Isabelle Huppert
William Jenkins 
I love many actresses, but if I had to chose my absolute favourite, I would probably pick her. Any other fans here? Have you ever met her?
She needs her own official Datalounge thread. I am sure it will be a consolation to her, having lost to an American mediocrity.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 71 | February 13, 2021 2:33 AM |
Why is the picture not showing :-(
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | February 5, 2021 8:22 PM |
She’s so prolific she has a lot of hits but many misses too. Have you checked out her social media? She takes the most boring photos. I couldn’t believe when she played the acclaimed war photographer in louder than bombs.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | February 5, 2021 8:29 PM |
She’s wonderful in acting but she seems charisma-free in interviews... it’s strange.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | February 5, 2021 8:31 PM |
OP, there are three European actresses of a certain age I always group together: Isabelle Huppert (Fr), Barbara Sukowa (Ger), and Janet McTeer (UK). All are/were unconventionally beautiful, lead with their intelligence and complexity, and are fearless in their choice of roles and directors.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | February 6, 2021 12:58 AM |
I love Isabelle Huppert. Always plays difficult roles, doesn’t give a shit about Hollywood, has high artistic integrity. Loved her in the piano teacher, among others.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | February 6, 2021 1:11 AM |
8 FEMMES ISABELLE HUPPERT WARDROBE TEST
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 6 | February 6, 2021 1:17 AM |
[quote] doesn’t give a shit about Hollywood,
She should put it down a French toilet.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | February 6, 2021 1:19 AM |
She was so amazing in the film Abuse of Weakness.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | February 6, 2021 1:20 AM |
I happened to see some her in some American movie. I don't know if she was portraying a half-wit driving a car but she spent all the time driving a car with hair falling over her two eyes.
She seemed as irrational as Francoise Rosay who spends half of her time on screen with her eyes closed.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | February 6, 2021 1:26 AM |
Who cares, German Gay Fraud?
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | February 6, 2021 1:28 AM |
I never get a technical interpretation out of her a la Streep or an instinctive raw performance a la Lange. She always just seems there and deadpan and like there is no interpretation or attempt at character development.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | February 6, 2021 2:14 AM |
R5 for someone who doesn't like Hollywood she seemed pretty damn excited about winning a... Golden Globe... and is happy to be part of the fashion/media complex. Even Binoche is more private and IMO is the greatest of all French actresses.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | February 6, 2021 2:17 AM |
She's been giving great performances for decades. Loved her in Violette Noziere
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | February 6, 2021 2:19 AM |
Mlle European Art Film, with no affect except a kind of cold sexuality. NO use for her.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | February 6, 2021 2:28 AM |
I think the first foreign language film I ever saw was Diane Kurys’ “Entre Nous” (in the original French Coup de Foudre) with Huppert and Miou Miou on VHS. For some reason it hasn’t remained as well known as some in her body of work and I was excited when TCM played it a few months ago in their women directors series (now confusingly called “At First Sight”).
She is excellent and very different from the cold, twisted Huppert stereotype, maybe because she is basically playing Kurys’ mother. She very skillfully shows the bind a lot of women with children were in pre-1970s when the husbands controlled everything and they couldn’t leave for financial reasons. As I was rewatching I thought of it as the true underside of the Ricky vs. Lucy comedy shows (“This week Lucy tells a fib so Ricky doesn’t find out she spent $20 on a Paris hat!”)
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | February 6, 2021 2:51 AM |
She's worked a bit, eh? Over 125 films. I bet she hits 150 before she croaks.
She has a strong screen presence... magnetic. Can't take your eyes off of her. She never shows much warmth or heart or tenderness.... The Piano Teacher was her greatest performance... she was astoundingly insane, I suspect she played it so well because she is insane.
I would not want to dine with her. Or be in the same city.
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | February 6, 2021 3:20 AM |
She’s worked on films with so many European cinema icons, Jean seberg, Jeanne Moreau, yves montane, romy schneider, Catherine deneuve, Isabelle adjani
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | February 6, 2021 4:12 AM |
"She never shows much warmth or heart or tenderness...."
Have a look at Things to Come (2016)
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | February 6, 2021 5:57 AM |
Huppert was excellent in 8 Femmes and Ma mère. But I think her performances have suffered due to her over-exposure in French cinema.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | February 6, 2021 6:25 AM |
I was surprised to learn she's good friends with Kim Cattrall.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 21 | February 6, 2021 6:52 AM |
Another fave film is The School of Flesh (1998). In Paris, Dominique (Isabelle Huppert), a middle-aged fashion professional, solicits the services of the handsome Quentin (Vincent Martinez), a bisexual bartender and prostitute who is 15 years her junior. After they first sleep together, their business transaction becomes transformed into a passionate love affair. However, the couple's romance becomes an ugly power struggle when social class and age distinctions begin to bubble toward the surface.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | February 6, 2021 2:26 PM |
Lately, Holly Hunter reminds me of her. She is in a new sitcom and (TV was on mute) I thought what the hell is La Huppert doing ici?
