Happy 72nd Birthday, Catherine Breillat! Born today in 1948, this French novelist, screenwriter, film director and professor of auteur cinema at the European Graduate School has been in the film business for over four decades.
Breillat decided to become a writer and director at the age of twelve after watching Ingmar Bergman's 1953 Swedish black and white drama film 'Gycklarnas afton' ('Sawdust and Tinsel' lit. 'The Evening of the Jesters').
This was in believing that she had found her "fictional body" in Swedish actress Harriet Andersson's character, Anna.
Among her credits, Breillat is best known for writing and directing the 2001 French drama film 'À Ma Sœur! ('Fat Girl'). It was released in some English-speaking countries under the alternative titles 'For My Sister', 'Fat Girl' and 'Story of a Whale'.
The film tells of Anaïs Pignot (Anaïa Reboux), a pudgy twelve-year-old who bears the weight of the world on her shoulders. She watches her older sister, Elena (Roxane Mesquida), whom she both loves and hates.
Elena is fifteen and devilishly beautiful. Neither more futile, nor more stupid than her younger sister, she cannot understand that she is merely just an object of desire. And, as such, she can only be taken. Or had.
Indeed, this is the subject: a girl's loss of virginity. And, that summer, it opens a door to tragedy while later culminating in a random act of violence.
Of the 2000s, Breillat is also known for directing the 2002 French romance/drama ('Sex is Comedy'), the 2007 French French-Italian romance/drama film 'Une vieille maîtresse', lit. "An old mistress' or 'The Last Mistress') and the 2009 French fantasy/drama film 'Barbe Bleue' ('Bluebeard').
In 2004, Breillat suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, causing a stroke that paralyzed her left side.
After five months of hospitalization and a slow rehabilitation, she gradually returned to work.
This was in producing 'The Last Mistress'. This film was one of three French films officially selected for the 57th Cannes Film Festival in May of that year.
In September 2010, Breillat's second fairy-tale based film, the French coming-of-age/drama film 'La belle endormie' ('The Sleeping Beauty'), opened in the Orizzonti sidebar at the 67th Venice Film Festival.
Taking advantage of the medium of cinema, Breillat juxtaposes different perspectives to highlight irony found in society.
Though Breillat spends most of her time behind the camera, she has acted in a handful of features.
She made her film debut in Italian director and screenwriter Bernardo Bertolucci's 1972 French/Italian erotic romance drama film 'Ultimo tango a Parigi' ('Last Tango in Paris')
Breillat is credited as Mouchette, a dressmaker, alongside her real-life sister Marie-Hélène Breillat as Monique.
Breillat has also been the subject of controversy for her explicit depictions of sexuality and violence.
In 2018, Breillat made controversial remarks on Italian actress, director, and singer Asia Argento. Breillat had called her "a mercenary and a traitor" to #MeToo (of which Breillat is "not for".
This was also towards Jessica Chastain (who never should have criticized 'Last Tango in Paris').
“Long before the #MeToo movement started, I [Breillat] was very upset when Jessica Chastain made statements against the film ‘Last Tango in Paris.’
If you listen to her, that film should never have been made. To listen to her, Maria Schneider was raped. But Jessica Chastain wasn’t there, and it’s not true — I was on set. The scene was fiction.”
Like several other luminaries of French cinema, Breillat has a complicated, even negative view of the #MeToo movement.
As for why Breillat is comfortable being so outspoken, the explanation is simple. “Since I’m an artist, I don’t have to be politically correct.”
It has been noted that "Breillat remains committed to the long take, particularly during scenes of sexual negotiation, a technique that showcases her performers' virtuosity as well as emphasizes the political and philosophical elements of sex.
In both Fat Girl and Romance, for example, key sex scenes possess shots lasting over seven minutes."
Through film, Breillat attempts to redefine the female narrative in cinema by showing female characters who undergo similar experiences as their male counterparts.
Many of her films explore the transition between girlhood and adulthood. The females of her films attempt to escape their adolescence by seeking individuality. Her trademark is choosing to normalize previously taboo subjects in cinema.
There is an unsaid silence in society for girls to hide their sexuality and desires unless directly confronted about them.
Breillat offers a platform to discuss female pleasure and sexual responsibility by exposing social and sexual conflicts in her films' themes. She is known for films focusing on sexuality, intimacy, gender conflict, and sibling rivalry.
Breillat has been active from 1972–present.
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