Actress Anouk Aimée died this Tuesday, June 18 at the age of 92. Unforgettable in “A Man and a Woman” by Claude Lelouch, she leaves behind a remarkable career punctuated by great films.
19:09 – The CNC pays tribute to “an icon of French cinema”
The National Cinema Center did not fail to take over social networks to mourn the disappearance of Anouk Aimée, who died at the age of 92 this Tuesday. On X, formerly Twitter, CNC President Dominique Boutonnat praised “an icon of French cinema”, “elegant, mysterious, singular”. He also paid tribute to “his impressive career, under the direction of Vittorio de Sica, Sidney Lumet, Georges Cukor, André Delvaux, Jerzy Skolimowski, Robert Altman, and Agnès Varda”.
18:36 – For Fellini, Anouk Aimée “troubles you to death”
Anouk Aimée has played for the greatest, from Claude Lelouch to Jacques Demy, and in two of Federico Fellini’s greatest films: The good life And Eight and a half. The Italian director described her in comments reported this Tuesday in Le Parisien as “a star, quite simply, because she is very photogenic, very suggestive. She belongs to the great mask of cinema, with this face who has the same intriguing sensuality as that of Garbo, Dietrich or Crawford, these great mysterious queens, these priestesses of femininity. Anouk Aimée represents this type of woman who disturbs you to death.
18:03 – “There is always a piece of me in my roles”
With more than 70 years of career and numerous films, including classics of the seventh art, Anouk Aimée was an immense French actress. But what was his secret to having such an elegant presence on screen? The actress confided in an interview, in comments reported this Tuesday in the columns of Le Monde: “I have never done a complete composition. There is always a piece of me in my roles”. So much so that Jacques Demy’s Lola was like an extension of herself: “I no longer know where Anouk begins and where Lola begins, where Lola ends and where Anouk ends” she told the general media.
17:33 – The Cannes Film Festival salutes “the incomparable Anouk Aimée”
“How sad to learn of the disappearance of the incomparable Anouk Aimée,” tweeted the official account of the Cannes Film Festival this Tuesday afternoon, paying tribute to the actress who won an acting award in 1980 for The Jump into the Void who had climbed the steps several times, notably for the trilogy A man and a womanPalme d’Or in 1966. “His dark eyes, his elegance, his sensitive interpretations have accompanied cinema for more than 75 years”, wrote the organizers of the event.
17:00 – On the private side, relationships with well-known artists
Anouk Aimée had several men in her life and was married four times: first to Edouard Zimmermann from 1949 to 1950, before she began a relationship with the filmmaker Nikos Papatakis from 1951 to 1958. From this union, is born her only daughter, Manuella Papatakis in 1951. She also said yes to singer Pierre Barouh, from 1966 to 1969, after they met on the set of the film A man and a woman. Finally, she was married to the British actor Albert Finney from 1970 to 1970. Outside of marriage, she is also credited with relationships with Elie Chouraqui, Warren Beatty and Omar Sharif.
16:37 – Arte pays tribute to Anouk Aimée this Wednesday
As is often the case when an actor dies, the antennas are upset. Arte announced to broadcast Lola by Jacques Demy in homage to the actress, “modern heroine of European cinema”. The film with music by Michel Legrand will be seen on television on Channel 7 this Wednesday, June 19 from 10:40 p.m. It will also be available for streaming until July 9.
16:05 – Anouk Aimée, an actress of international stature
In an archive posted on the INA’s social networks dating from 1961, Anouk Aimée says more about her international career, she who notably filmed for Italian or German cinema: “I really like the way that Italians work I must say that I was lucky, since I first came across Fellini. I really like the atmosphere, I find their filming much simpler than at home, at least with Fellini and Lattuada. the actors much freer.” However, she did not hide her desire to film in the United States “for a fantastic role”, citing the names of directors Elia Kazan, Fred Zinnemann, Billy Wilder… She will ultimately film with several American filmmakers, such as George Cukor and Robert Altman .
