Denis Lavant | |
---|---|
Born | |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1982–present |
Denis Lavant (born 17 June 1961) is a French actor. He is known for his distinctive face and the physically demanding aspects of the roles he plays, which often involve slapstick, acrobatics or dance, as well as for his long-standing association with director Leos Carax. Lavant has played the lead role in all but two of Carax's films. Lavant is also known for his roles in Claire Denis' Beau Travail , and Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely .
Lavant was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, in France. At 13, he took courses in pantomime and the circus, fascinated by Marcel Marceau. He trained at the Paris Conservatoire under Jacques Lassalle, [1] and began his professional career in 1982 in theatre, acting in Shakespeare's Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice . In 1982 he appeared in the television film L'Ombre sur la plage , before playing the minor part of Montparnasse in Robert Hossein's Les Misérables , [1] which was entered into the 13th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a Special Prize. [2] He appeared in several further minor roles before making his breakthrough in 1984 as the lead in Boy Meets Girl , playing a depressed, aspiring filmmaker who falls in love with a suicidal young woman. The film marked the feature-film debut of Leos Carax, with whose work Lavant has been associated ever since. [3] [4]
In 1986, Lavant and Carax worked together again on the thriller Mauvais Sang and again in 1991 on Carax's third film, Les Amants du Pont-Neuf . In both Mauvais Sang and Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, Lavant starred opposite Juliette Binoche. [3] In 1998, Lavant appeared in the Jonathan Glazer-directed video for the UNKLE song "Rabbit in Your Headlights", and in 1999, he played one of the lead roles in Beau Travail , directed by Claire Denis. In 2007, he appeared in Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely , in which he portrayed a Charlie Chaplin impersonator. Lavant, who does not speak English, took an intensive language course in preparation and learned his lines phonetically. [5] His longtime associate Leos Carax appears in a supporting role as the main character's talent agent.
In 2008, Lavant and Carax re-united for the anthology film Tokyo! , which marked their first work together since Lovers on the Bridge and Carax's first major directing work in nearly a decade. Carax's segment for the film, called "Merde," starred Lavant as a violent monster who lives in the sewers of Tokyo and speaks in a gibberish language, venturing out occasionally to attack passersby.
In 2012, he starred in Leos Carax' film Holy Motors where he plays a "chameleonic actor on assignment, ferried around Paris in a white limousine and changing en route from beggar-woman to satyr to assassin to victim." [6] The film was an entrant at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2016, he starred in a 30-second clip directed by Yorgos Lanthimos to accompany the song "Identikit" by Radiohead.
Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1982 | L'ombre sur la plage | Mathieu | Luc Béraud | TV movie |
Les Misérables | Montparnasse | Robert Hossein | ||
1983 | Entre Nous | Soldier | Diane Kurys | |
The Wounded Man | Wanderer | Patrice Chéreau | ||
Paris ficelle | Joe | Laurence Ferreira Barbosa | Short | |
Au-delà de minuit | Voice | Pierre Barletta | Short | |
1984 | Viva la vie | Caviar delivery man | Claude Lelouch | |
Boy Meets Girl | Alex | Leos Carax | ||
1985 | Partir, revenir | Simon Lerner's patient | Claude Lelouch (2) | |
Hôtel du siècle | The statue | Jean Kerchbron | TV series (1 Episode) | |
1986 | Cinéma 16 | Jean-Pierre | François Dupont-Midi | TV series (1 Episode) |
Mauvais Sang | Alex | Leos Carax (2) | ||
1987 | L'étendu | Gilles Marchand | Short | |
1988 | Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret | P'tit Louis | Jean Kerchbron (2) | TV series (1 Episode) |
1989 | Un tour de manège | Berville | Pierre Pradinas | |
Mona et moi | Pierre | Patrick Grandperret | ||
1991 | Les Amants du Pont-Neuf | Alex | Leos Carax (3) | Nominated - European Film Award for Best Actor |
C'est merveilleux | Solange Martin | Short | ||
1992 | Drôle d'immeuble | Simon Pradinas | Short | |
1993 | De force avec d'autres | Denis | Simon Reggiani | |
Fuis la nuit | Patrick Brunie | Short | ||
