Isabelle Adjani

Early life and education

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born on 27 June 1955 in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, to Mohammed Cherif Adjani, an Algerian Muslim from Constantine, and Emma Augusta "Gusti" Schweinberger, a German Catholic from Bavaria.

Adjani's parents met near the end of World War II, when her father was in the French Army and stationed in Germany. They married and her mother returned with him to Paris, despite not speaking a word of French. She asked him to take Cherif as his first name as she thought it sounded more "American".

Isabelle grew up bilingual, speaking French and German fluently, in Gennevilliers, a northwestern suburb of Paris, where her father worked in a garage. After winning a school recitation contest, Adjani began acting by the age of 12 in amateur theater. She successfully passed her baccalauréat and was auditing classes at the University of Vincennes in 1976.

Adjani had a younger brother, Éric, who was a photographer. He died on 25 December 2010, aged 53.

Acting career

At the age of 14, Adjani starred in her first motion picture, ** (1970). She first gained fame as a classical actress at the Comédie-Française, which she joined in 1972. She was praised for her interpretation of Agnès, the main female role in Molière's L'École des femmes. She soon left the theatre to pursue a film career.

After minor roles in several films, she enjoyed modest success in the 1974 film La Gifle (The Slap), which François Truffaut saw. He immediately cast her in her first major role in The Story of Adèle H. (1975), a project that he had finished writing five years prior but had waited to cast the right actress for the part. Critics unanimously praised her performance,

Only 19 when she made the film, Adjani was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, becoming the youngest Best Actress nominee at the time (a record she held for almost 30 years). She quickly received offers for roles in Hollywood films, such as Walter Hill's 1978 crime thriller The Driver. She had previously turned down the chance to star in films like The Other Side of Midnight. She had described Hollywood as a "city of fiction" and said, "I'm not an American. I didn't grow up with that will to win an award." Truffaut on the other hand said, "France is too small for her. I think Isabelle is made for American cinema." She agreed to make The Driver because she was an admirer of Hill's first film Hard Times. Adjani said:

The film was seen more than 1.1 million times in Adjani's native France but did not do as well in the US.

She played Lucy in the German director Werner Herzog's 1979 remake of Nosferatu which was well-received critically and performed well at box offices in Europe. Roger Ebert loved the film, calling Herzog's casting of Adjani one of his "masterstrokes" in the film. He wrote that she "is used here not only for her facial perfection but for her curious quality of seeming to exist on an ethereal plane." The cast and the crew filmed both English- and German-language versions simultaneously upon request of 20th Century Fox, the American distributor, as Kinski and Bruno Ganz could act more confidently in their native language.

In 1981, she received a double Cannes Film Festival's Best Actress award for her roles in the Merchant Ivory film Quartet, based on the novel by Jean Rhys, and in the horror film Possession (1981). The following year, she received her first César Award for Possession, in which she had portrayed a woman having a nervous breakdown.

In 1983, she won her second César for her depiction of a vengeful woman in the French blockbuster One Deadly Summer, and starred with Michel Serrault in the black diamond thriller Deadly Circuit directed by Claude Miller. That same year, Adjani released the French pop album Pull marine, written and produced by Serge Gainsbourg. She then starred in a music video for the hit title song, Pull Marine, which was directed by Luc Besson.

Adjani also drew controversy at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival when she refused to attend a traditional photocall after the press conference for One Deadly Summer. Adjani was annoyed at the time by the intrusion of photographers into her private life. The photographers in Cannes boycotted Adjani upon her arrival on the red carpet for the premiere, at which point they put down their cameras and turned their backs to her.

In 1988, she co-produced and starred in a biopic of the sculptor Camille Claudel. She received her third César and second Oscar nomination for her role in the film, becoming the first French actress to receive two Oscar nominations. The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

She received her fourth César for the 1994 film Queen Margot, an ensemble epic directed by Patrice Chéreau. She received her fifth César for Skirt Day (2009), the most that any actress has received. The film features her as a middle school teacher in a troubled French suburb who takes her class hostage when she accidentally fires off a gun she found on one of her students. It was premiered on the French Arte channel on 20 March 2009, attaining a record 2.2 million viewers) and then in movie theaters on 25 March 2009. The film was her return to the cinema after eight years of absence.

In 2010, she made an appearance in the social comedy Mammuth, from directors Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern, and in which she played the phantom of Gérard Depardieu's first love. The same year, she lent her voice to the character of Mother Gothel in the French version of the animated film Tangled. In 2011, she co-starred in De Force, the first film directed by Frank Henry. She embodied the commander Clara Damico, head of the brigade for the repression of banditry.

