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

(1959-07-15) 15 July 1959 (age 64)
Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter, actress
Years active1980–present
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1994)​
[1]
Children1

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]

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

Film

Year Title Director Writer Notes Ref.
1993 Les Histoires d'amour finissent mal... en général Yes Yes
1995 Augustin Yes Yes
1997 L'@mour est à réinventer Yes Yes Segment: Tapin du soir
Dry Cleaning Yes Yes [11][12]
1999 Augustin, King of Kung-Fu Yes Yes
2001 How I Killed My Father Yes Yes [13]
2003 Nathalie... Yes Yes [14][15]
2005 Entre ses mains Yes Yes
2006 Oh La La! Yes Yes
2008 The Girl from Monaco Yes Yes [16]
2009 Coco Before Chanel Yes Yes [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 [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
2024 Boléro Yes Yes [29]

Acting roles

Year Title Role Notes
1980 Les Mystères de Paris Sarah TV mini-series
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
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

Awards and nominations

BAFTA Awards

Year Category Title Result
2009 Best Film Not in the English Language Coco Before Chanel Nominated

César Awards

Year Category Title Result
1997 Best Writing Dry Cleaning Nominated
2005 Best Adaptation Entre ses mains Nominated
2009 Coco Before Chanel Nominated
2016 Best Film The Innocents Nominated
Best Director Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Nominated

Venice Film Festival

Year Category Title Result
1997 Golden Osella Dry Cleaning Won
Golden Lion Nominated

Lumières Award

Year Category Title Result
2009 Best Film Coco Before Chanel Nominated
Best Director Nominated

Other awards

Year Award Category Title Result
1993 Prix Jean Vigo Les Histoires d'amour
finissent mal... en général 		Won
1995 Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard Augustin Nominated
2001 Locarno International Film Festival Golden Leopard How I Killed My Father Nominated
2005 San Sebastián Film Festival Golden Shell Entre ses mains Nominated
2009 Critics' Choice Movie Awards Best Foreign Language Film Coco Before Chanel Nominated
European Film Academy Lux Award Nominated
2016 City of Lights, City of Angels Audience Award The Innocents Won
Norwegian International Film Festival Andreas Award Won
Provincetown International Film Festival Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature Won

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.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  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 (6 September 2013). "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 (9 July 2015). "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.
  29. ^ Marta Balaga (29 January 2024). "'Coco Before Chanel' Director Anne Fontaine Celebrates Premiere of 'Boléro,' Teases New Project About Popular Music (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 27 February 2024.

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