Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus[1] (French pronunciation:[nikɔlfʁɑ̃swazflɔʁɑ̃sdʁɛfys]; 27 April 1932 – 18 June 2024), known professionally asAnouk Aimée (French:[anukɛme]) orAnouk, was a French film actress who appeared in 70 films from 1947 until 2019. Having begun her film career at age 14, she studied acting and dance in her early years, besides her regular education. Although the majority of her films were French, she also made films in Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany, along with some American productions.
She won theAward for Best Actress at theCannes Film Festival forMarco Bellocchio's filmA Leap in the Dark (1980). In 2002, she received an honoraryCésar Award, France's national film award. Aimée was known for her "striking features" and beauty, and considered "one of the hundred sexiest stars in film history", according to a 1995 poll conducted byEmpire magazine.[3] She often portrayed afemme fatale with a melancholy aura. In the 1960s,Life magazine commented: "after each picture her enigmatic beauty lingered" in the memories of her audience, and called her "theLeft Bank's most beautiful resident".[4]
Aimée was born in Paris to actor Henry Murray (born Henri Dreyfus; 30 January 1907 – 29 January 1984)[3] and actressGeneviève Sorya (née Durand; 23 June 1912 – 23 March 2008). According to one historian, although some have speculated that her background may be related to CaptainAlfred Dreyfus, this has never been confirmed.[3] Her father was Jewish, whereas her mother wasRoman Catholic. She was raised Catholic but laterconverted to Judaism as an adult.[3][5]
Her early education took place at l'École de la rue Milton, in Paris; École de Barbezieux; Pensionnat de Bandol; and Institution de Megève. She studied dance atMarseille Opera. DuringWorld War II she was a pupil atMayfield School, East Sussex, but left before taking final exams. She studied theatre in England, after which she studied dramatic art and dance with Andrée Bauer-Thérond.[6]
Aimée (then still Françoise Dreyfus) made her film debut, at the age of 14, in the role of Anouk inLa Maison sous la mer (The House Under the Sea, 1946), and she kept the name afterwards.Jacques Prévert, while writingLes amants de Vérone (The Lovers of Verona, 1949) specifically for her, suggested she take the symbolic last name Aimée, "that would forever associate her with the affective power of her screen roles."[3] In French, it means "beloved."[4][7]
Because of her "striking features" and her beauty, she has been compared toJacqueline Kennedy. Film historianGinette Vincendeau has commented that Aimée's films "established her as an ethereal, sensitive and fragile beauty with a tendency to tragic destinies or restrained suffering."[3]
Her abilities as an actress and thephotogenic qualities of her face, its "fine lines, expression of elation and a suggestive gaze," helped her achieve success in her early films.Émile Savitry made an early portrait of her at 15, holding a kitten on the set of Carné'sLa Fleur de l'âge (1947).[8][9] Among others of her films of this period werePot-Bouille (1957),Les Amants de Montparnasse (Montparnasse 19) (The Lovers of Montparnasse, (1958), andLa tête contre les murs (Head Against the Wall, 1958).[6]
Besides the French cinema, Aimée's career included films made in Spain, Great Britain, Italy, and Germany. She achieved worldwide attention in Fellini'sLa Dolce Vita (1960) andLola (1961). She appeared again in Fellini's8½, and would remain in Italy during the first half of the 1960s, making films for a number of Italian directors. Because of her role inLa Dolce Vita, biographer Dave Thompson describes Aimée as a "rising star who exploded" onto the film world. He adds that singer-songwriterPatti Smith, who in her teens saw the film, began to idolise her, and "dreamed of being an actress like Aimée."[2][10]
Aimée's greatest success came with the filmA Man and a Woman (Un homme et une femme, 1966) directed byClaude Lelouch. Primarily due to the excellent acting by its stars, Aimée andJean-Louis Trintignant, and the beautiful musical score, the film became an international success, winning both the Grand Prize at theCannes Film Festival in 1966 and two Oscars includingBest Foreign Language Film. Tabery states that with her "subtle portrayal of the heroine—self-protective, then succumbing to a new love—Aimée seemed to create a new kind offemme fatale."[6]