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | February 6, 2021 3:09 PM |
Huppert *does* give a damn about Hollywood and the machine—she seems to care more than most of her contemporaries, in fact. She campaigned hard for that Best Actress nomination for Elle, and put up a stronger fight for the win than most actresses nominated for a foreign language film.
She’s a brilliant actress, though her heavy accent stopped her from a crossover career. If Huppert had Isabelle Adjani’s facility with languages, or Adjani had Huppert’s relentless career drive, they could have been big in the US as well.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | February 6, 2021 3:21 PM |
R25 Adjani? Has she done anything in English in 30yrs since Diabolique?! It’s Binoche who speaks English well.
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | February 6, 2021 3:38 PM |
My friend worked with her on an off broadway play a few years ago and said she was lovely. Total pro and a sweetheart. Cast and crew adored her.
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | February 6, 2021 3:42 PM |
She's a hoot in her episode of CALL MY AGENT! (Netflix), poking fun at her willingess to work for anybody at any time.
Chabrol used her beautifully in MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT and L'IVRESSE DE POUVOIR, among others they did together.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | February 6, 2021 3:42 PM |
R26, Adjani has not acted in English in years, but did a long interview at Cannes recently, and her command of the language is better than ever. Her accent is much lighter than Huppert’s and comparable to Binoche’s.
She damaged her career by staying out of the game for so long, but I still think she’s the most beautiful and talented French actress. Saw her on stage in a production of ‘Opening Night’ in NY and she was superb.
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | February 6, 2021 3:50 PM |
She has the body of an 8 year old, which is creepy. She was stone-faced in every role I’ve seen her in, but that’s actually revolutionary for a female actress since so many tend to over-emote. The Piano Teacher was the most uncomfortable movie I’ve ever seen.
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | February 6, 2021 3:53 PM |
In the 70s and early 80s, she was comparatively pudgy and nubile--but she's willed herself into the body of an 8 year-old. She now has a great thigh gap.
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | February 6, 2021 4:22 PM |
She speaks English with the most annoying French accent ever, it's the only thing I hate about her English-speaking roles.
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | February 6, 2021 4:30 PM |
I like her Criterion Closet. I think the only ones who have taken more dvds than she did was the Safdie Brothers. Even Louis Garrel mentions all the dvds she took during is Criterion Closet spree.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 34 | February 6, 2021 4:58 PM |
Another good one is Valley of Love with Gerard Depardieu. Its interesting to see how he got fat as he aged but she got skinny.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 35 | February 6, 2021 8:13 PM |
Just watched Elle a couple of weeks ago. That movie never in a million years would have been made for American audiences.
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | February 6, 2021 8:18 PM |
I want Isabelle Huppert to spit wine in my face and slap my clit so hard she draws blood.
She's m a g n i f i c e n t.
| by Anonymous | reply 37 | February 7, 2021 9:09 PM |
R34 love that her favourite film is bad timing, she likes edgy!
| by Anonymous | reply 38 | February 7, 2021 10:00 PM |
I wish Entre Nous/Coup de Foudre was on a streaming service, she was so wonderful in it as a bored 1950s housewife who falls in love with an absolutely gorgeous woman played by Miou-Miou.
| by Anonymous | reply 39 | February 7, 2021 10:11 PM |
Just saw your post, R15, sorry.
I wish I’d caught it on TCM.
| by Anonymous | reply 40 | February 7, 2021 10:13 PM |
Someone wrote of her performance in Elle, "she is the embodiment of what might be called a postfeminist malcontent", which is just about the most fabulous thing I've ever heard.
| by Anonymous | reply 41 | February 7, 2021 10:19 PM |
Hard to pick one, but I think my favorite Isabelle Huppert film is La Ceremonie (adapted from Ruth Rendell's A Judgement in Stone). Jacqueline Bisset and Sandrine Bonnaire were also very good in it.
| by Anonymous | reply 42 | February 7, 2021 10:28 PM |
[quote]She speaks English with the most annoying French accent ever, it's the only thing I hate about her English-speaking roles.
Someone linked a talk with her upthread - I gave up. Her awful accent is painful to listen to. We're supposed to speak French with French accents, they never bother...she doesn't anyway.
| by Anonymous | reply 43 | February 7, 2021 10:59 PM |
[quote] I would not want to dine with her. Or be in the same city.
Mary! Do you think she wants to kill you or what's your problem?
| by Anonymous | reply 44 | February 8, 2021 12:46 AM |
[quote] She's a hoot in her episode of CALL MY AGENT! (Netflix), poking fun at her willingess to work for anybody at any time.
