Carole Bouquet's BiographyHer role in 'Rive droite, rive gauche' (1984)
August 18, 1957(Neuilly-sur-Seine, France)
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Background:
Strikingly attractive French actress Carole Bouquet achieved instant world
notice when she landed the role of Bond girl Melina Havelock, opposite Roger
Moore’s 007, in For Your Eyes Only (1981). She won a César Award after starring
in the internationally successful French picture Too Beautiful For You (1989),
opposite Gérard Depardieu. More recently, she took home a Stockholm Film
Festival Award for her bravura performance in Juan Diego Solanas’ Nordeste
(2005). Other notable credits include That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), Cold
Cuts (1979), Right Bank, Left Bank (1984, received a César nod), Wasabi (2001)
and Embrassez qui vous voudrez/ Summer Things (2002). Aside from acting, Bouquet
is also recognized internationally as the face of Chanel Number 5 perfume.
As for her private life, the 5’ 8” tall brunette is the widow of producer
Jean-Pierre Rassam, with whom she shared a son named Dimitri. Twelve years after
the death of his husband, Bouquet dated her frequent on screen collaborator,
actor Gérard Depardieu, and they got married in 2003.
Philosophy
Childhood and Family:
In Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, Carole Bouquet was born on August 18, 1957. She
was a philosophy student of the Sorbonne, University of Paris, before
transferring to the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art of Paris, in which she
got her acting training.
Carole was married to producer Jean-Pierre Rassam until his death on January 28,
1985. The couple had a son named Dimitri Rassam. In 2003, she tried to build a
new family with French actor Gérard Depardieu, whom she dated since 1997.
Too Beautiful for You
Career:
A graduate from the Paris Conservatory, Carole Bouquet made her miniseries debut
with a bit part in the French-made “Famille Cigale, La” in 1977, followed by a
role in the TV film Rebelles, Les, that same year. Her first major break,
however, arrived when she was cast as Conchita, a title character she shared
with Ángela Molina, in writer/director Luis Buñuel’s That Obscure Object of
Desire (1977). Two years later, she was seen acting with her future companion,
French actor Gérard Depardieu, in the black comedy Buffet Froid/ Cold Cuts,
written and helmed by Bertrand Blier.
After a starring role in the musical Blank Generation (1980), Bouquet attracted
the interest of both American and international audiences with her role of Bond
girl Melina Havelock in For Your Eyes Only (1981), with Roger Moore. Despite the
worldwide exposure, Bouquet concentrated on feature work in her native France
and starred in a number of foreign productions, most notably Day Of The Idiots
(1982), Bingo Bongo (1982), Murder Near Perfect (1983) and Right Bank, Left Bank
(1984, earned a César nod for Best Supporting Actress). She did not appear in
another American film until Francis Ford Coppola’s segment of
New York Stories (1989), where she made a cameo appearance as Princess Soroya,
opposite Woody Allen.
Also in 1989, Bouquet gave a memorable portrayal of Florence Barthélémy/La
voisine de Colette, the undesired wife in Bertrand Blier’s highly successful Too
Beautiful for You, reuniting with Gérard Depardieu. For her effort, she was
handed a César for Best Actress in 1990.
Throughout the ‘90s, Bouquet enjoyed international triumph as the model for
Chanel No. 5 perfume. In the meantime, she continued to star in many French
pictures. Among her works were portraying a character named Carole Bouquet in
Michel Blanc’s comedy Dead Tired/Grosse Fatigue (1994, released in the USA in
1995), replacing Juliette Binoche in the title role of Claude Berri’s historical
drama Lucie Aubrac (1997, opposite Daniel Auteuil) as well as starring opposite
off-screen companion Gerard Depardieu in Un Pont entre deux rives/A Birdge
Between Two Shores (1999), in which Depardieu also served as co-director.
Bouquet kept on herself busy in the new millennium by starring in such films as
Pique-nique de Lulu Kreutz, Le (2000), Bérénice (2000, TV), Madame de... (2001,
TV) as well as the impressive French comedies Wasabi (2001, along side Jean
Reno) and Embrassez qui vous voudrez/ Summer Things (2002, opposite Charlotte
Rampling). Her next projects, Blanche (2002) and Ruy Blas (2002, TV), saw the
actress again team up with Gerard Depardieu.
2003-2005 found roles in films like the comedy Bienvenue chez les Rozes (2003),
the drama/thriller Feux rouges (2004, costarred with Jean-Pierre Darroussin),
Fautes d'orthographe, Les/ Bad Spelling (2004), the comedy Travaux, on sait
quand ça commence/ Housewarming (2005, starred as Chantal Letellier) and Danis
Tanovic’s Enfer, L’/ Hell (2005), screened at Toronto International Film
Festival. In 2005, Bouquet also nabbed a Stockholm Film Festival for Best
Actress after playing the role of Hélène in the Juan Diego Solanas-directed
drama Nordeste. She shared the award with her costar, actress Aymará Rovera.
Recently, the 49-year-old player made a guest appearance in one episode of
television series “Nuit des Césars, La,” playing La présidente des Césars.
Additionally, she costarred in films Aurore (2006), with Margaux Châtelier and
François Berléand, and the crime/thriller Un ami parfait (2006), opposite
Antoine de Caunes and Jean-Pierre Lorit.
Awards:
- Stockholm Film Festival: Best Actress (shared with Aymará Rovera),
Nordeste, 2005
- César: Best Actress, Trop Belle Pour Toi (Too Beautiful for You), 1990
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