She became the first French actress to star in a Bollywood film, playing the mother of Preity Zinta in the 2013 romantic comedy Ishkq in Paris, directed by Prem Soni and alongside Shekhar Kapur.

She joined the comedy The World Is Yours, playing the eccentric Dany, directed by Romain Gavras alongside Vincent Cassel, which entered into the Directors' Fortnight during the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2022, she played the movie star Sidonie von Grassenabb in the comedy drama Peter von Kant, tribute to Rainer Werner Fassbinder's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, directed by François Ozon alongside Denis Ménochet, which entered as the opening film into the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival.

In 2023, Adjani released her second French pop album Bande originale, written and produced by Pascal Obispo, and arranged by Cécile DeLaurentis. She also joined the Netflix action film Wingwomen, directed by Mélanie Laurent, and then, the Netflix miniseries The Perfect Couple directed by Susanne Bier, alongside Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber.

Personal life

In 1979, Adjani had a son, Barnabé Saïd-Nuytten, with the cinematographer Bruno Nuytten. She later hired Nuytten to direct her project Camille Claudel, a biopic of the sculptor who was the lover of Rodin.

During the mid-eighties, she had a relationship with Warren Beatty. He convinced her to appear with him in the epic comedy Ishtar, directed by Elaine May, co-starring Dustin Hoffman, and shot in Morocco.

From 1989 to 1995, she had a relationship with Daniel Day-Lewis, which ended before the birth of their son, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, in 1995.

Adjani was later engaged to the composer Jean-Michel Jarre; they broke up in 2004.

On 14 December 2023, Adjani was handed a two-year suspended sentence for tax fraud.

Political views

Adjani has been vocal against anti-immigrant and anti-Algerian sentiments in France. In 2009, she criticized statements by Pope Benedict XVI, who claimed that condoms are not an effective method of AIDS prevention.

In September 2009, she signed a petition in support of Roman Polanski, calling for his release after he was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his sexual abuse case.

In 2017, Adjani was interviewed by Vincent Josse on the French public radio station France Inter. During the interview, she expressed her vaccine hesitancy and opposition to mandatory vaccination.

In 2018 Adjani signed a letter calling to act "firmly and immediately" for stopping climate change and biodiversity loss.

Performances and works

Film

Television

Music videos

As lead artist

As featured artist

As guest appearance

Theater

Discography

• 1983: Pull Marine (Mercury/Universal)
• 1983: Journal by Alice James (Audiobook Éditions des Femmes)
• 1986: Princesse au petit pois / Léon dit (Mercury)
• 2003: Bon voyage (original film soundtrack Bon voyage by Jean-Paul Rappeneau)
• 2004: On ne sert à rien, by and with Pascal Obispo (album Sidaction, Ensemble contre le Sida, 10 ans ensemble)
• 2005: Je ne peux plus dire je t'aime, by and with Jacques Higelin (album Higelin Entre 2 Gares) (EMI)
• 2008: Wo wo wo wo, by and with Christophe (album Aimer ce que nous sommes)
• 2018 : Albert Camus et Maria Casarès, Correspondance (1944-1959) with Lambert Wilson (Audiobook Gallimard)
• 2018: D'accord, by and with Pascal Obispo, with Youssou N'Dour (album Obispo)
• 2019: Meet me by the Gates, by and with The Penelopes
• 2021: Revolution #49 (album Hey Clockface / La Face de pendule à coucou by Elvis Costello)
• 2021: Sous le soleil exactement (album Les Pianos de Gainsbourg by André Manoukian)
• 2021: Quelques mots, by and with Malik Djoudi (album Troie)
• 2022: The Last Goodbye, with The Penelopes
• 2022: Jeder tötet was er liebt (original film soundtrack Peter von Kant by François Ozon)
• 2023: Adjani, Bande Originale (Warner Music International)

Bibliography

• 2024: Du côté de chez Marilyn, written with Olivier Steiner (L'Observatoire)

Accolades and honours

Adjani was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour on 14 July 2010 for her contributions to the arts. She was appointed Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2014.