I love that show! The stars each episode is built around are always so willing to make fun of themselves and look silly or obnoxious. Isabelle Adjani and Juliette Binoche each did an episode, too.
| by Anonymous | reply 45 | February 8, 2021 12:49 AM |
R45 And Sigourney Weaver speaking pretty good French, was hilarious. Sad to see it end in season 4.
| by Anonymous | reply 46 | February 8, 2021 12:50 AM |
Definitely watch Huppert, Adjani, Binoche, Charlotte Gainsbourg in Call My Agent. The best show, and their episodes are great.
| by Anonymous | reply 47 | February 8, 2021 1:52 AM |
I don’t understand the complaint about Huppert’s coldness. The French ARE rational, cool and their passion is measured.
| by Anonymous | reply 48 | February 11, 2021 8:00 PM |
R48 Compare Huppert and Jeanne Moreau (who is the standard, right?). One is ice, and one is ice and fire.
| by Anonymous | reply 49 | February 11, 2021 8:09 PM |
I love her; her interpretation of "Madame Bovary" is my favorite.
| by Anonymous | reply 50 | February 11, 2021 8:22 PM |
Her new film Mama Weed looks fab and has a Call my Agent link. She plays a cop busting drug rings who ends up dealing drugs disguised as an Arab woman. Looks great fun
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 51 | February 11, 2021 9:36 PM |
Lol my link didn't work. Oh well, enjoy Joan
| by Anonymous | reply 52 | February 11, 2021 9:37 PM |
Her best film for me COUP DE TORCHON!
| by Anonymous | reply 53 | February 11, 2021 9:42 PM |
R53, yes! I love Coup de Torchon. I visited the film locations in Senegal. I bought the DVD about 10 years ago and now it (DVD) is out of print (very costly on ebay).
| by Anonymous | reply 54 | February 11, 2021 9:46 PM |
She's fucking awesome! I interviewed her once and she sent the publicist away at our scheduled end time so we could keep talking.
She should have won the Oscar for Elle.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 55 | February 12, 2021 4:25 AM |
I used to dream I was having a love affair with her and would fly to Paris on the weekend to see her. She would also get me the DVDs of her films that I could not otherwise get.
| by Anonymous | reply 56 | February 12, 2021 5:35 AM |
I felt so bad for her being stuck in the car when lily tomlin was going off at the director of i heart the huckabees. No wonder she doesn’t make many American films. I’d love to see her in some dark limited series from France or Britain. I could see her in a role like prime suspect. Something very dark though.
| by Anonymous | reply 57 | February 12, 2021 6:12 AM |
She didn't seem too concerned in the footage. John Waters asked her about that when he did a tribute to her.
| by Anonymous | reply 58 | February 12, 2021 6:34 AM |
R55 What an honour! What did you talk about??
R58 What did she say?
| by Anonymous | reply 59 | February 12, 2021 8:29 AM |
Here's the YouTube interview between John Waters and Isabelle.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 60 | February 12, 2021 8:35 AM |
She talks about the David O. Russell leaked footage at 43.50.
| by Anonymous | reply 61 | February 12, 2021 8:38 AM |
Huppert's bathroom sex scene in "The Piano Teacher" with Benoit Magimel is the only hetero sex scene I've seen on film that gave me a legitimate raging hard-on. It's primarily because Magimel is so beautiful in it, but another large part of what makes the scene so hot is the extreme buildup of sexual tension and lust burning between the two of them onscreen. Huppert's repressed character is ultimately (if you've seen the film) twisted and tragic, but the scene where he follows her into the bathroom is one of the hottest things I've ever seen in a feature film.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 62 | February 12, 2021 8:44 AM |
Great actress but apparently a complete cunt.
| by Anonymous | reply 63 | February 12, 2021 8:47 AM |
R63 Why a complete cunt? Do you know her?
| by Anonymous | reply 64 | February 12, 2021 9:03 AM |
Isabelle is 67 yo. She aged very well. No botox no surgery. I wish Adjani never touched her stunning face
| by Anonymous | reply 65 | February 12, 2021 9:06 AM |
R65 Yes it’s a shame about adjani, she was stunningly beautiful for so long now she looks a little strange. Glad to see she’s working more though
| by Anonymous | reply 66 | February 12, 2021 9:13 AM |
It was her friendship with Sharon Stone (via Cannes) that led to her accepting a guest role on Law & Order: SVU. I want to see her guest on something like Succession.
| by Anonymous | reply 67 | February 12, 2021 2:19 PM |
R67 some friend! Didn’t Sharon complain that she had to slum it acting by on law & order after her aneurysm because she couldn’t get any other work?
| by Anonymous | reply 68 | February 12, 2021 4:15 PM |
Yes, R68. She also had a major meltdown on set because she was struggling to learn the dialogue along with the frantic work schedule of a weekly series.
| by Anonymous | reply 69 | February 12, 2021 6:14 PM |
Her reaction to Tomlin's "I Heart Huckabees" meltdown is the best! Calmly checking hair and makeup in the mirror, then the "Are you finished?" look:
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 70 | February 12, 2021 9:12 PM |
In the John Waters interview she just said 'oh this is what it is to make films in America".
| by Anonymous | reply 71 | February 13, 2021 2:33 AM |
