget the Belgians/Walloons, specifically Dardennes brothers discovery/alumnus, excellent actress Émilie Dequenne and Virginie Efira.

Those who know

Say "Brigitte Bardot."

Those who forgot

Say "Brigitte Bardot."

Where on earth is Isabelle Adjani? The most beautiful and talented of them all!!!

This poll is pointless!!!!

Juliette Binoche was also breathtaking in her portrayal of Camille Claudel: The Later Years.

Voted for Jean Moreau but the correct response is Nathalie Baye.

Bridgette Bardot

Bridgette Bardot - never much of an actress but share her support for animals rights. Juliette Binoche - batshit crazy conspiracy theorist about a number of things including 9/11. I've never liked her but admit she can be brilliant, quite often actually. Talk about talent wasted on a horrible person. Leslie Caron - Good actress but barely remembered today. Marion Cotillard - Vastly overrated. Catherine Deneuve - One of the most beautiful women to ever grace the screen. Despite limited talent when younger was very lucky to land parts in major films that still stand the test of time. Has gotten better over the years and in her twilight years always a complete pleasure to watch. In other words she has gotten better, much better in fact over the years. Eva Green - Meh. Her very hairy bush is a distraction. Isabelle Huppert - Great actress but only within a limited range of aloof characters. Apparently a complete cunt off the screen. Actually so much so it seeps into some of her performances. Horrible on stage though. Jeanne Moreau - A legend. Never really beautiful in the conventional manner and got by on sheer talent. Great legacy of work. Once again - a true legend and a classy lady in real life as well. Léa Seydoux - I like her. Interesting career so far. Very versatile and can play any character from any background in any period. Try and check out the little seen Oh Mercy. She plays a tuff as nails but not too bright bull dyke. Just wow - what a performance. Cotillard couldn't pull that off in a million years. Audrey Tautou - Pleasant enough but no depth which I suspect is why she rarely appears in films now. The Meg Ryan of French cinema?

Isabelle Huppert has frequently been known for very serious dramatic roles, but she is hilarious in Call My Agent!

La Huppert and Marion. Lea Seydoux looks goood in that upcoming Cronenberg

Huppert, but it helps that she's had the best roles and directors too.

They haven't been mentioned yet, but Sandrine Bonnaire is also brilliant (Franny McD really stole her 'Vagabond' performance for Nomadland), Beatrice Dalle is not afraid to go anywhere in a performance, and from the Darrieux/Schnyder/Moreau generation I always felt Bernadette Lafont was a little bit under-appreciated.

Of the young generation, I like Adele Haenel the most, especially in her early roles.

R48 Oui! Nathalie Baye, consistently excellent, especially in La Balance, Le Petit Lieutenant, Liaison Pornographique and It's Only the End of the World.

Also Emmanuelle Riva. She doesn't act much, but what she does is memorable, such as Hiroshima, Mon Amour and Amour.

R54 Emmanuelle Riva's 60's films are outstanding: Kapo, Leon Morin Priest, Therese, Risky Business (not related to the Tom Cruise film of the same name in anyway), Auda and Her Friends.

She worked less 70's though I get the impression her passion was with the theatre.

I do think Nathalie Baye is the best living French actress, though I must admit I loathed It's Only the End of the World but aside from that she is wonderful in just about everything she appears in (though wasted in Downton Abbey: A New Era). I'd also add A Weeks Vacation, The Green Room, Detective, Every Man For Himself (aka Slow Motion), Venus Beauty Institute, Laurence Anyways and one of her most recent films Haute Couture - she is brilliant is that but sadly the film has already disappeared. The other titles you mentioned aside from IOTEOFW are also top shelf work in my view.

The best French actress must at least does proper English accent, otherwise she's not a great actress like I am.

Adrienne Barbeau

R55 What was fascinating about Baye in the Dolan film was that while the rest of the actors seemed a bunch of Parisiens transplated to New Brunswick, Baye actually modified her French to sound like a Canadienne. I found it fascinating to watch her, and it was indeed the work of a consummate actress.

Haute Couture is available for free streaming online, and it was yet another interesting performance by Baye.

Romane Boehringer

r53 Recently Haenel gave two interviews abroad that she doesn't do cinema anymore

R20 Alida was Italian

R18 Falconetti is as unapproachable and almost as unseen as Bernhardt.

That primitive relic was done 96 years ago.

Musidora.

R22 = Julia Roberts

What about Fanny Ardant?

R65 Like Deneuve stunningly beautiful and has aged beautiful. Not much of an actress when she was young but has gotten better with age.

Thank you all for the recommendations.

Annabella

[quote]when Caron went to Hollywood she knew no English.

