Sophie Marceau is celebrating her 45th birthday this week. Joyeux anniversaire!
In case you don’t know her, she is a French actress, director, screenwriter, and author. Her original name is Sophie Danièle Sylvie Maupu, but in the beginning of her career she was suggested to change her name to a better sounding Marceau. Her first movie – in which she played main character Vic Beretton – La Boum (English title: The Party) in 1980, was a big hit all over Europe, just like La Boum 2 in 1982. She even received a César Award for Most Promising Actress. I watched the first movie again yesterday and today I know what I didn’t when I was watching it in the 90s: Vic is going to the best high school in France (Lycée Henry IV). She and her junior high friends are exploring love, kissing, cigarettes and drinking. There is a story line for the parents as well, so don’t worry: it’s not boring even if you are not a teenager anymore. Oh and the music! Classic.
After The Party movies she became a movie star in Europe with a string of successful films, including L'étudiante, Pacific Palisades, and Fanfan. Soon she became internationally popular with her roles in Braveheart (1995) with Mel Gibson, Firelight (1997), and the James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough (1999) with Pierce Brosnan.
L'étudiante - Source
Fanfan - Source
Braveheart - Source
Firelight - Source
James Bond: The world is not enough - Source
In 1995, Marceau wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, Menteuse (in English: Telling Lies published in 2001). In 2002, she made her directorial debut in Parlez-moi d'amour (Speak to Me of Love) for which she was chosen Best Director at the Montreal World Film Festival. This movie is said to mirror Marceau’s life as it about a 15-year relationship which ends in separation. Just like hers with Polish director Andrzej Żuławski, who she has a son with. Since 2007 she is in a relationship with Christopher Lambert who she met on the shooting of La disparue de Deauville.
