Huppert, Isabelle Anne

▪ 1997

      When asked why she chose a career in acting, Isabelle Huppert responded that performing allowed her to be silent. This seemingly contradictory answer underscored the enigma of this French actress, whose reverence of quiet was evidenced in both her desire for anonymity offscreen and her understated performances onscreen. Her portrayals, noted for their subtle gestures and restrained emotions, won critical praise and established Huppert as one of the premier actresses in Europe. Although best known for her cinematic work, she also performed on the stage. In 1996 she made her London stage debut, playing the title role in Friedrich von Schiller's Mary Stuart at the National Theatre.

      Huppert, the youngest of five daughters, was born on March 16, 1955, in Paris. She developed an interest in acting as a teenager and entered the Versailles Conservatory in 1968. Three years later, at the age of 16, she made her film debut in Faustine et le bel été (1971; Faustine and the Beautiful Summer). Though cast in a bit part, she attracted notice and began working steadily; by the mid-1970s she had made more than 15 films. It was not until 1977, however, that she received international acclaim. In La Dentellière (The Lacemaker) her portrayal of Pomme, a young woman who suffers a nervous breakdown after being abandoned by her lover, earned Huppert the British Academy of Film and Television Arts award as most promising newcomer. The following year she won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance as a woman who casually murders her father (Violette Nozière; 1978).

      Although she was a versatile actress, adept in both comedic and serious roles, Huppert's forte was playing antiheroines with questionable morals. In the film adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary (1991), she played the tragic Emma Bovary, an unhappy middle-class wife whose adulterous affair eventually leads to her suicide. For her performance Huppert received some of the most notable reviews of her career. Later roles included a nun turned pornographer (Amateur, 1994) and a town gossip-murderess (La Cerémonie, 1995), for which she received a best actress award at the Venice Film Festival.

      Arguably, the only disappointment in Huppert's career was her lack of success in the United States. She made her U.S. debut in Heaven's Gate (1980), a movie panned by critics and ignored by audiences. Subsequent U.S. movies also met with little success. (AMY TIKKANEN)

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