Of course she knew English, not fluently, but a fair amount. Her mother was American, but had relocated to Paris long before Leslie was born. French was the only language spoken in the household. It’s more accurate to say she had never *lived* in English, and there is a big difference between living day-to -day in a language, and just knowing it.

Where is the love for Françoise Rosay?

She had the body of a battleship and kept her eyes closed in every performance.

[quote] a lovely and typical outdoor cafe on the Champs-Elysees having an espresso and croissant and who strolled by? Leslie Caron

But how could you see her? She is as tall as a toadstool.

[quote] What about Fanny Ardant?

She is the French version of Candice Bergen.

Any love for Catherine Froh?

R73 It's Catherine Frot - and yes I'm a big fan.

Others not mentioned that come to mind include Emmanuelle Devos, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (sister of Carla Bruni), Ariane Ascaride, Laure Calamy & Sandrine Kiberlain. I'm a big fan of all of them.

You make me think you might be a lesbian, R74. I'm sure most non-French people are unfamiliar with those names you mention.

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi is a far more dynamic actress in Italian, such as in La Pazza Gioia. She seems too wispy and ethereal in French, though she was very good in 5 X 2 with Stephane Freiss.

R75 I am a gay male. And speaking of lesbians another great French (though she is from Belgium) is Cecile de France.

Lesbians love her and some can't accept that she is straight probably because she plays gay so convincingly.

[quote] from the Darrieux/Schnyder/Moreau generation

R53 I suspect that fans of Danielle Darrieux would say her 'generation' commenced 2 decades earlier than Schneider and Moreau.

Someone on wiki claims that "her eight-decade career was among the longest in film history".

I'm not fan but she had the luck to star in this amusing, remarkable movie—

[quote] Danielle Darrieux

I can't tell the difference between her and Micheline Presle.

I know we're supposed to pronounce 'Presle' as 'Prayle' but she has that same weak jawline as Darrieux.

Arletty (1898-1992) was great.

She got treated very badly after WW2 for fucking Nazis. I don't think she was ever really forgiven but she was an amazing talent and starred in the great French classics of the 1930's.

[quote] the great French classics of the 1930's.

'Les enfants du paradis' was 1945.

R81 But made in secret.

Arletty probably fucked a whole lot of Nazis to allow the film to be made.

R7 yeah, and in the fucking Piano Teacher. Let's just leave that one out? I don't think so.

Sophie Marceau

I love these opinionated flamers. Ok let's see Seydoux (who plays butch easily btw, lobster, warmest colour obvi) do what Marion did in Rust and Bone. Burn through the ducking screen like that. She doesn't because she can't.

R84 Can't same I'm a fan of Sophie but she is wonderful in Everything Went Fine (2021) - easily her best performance to date.

You really should include Charlotte Gainsbourg in the options. She's very good.

R87 Yes, I agree. I suppose one could also include her mother Jane Birkin whose film career has mainly been in French cinema. A nod to Charlotte Rampling, Jacqueline Bissett & Kristin Scott-Thomas. It was French cinema that kicked off Ramplings second career with Under the Sand (2000). The only decent films that Scott-Thomas has made since 2000 have been in French productions.

Other great French actress that have not been mentioned are Bulle Ogier, Miou-Miou & Camille Cotton.

I know I am missing many others.

How can one not be a fan of the wonderful Danielle Darrieux? I just saw her in "Mademoiselle Mozart" (1936) and she was charming, as was the film.

Sabine Azema, Anna Karina, Dominique Sanda, Annie Giardot, Chiara Mastroianni, Anaïs Demoustier, Yolande Moreau are other great French actresses.

R90 Yolande Moreau is a Walloon, Belgian. from Brussels.

There's always Miou-Miou. And Anna Karina. I'm partial to the amazing and enigmatic María Casares.

R90, a few bi-nationals in that list.

[quote] Arletty, Annabella, Anouk, Bourvil, Barbette, Capucine, Carette, Dalio, Francoeur, Miou-miou, Raimu, [Valli]

I'm waiting for the OP or some knowledgeable person to tell us why so many French performers used a single-word as a stage name.

Was it a requirement of the Comédie-Française?

[quote] How can one not be a fan of the wonderful Danielle Darrieux?

R89 I don't understand the French language and I've only seen about 6 of her movies.

BTW I was amused by this the odd credit in this embarrassing failure of a movie —

[quote] With the French Star Danielle Darrieux

Danielle got to savor Porfirio Rubirosa's giant dick for several years.

Simone Signoret

Bruni-Tedeschi is too funny for French films.

Has anyone seen the gay-themed Crustacés & Coquillages with Bruni-Tedeschi? It is AWFUL, and I'm still cringing from the musical number at the end decades later.