Émilie Dequenne obit

Émilie Dequenne Dies: Belgian Cannes Best Actress Winner Was 43

 

She was not on the list.

Émilie Dequenne, the Belgian actress who first achieved fame with her 1999 Cannes d’Or-winning, big screen debut in Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s drama Rosetta, has died at the age 43.

The actress, who revealed in October 2023 that she was battling a rare adrenal gland cancer, died in hospital on the outskirts of Paris on Sunday evening, her agent Danielle Gain announced to AFP.

Born on August 29, 1981, Dequenne studied at Belgium’s Music & Spoken Word Academy in Baudour from an early age, taking up drama there at the age of 12, alongside joining the La Relève Theater troupe.

She landed her first cinema role at age 17 in Rosetta. She clinched Best Actress at Cannes in 1999 for her performance as the titular teenager living in a caravan with an alcoholic mother in the film, which also won the Dardenne brothers their first Palme d’Or.Luc Dardenne told French radio station FranceInfo on Monday, morning.

“It’s terrible, life is disgusting sometimes,” Luc Dardenne told French radio station FranceInfo on Monday, morning, the day after the actress’s death. “That’s too young, she still had so much to do.”

Talking about the casting session with a 17-year-old Dequenne for Rosetta, he recalled: “She came in high heels, heavily made up, her hair done up… For her, it was an event, she thought she had to be really well dressed.”

“We started the scenes and we saw she was magnificent, she was there, everything she did, we felt that the camera loved her,” he added.

Dequenne enjoyed a high-profile career throughout the 2000s, appearing in Christophe Gans’ historic thriller The Brotherhood of the Wolf and Claude Berri’s The Housekeeper as well as making a foray into English-language movies with Mary McGuckian’s costume drama The Bridge of San Luis Rey, starring Gabriel Byrne, Robert de Niro and Cathy Bates.

Dequenne’s 61 acting credits also include her more recent Best Supporting Actress César-winning performance in Emmanuel Mouret’s couple drama The Things We Say, The Things We Do.

Other career highlights, included Joachim Lafosse’s 2012 psychological family drama Our Children, opposite Tahar Rahim; Lucas Belvaux’s 2018 rise of the far-right drama This Is Our Land, for which she won a Belgian Magritte for Best Actress, and Lukas Dhont’s Oscar-nominated film Close.

The actress was last seen on the big screen last fall in the Belgian high school bullying drama TKT in the role of the mother of a young victim who lands in a coma.

Dequenne is survived by her second husband, the actor Michel Ferracci, and her 23-year daughter Milla, with Belgian DJ Alexandre Savarese, her partner from 1999 to 2005.

Filmography

Year     Title            Role            Director           Notes

1999    Rosetta            Rosetta            Dardenne brothers            Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress

Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actress

Joseph Plateau Award for Best Belgian Actress

Nominated - César Award for Most Promising Actress

Nominated - European Film Award for Best Actress

2001            Brotherhood of the Wolf            Marianne de Morangias            Christophe Gans            Cabourg Romantic Film Festival - Best New Actress

Yes, But...            Eglantine Laville            Yves Lavandier            Avanca Film Festival - Best Acting

2002    Une femme de ménage Laura            Claude Berri            Nominated - César Award for Most Promising Actress

Jean Moulin            Lili            Yves Boisset TV movie

2003    The Very Merry Widows            Laurence Milcaux            Catherine Corsini            Nominated - Joseph Plateau Award for Best Belgian Actress

2004    The Light     Brigitte            Philippe Lioret            Nominated - César Award for Best Supporting Actress

The Bridge of San Luis Rey            Doña Clara    Mary McGuckian     

L'américain            Nelly            Patrick Timsit  

Kaamelott            Edern            Alexandre Astier            TV series (1 Episode)

2005    The United States of Albert (Les États-Unis d'Albert)            Grace Carson André Forcier

Avant qu'il ne soit trop tard            Aurélia            Laurent Dussaux          

La ravisseuse            Charlotte         Antoine Santana           

2006    Le Grand Meaulnes            Valentine         Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe       

Écoute le temps            Charlotte         Alantė Kavaitė           

Du rouge sur la croix     Cécile Thuillier            Dominique Othenin-Girard  TV movie

2007    To Each His Own Cinema The crying woman            Dardenne brothers (2) 

La Vie d'artiste            Cora            Marc Fitoussi

Confidences                 Laurent Dussaux (2)            TV Mini-Series

2008    Rien dans les poches            Judith Miro     Marion Vernoux            TV movie

Charlotte Corday            Charlotte Corday            Henri Helman TV movie

Miroir, mon beau miroir            Marion            Serge Meynard            TV movie

2009    The Girl on the Train    Jeanne Fabre   André Téchiné            Taormina International Film Festival - Best Acting Performance

J'ai oublié de te dire      Marie            Laurent Vinas-Raymond         

Obsession(s)            Sarah Lisbourne            Frédéric Tellier            TV movie

2010    The Pack            Charlotte Massot            Franck Richard            New York City Horror Film Festival - Best Actress

2011            Mystère au Moulin Rouge  Diane Barraud            Stéphane Kappes            TV movie

2012    Our Children            Murielle            Joachim Lafosse            Cannes Film Festival - Un Certain Regard - Best Actress

Magritte Award for Best Actress

Palm Springs International Film Festival - Best Actress

Nominated - European Film Award for Best Actress

Nominated - Dublin Film Critics' Circle - Best Actress

Nominated - Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actress

Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture

La traversée            Sarah Arendt  Jérôme Cornuau          

2013    Möbius            Sandra            Éric Rochant           

2014    Not My Type            Jennifer            Lucas Belvaux            Magritte Award for Best Actress

Cabourg Romantic Film Festival - Best Actress

Nominated - César Award for Best Actress

Nominated - Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actress

Nominated - Lumières Award for Best Actress

Nominated - Trophees Francophones du Cinema - Best Actress

Divin Enfant            Sarah            Olivier Doran  

The Missing            Laurence Relaud            Tom Shankland            TV series (8 Episodes)

2015    Par accident            Angélique         Camille Fontaine          

Souviens-toi            Emilie Auclair Philippe Venault TV movie

2016    Trainee Day      Cyrielle            Marc Fitoussi (2)      

Accusé                         TV series (1 Episode)

2017    See You Up There            Madeleine Péricourt            Albert Dupontel         

Les Hommes du feu            Bénédicte        Pierre Jolivet  

This Is Our Land    Pauline Duhez   Lucas Belvaux (2)            Magritte Award for Best Actress

2020    Love Affair(s)            Louise            Emmanuel Mouret            César Award for Best Supporting Actress

Nominated - Magritte Award for Best Supporting Actress

2022    Close            Sophie            Lukas Dhont  

2023    Année Zéro     Juliette Kharoub            Olivier Barma [fr]            TV series (4 episodes)

Mr. Blake At Your Service!            Odile            Gilles Legardinier