Sabine Azéma

Biography: life and films

Sabine Azéma isn't just a great actress. She is a force of nature. Her performances may be memorably bold and colourful but they invariably come with a fierce jolt of authenticity, whether she is playing comedy or drama. Of course, she is best known for her many priceless collaborations with Alain Resnais, the director who knew how to get the best from her, but many other distinguished filmmakers have availed themselves of her talents, including Jacques Doillon, Bertrand Travernier, Noémie Lvovsky and Bruno Podalydès.

The daughter of a lawyer, Sabine Azéma was born in Paris, France on 20th September 1949. After leaving school she studied drama under Jean Périmony and entered the Conservatoire at the age of twenty. In 1974, the theatre director Claude Sainval gave her her first major role in a stage production of Jean Anouilh's La Valse des toréadors, in which she was cast as the daughter of a character played by the comedy giant Louis de Funès. Her early stage successes led her to be cast in several films and series for French television. Her cinema debut came when Georges Lautner gave her a minor role in the Pierre Richard comedy On aura tout vu (1976). This was followed by a small but noteworthy part in Claude Goretta's La Dentellière (1977).

Azéma's cinema breakthrough came when the director Alain Resnais offered her a substantial part in his film La Vie est un roman (1983). It was the beginning of a long professional and personal relationship that would last right up until the director's death in 2014. Azéma soon became Resnais's muse - she appeared in no fewer than ten of his films, including Mélo (1987), for which she received her second Best Actress César. Other notable collaborations include the hit musical comedy On connaît la chanson (1997) and ambitious Alan Ayckbourne adaptation Smoking / No Smoking (1993) in which she played six very different characters. She became Resnais's wife in 1998, having previously been married to the playwright Michel Lengliney.

Equally instrumental in helping to launch Sabine Azéma's big screen career was Bertrand Tavernier, who cast her in the film that made her an overnight star - Un dimanche à la campagne (1984). It was for this film that she won her first Best Actress César and it led Tavernier to cast her as the female lead in another high profile film of the same decade, La Vie et rien d'autre (1989). Although she has garnered most praise for her dramatic roles - recently in La Chambre des officiers and Faut que ça danse! - Azéma is just as adept at comedy, as she amply demonstrated in Étienne Chatiliez's Le Bonheur est dans le pré (1995) and Tanguy (2001), films that both attracted an audience of over four million. She has also directed a documentary short Bonjour Monsieur Doisneau (1992), a homage to the photographer who was a close friend. Now a seductive sixty something with seemingly endless reserves of energy, Sabine Azéma remains a busy and greatly admired actress, her lively personality bringing pep and colour to any film that is lucky (and brave) enough to come her way.

Filmography

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