3:30 p.m. – The unforgettable Lola by Jacques Demy
One of the roles that revealed Anouk Aimée in France, with the success ofA man and a womanit is that of Lola in the eponymous film directed by Jacques Demi in 1961. This is the filmmaker’s first feature film, which will be mentioned several times in the rest of Demy’s filmography, notably in Umbrellas of Cherbourg And The Young Ladies of Rocherfort. ensuring the continuity of the filmmaker’s filmography.
15:07 – Claude Lelouch pays tribute to “his traveling companion, his lifelong friend”
Since the announcement of the death of Anouk Aimée this Tuesday noon, several tributes have come to greet the immense actress. Among them, we especially include the director ofA man and a woman, Claude Lelouch, who paid tribute on Instagram to his “Nounouk”. “She left to join Jean-Louis, Pierre, Francis and the others.” The filmmaker saluted the woman who was “my traveling companion, my lifelong friend”. “Thanks to her, and only to her, I have become familiar with the light. Her silhouette and her grace will remain forever engraved on a beach in Normandy. After having made the whole earth dream, now, she will make the angels dream.”
2:40 p.m. – Major roles in Federico Fellini’s greatest films
Anouk Aimée also had a very successful international career. It is in particular in Italian cinema that she cut her teeth, since she filmed twice for the immense director Federico Fellini: the first time in The good life in 1960, Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. She played Maddalena opposite Marcello Mastroianni. She then found the filmmaker three years later to Eight and a half. The film won two Oscars (Best Foreign Language Film and Best Costume Design).
14:18 – Anouk Aimée was an icon of the New Wave
Anouk Aimée has toured with the biggest names of the New Wave and has established herself as an icon of the cinematographic movement. She played under the direction of Claude Lelouch (the trilogy A man and a woman), Jacques Demy (Lola and its sequel), Agnès Varda (One Hundred and One Nights by Simon Cinema), but also Philippe de Broca (The Prankster).
2:00 p.m. – Anouk Aimée is not her real name, the origins of a nickname
Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus (that’s her real name) did not intend to work in cinema, even though both of her parents were actors. She was only 13 when she was spotted in the street with her mother. He was then asked to play in The house under the sea by Henri Calef, released in 1947. In this film, she plays a character called Anouk. She then decides to keep this first name as a pseudonym. After secondary school in England, she decided to enroll in the Bauer-Thérond theater course. Subsequently, it was Jacques Prévert, who was also a screenwriter, who suggested that she take the last name Aimée. He will make her play in The Lovers of Verona de Cayatte, for which he wrote her a role as a romantic heroine opposite Serge Reggiani which was a public success in 1949.
1:45 p.m. – An Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe for “A Man and a Woman”
Internationally recognized for her role in A man and a womanher performance earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in 1967 (she lost to Elizabeth Taylor in Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?). She especially won the Golden Globe that same year in the Best Actress in a Drama Film category, as well as a Bafta for Best Foreign Actress in 1968. If these are the two awards she received for this film, she won several awards during her career, including a Best Actress Award at Cannes in 1980 for The leap into the voidor even an honorary César in 2010.
1:30 p.m. – “A man and a woman”, Anouk Aimée’s greatest role
If there is one role for which Anouk Aimée will be remembered, it is the one she played in A man and a woman. Released in 1966, this romance directed by Claude Lelouch with Jean-Louis Trintignant follows the meeting of two inconsolable widowers who end up falling passionately in love, despite their respective sorrow at having lost their former partners. A true critical success, this feature film won the Palme d’Or the year of its release, but also the Oscar for best foreign film and best original screenplay in 1967. Two sequels will see the light of day: A man and a woman twenty years old already And The best years of a life.
13:15 – What are the causes of Anouk Aimée’s death?
For the moment, we do not know the reasons for Anouk Aimée’s death. Her daughter, Manuela Papatakis, simply announced on Instagram that her mother “died this morning at her home in Paris” at the age of 92. She was not known to have any health problems, as the actress has been more discreet in the media in recent years.