Miou-Miou

Biography: life and films

Miou-Miou's real name is Sylvette Héry. She was born in Paris on 22nd February 1950. A trainee carpet maker, she began her acting career when she joined Romain Bouteille's troupe of assorted lunatics at the Café de la Gare, a popular dinner theatre in Paris. The troupe included her fiancé at the time, Coluche, the man who came up with her stage name. Miou-Miou made her screen debut with a small part in Michel Mitrani's La Cavale (1971). She then appeared in Claude Faraldo's comic oddity Themroc (1973) and Gérard Oury's Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob (1973) (playing, of all things, Louis de Funès' daughter). Stardom came her way when she partnered Patrick Dewaere and Gérard Depardieu in Bertrand Blier's anarchic comedy Les Valseuses (1974). Around this time, Miou-Miou and Dewaere were pursuing an intense love affair which resulted in the birth of their daughter, Angèle Herry in 1974. In 1976, Miou-Miou left Coluche to live with Dewaere.

In the late 1970s and throughout much of the 1980s, Miou-Miou took on a wide variety of dramatic and comedic roles which allowed her to present many different facets of the modern liberated woman. Her most notable film appearances at this time include Alain Tanner's Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000 (1976), Yves Boisset's La Femme flic (1980) and Daniel Duval's La Dérobade (1979), the latter of which won her the Best Actress César in 1980. Diane Kurys gave her one of her more memorable roles in the wartime romantic drama Coup de foudre (1983) and she then starred alongside Alain Souchon in Laurent Ferrier's Le Vol du Sphinx (1984).

Although Miou-Miou was no stranger to mainstream cinema - witness her presence in Georges Lautner's Est-ce bien raisonnable? (1981), Claude Zidi's La Totale! (1991) and Hervé Palud's Un indien dans la ville (1994) - it was in more intimate, auteur pieces that she shone most brightly. Michel Deville gave her one of her best roles in La Lectrice (1988), although she also excelled in films by some other distinguished filmmakers, including Louis Malle (Milou en mai, 1990), Claude Berri (Germinal, 1993) and Anne Fontaine (Nettoyage à sec, 1997).

More recently, Miou-Miou has been less visible on our screens but continues to demonstrate her talents and versatility in a dizzying range of made-to-measure supporting roles. Michel Gondry (La Science des rêves, 2006), Radu Mihaileanu (Le Concert, 2009) and Jean Becker (Bienvenue parmi nous, 2012) are just some of the directors who have called upon Miou-Miou to add depth and lustre to their films. The fact that she has been nominated ten times for the Best Actress César in the course of her career testifies to the esteem in which is held, and she remains one of French cinema's most respected actresses.

Filmography

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