Notes

References

References

1. Brennan, Sandra. "Isabelle Adjani". [[Allmovie]].
2. Michel David. (2008). "Isabelle Adjani: la tentation sublime". Imago.
3. Andriotakis. (22 March 1976). "Isabelle Adjani Has the Face That's Launching a Thousand Scripts".
4. Love Film. "French Heartbreakers".
5. (2012). "Mais Oui!, Volume 1". Cengage Learning.
6. (2006). "Hauts de Seine". Petit Futé.
7. The Middle East Quarterly. (March 1997). "Islam in France: The French Way of Life Is in Danger". Middle East Quarterly.
8. Isabelle Adjani : "Mon père, [[kabyle people. kabyle]], s'était engagé dans l'armée française à 16 ans, et c'est en remontant d'Italie jusqu'en Bavière à la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale qu'il rencontre et séduit ma mère" [http://www.telerama.fr/cinema/isabelle-adjani-j-aime-passionnement-ce-metier-mais-je-passe-mon-temps-a-y-echapper,40850.php Interview with Isabelle Adjani], ''[[Télérama]]'', 31 March 2009
9. "A German woman met in Bavaria who was married at the end of the Second World War by Mohammed Adjani, a Kabyle soldier in the French army", Jean de La Guérivière, ''Amère Méditerranée: Le Maghreb et nous'', Seuil, 2004, p.391
10. "My mother was Bavarian. She felt very uncomfortable in France, where she had arrived without speaking a word of French. She couldn't stand the fact that her husband was Algerian. She said he was of Turkish origin and I believed her. Between my parents, there was conjugal racism. My mother used to call my father a jerk and my father would say, "You dirty Kraut." His name was Mohammed but my mother had forced him to change his first name. On our mailbox, there was: Cherif Adjani. My mother thought it looked American."[http://referentiel.nouvelobs.com/archives_pdf/OBS1255_19881124/OBS1255_19881124_026.pdf Adjani la vérité, Interview Isabelle Adjani], ''[[Le Nouvel Observateur]]'', 1985
11. "Isabelle Adjani". [[Yahoo! Movies]].
12. Kemp, Philip. "Isabelle Adjani". Film Reference.
13. Applefield, David. (November 2001). "Isabelle Adjani". Paris Voice.
14. "Isabelle Adjani: "Je suis passée à côté d'une partie de ma vraie vie" | Illustré".
15. (29 October 2018). "Isabelle Adjani, bouleversante : Son aveu d'échec face à son frère toxicomane - Gala".
16. {{IMDb name. 0000254
17. Kael, Pauline. (1980). "[[When the Lights Go Down (book)". Henry Holt & Co..
18. Flatley, Guy. (12 August 1977). "At the Movies: Isabelle Adjani Finds Poker Easy; Cheating Takes Practice". [[The New York Times]].
19. JP. "The Driver (1978)- JPBox-Office".
20. (17 January 1979). "Nosferatu the Vampyre".
21. Ebert, Roger. (24 October 2011). "Nosferatu the Vampyre Movie Review (1979)". [[Sun-Times Media Group]].
22. "Nosferatu". horrordvds.com.
23. Dominguez, Klhoé. (6 May 2018). "Retour sur... Isabelle Adjani boycottée par les photographes à Cannes".
24. "La journée de la jupe".
25. (31 March 2009). "Tchat Isabelle Adjani : "Je ne me rends pas compte du temps qui passe"".
26. Saltz, Rachel. (2011-09-30). "The Joys of Retirement". The New York Times.
27. (16 November 2010). "Raiponce, la princesse aux cheveux d'or".
28. "Isabelle Adjani : Son réalisateur, ex-gangster, évoque son travail avec la star".
29. (31 March 2023). "Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Eve Hewson, Dakota Fanning to Star in Netflix Limited Series 'The Perfect Couple". Variety.
30. Collins, Glenn. (6 January 1990). "The 'Hounding' of Isabelle Adjani". [[New York Times]].
31. Watson, Shane. (15 August 2004). "The dumping game". The Times.
32. (14 December 2023). "Isabelle Adjani Gets Two-Year Suspended Prison Sentence for Tax Fraud". Variety.
33. (25 March 2009). "Adjani traite le pape de "peste blanche"". [[20 Minuten]].
34. (10 November 2009). "Signez la pétition pour Roman Polanski !". La Règle du jeu.
35. Denaes, Bruno. (29 September 2017). "Isabelle Adjani : vaccination et contre-vérités". France Inter.
36. (3 September 2018). "200 stars urge 'serious' action on climate change in letter to Le Monde". Le Mond.
37. (11 November 2023). "Isabelle Adjani on battling shyness for new pop album".
38. (8 November 2023). "Isabelle Adjani: "Les artistes qui ont une haute opinion d'eux-mêmes évitent mieux les erreurs de parcours"".
39. [http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2010/07/14/legion-d-honneur-aubrac-bouygues-perol-adjani-bolling-parmi-les-promus_1387999_3224.html "Légion d'honneur : Aubrac, Bouygues, Pérol, Adjani, Bolling parmi les promus"], ''Le Monde,'' 14 juillet 2010
40. "Berlinale: 1989 Prize Winners". berlinale.de.