Film historian Jurgen Muller adds, "whether one likes the film or not, it's still hard for anyone to resist the melancholy aura of Anouk Aimée."[11] In many of her subsequent films, she would continue to play that type of role, "a woman of sensitivity whose emotions are often kept secret."[6]
She starred in the American film production ofJustine (1969), costarringDirk Bogarde and directed byGeorge Cukor andJoseph Strick. The film contained some nudity, with one writer observing, "Anouk is always impeccable, oozing the sexy, detached air of the elite . . . when she drops these trappings, along with her couture clothing, Anouk's naked perfection will annihilate you."[12]
PhotojournalistEve Arnold, assigned to photograph and write a story about Aimée and her role, spoke toDirk Bogarde, who had known her since she was fifteen. He said that "She is never so happy as when she is miserable between love affairs," referencing her recent love affair withOmar Sharif, her co-star inThe Appointment (1969).[5] Arnold photographed Aimée, who talked about her role as the character Justine. Justine was also Jewish. Arnold recalls one of their talks:
I am still haunted by two things she quoted. They seemed to say more about her than anything else I experienced with her during the three weeks I knew her on the film: Quote fromTreblinka: 'The Jews are prone to anguish but seldom given to despair.' And a quote by an anonymous Jewish poet to his wife when theNazis came to get them: 'Till now we have lived with fear, now we can know hope.'[5]
Anouk Aimée at Cannes, 2007
Another American film,La Brava, starringDustin Hoffman, was set to be made in 1984 but was never completed. Hoffman at first decided it would play better if he were in love with a younger girl rather than the original story's older woman. "Where are you going to get a good-looking older woman?" he asked. He rejectedFaye Dunaway, feeling she was "too obvious." A month later, after a chance meeting with Aimée in Paris, he changed his mind, telling his producer, "I can fall in love with the older woman. I met Anouk Aimée over the weekend. She looks great." He begged his producer to at least talk to her: "Come on, get on the phone, say hello to her. . . Just listen to her voice, it's great."[13]
Robert Altman, at another time, wanted to use Aimée in a film to be calledLake Lugano, about a woman who was aHolocaust survivor returning long after the war. She "loved the script," according to Altman. However, she backed out after discussing the part with him more thoroughly:
I do remember he was like a bomb. He had a strong personality. He was tall, and he had a big voice. 'I want this,' and 'I want that.' I remember thinking it would be very difficult to work with him, and we didn't make the film.[14]
Aimée was married and divorced four times: Édouard Zimmermann (1949–1950), directorNico Papatakis (1951–1954), actor and musical producerPierre Barouh (1966–1969), and actorAlbert Finney (1970–1978).[20][21] She had one child, Manuela Papatakis (born 1951), from her second marriage. She died at her home in Paris on 18 June 2024, at the age of 92.[20] She was buried privately at theSaint-Vincent Cemetery in Paris on 25 June.[22]
Aimée was nominated for anOscar as best actress for her role oppositeJean-Louis Trintignant inA Man and a Woman, becoming one of a relatively small number of actors to be nominated for a performance in a foreign film.[23]
The Guardian film criticPeter Bradshaw wrote in anobituary for her that "The enigma, sensuality and vulnerability of Aimee's screen persona are all there in essence – and above all the loneliness that comes with beauty." According to Bradshaw, "She had something of the youngJoan Crawford, orMarlene Dietrich, or her contemporary, the French model and actressCapucine. Aimée radiated an enigmatic sexual aura flavoured with melancholy, sophistication and worldly reserve" and "had a unique screen presence that was at once alluring and forbidding"[24] He wrote about her role inLa dolce vita that actress's "natural hauteur made her a natural for the role and, with her airy detachment and beauty, could be said almost to have invented Italian cinema's modish ennui whichMichelangelo Antonioni later developed."[24]
French Culture MinisterRachida Datitweeted on X: "We bid farewell to a world-famous icon, to a great actress of French cinema who took on roles for some of the biggest names, such as (Jacques) Demy, Lelouch and (Federico) Fellini."[25]