1994 | La partie d'échecs | Max | Yves Hanchar | Short |
1995 | L'ennemi | Higra | Hervé Renoh | Short |
Visiblement je vous aime | Denis | Jean-Michel Carré | ||
1997 | Wild Animals | Emil | Kim Ki-duk | |
1998 | Don Juan | Pierrot | Jacques Weber | |
Le monde à l'envers | Yann | Rolando Colla | ||
Cantique de la racaille | The hitchhiker | Vincent Ravalec | ||
"Rabbit in Your Headlights" | Man | Jonathan Glazer | Music Video | |
1999 | Beau travail | Galoup | Claire Denis | |
Tuvalu | Anton | Veit Helmer | Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema - Best Actor | |
2000 | Deep in the Woods | Stéphane | Lionel Delplanque | |
La squale | The joker | Fabrice Genestal | ||
2001 | Married/Unmarried | Love | Noli | |
Sofor | The driver | Guldem Durmaz | Short | |
Affaire Libinski | Anatoli Libinski | Delphine Jaquet, Philippe Lacôte | Short | |
2002 | Sous-commandant Père Noël | Christophe Vindis | Short | |
La merveilleuse odyssée de l'idiot Toboggan | Voice | Vincent Ravalec (2) | ||
2004 | Luminal | Ryu | Andrea Vecchiato | |
A Very Long Engagement | Six-Soux | Jean-Pierre Jeunet | ||
Le soldat inconnu vivant | Voice | Joël Calmettes | TV movie | |
Low Street | Old Man | Tom Petch | Short | |
2005 | Camping sauvage | Blaise | Christophe Ali, Nicolas Bonilauri | |
2006 | Elegant | Daniel Wiroth | Short | |
2007 | Le passeur | Philippe Lacôte (2) | Short | |
Mister Lonely | Charlie Chaplin | Harmony Korine | ||
Capitaine Achab | Captain Ahab | Philippe Ramos | ||
Iyi Seneler Londra | Gerard | Berkun Oya | ||
2008 | Tokyo! | Merde | Leos Carax (4) | |
Comment Albert vit bouger les montagnes | Harold Vasselin | |||
2009 | Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie | André Custe | Eric Woreth | TV series (1 Episode) |
Les Williams | Alban Mench | Short | ||
Tamanrasset | Philippe | Merzak Allouache | TV movie | |
The Temptation of St. Tony | Count Dionysos Korzybski | Veiko Õunpuu | ||
Les cow-boys n'ont pas peur de mourir | Voice | Anne-Laure Daffis, Léo Marchand | Short | |
Obsession(s) | Marc Douelec | Frédéric Tellier | TV movie | |
2010 | Via | Denis | Leonore Mercier | Short |
Je, François Villon, voleur, assassin, poète | Bezon | Serge Meynard | TV movie | |
Tandis qu'en bas des hommes en armes | Vilard | Samuel Rondière | Short | |
HH, Hitler à Hollywood | Himself | Frédéric Sojcher | ||
Io sono con te | Sapiente | Guido Chiesa | ||
Enterrez nos chiens | Lucas | Frédéric Serve | ||
2011 | Atlantika | Jack | Igor Voloshin | Short |
My Little Princess | Ernst | Eva Ionesco | ||
Les amours perdues | Vincent | Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm | Short | |
Le petit poucet | The Ogre | Marina de Van | ||
Waster | Philippe Prouff, Virginie Nallet | Short | ||
2012 | L'oeil de l'astronome | Kepler | Stan Neumann | |
Holy Motors | Mr. Oscar/ The Banker / The Beggar / The Motion Capture Actor / Monsieur Merde / The Father / The Accordionist / The Killer / The Killed / The Dying / The Man at Home | Leos Carax (5) | Chicago International Film Festival - Best Actor Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Indiewire Critics' Poll - Best Performance International Cinephile Society Awards - Best Actor Nominated - César Award for Best Actor Nominated - Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated - Italian Online Movie Award for Best Actor Nominated - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated - Lumières Award for Best Actor Nominated - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Nominated - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated - Village Voice Film Poll - Best Actor Nominated - International Online Cinema Awards - Best Actor | |
L'étoile du jour | Elliot | Sophie Blondy | ||
2013 | Barricade: le film | Short | ||
Fatigués d'être beaux | The duke | Anne-Laure Daffis (2), Léo Marchand (2) | Short | |
Marussia | The tramp | Eva Pervolovici | ||
Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas | The theologist | Arnaud des Pallières | ||
Les grandes marées | Marc | Mathias Pardo | Short | |
Méandres | Voice | Elodie Bouedec, Florence Miailhe, Mathilde Philippon-Aginski | Short | |
Je sens plus la vitesse | Joanne Delachair | Short | ||
Jiminy | Otto Hoffmann | Arthur Môlard | Short | |
2014 | Dassault, l'homme au pardessus | Marcel Dassault | Olivier Guignard | TV movie |
Journey to the West | Dragon | Tsai Ming-liang | ||
Liberté, égalité, cheveux lissés | The white man | Elefterios Zakaropoulos | Short | |
Agafay | Olivier Nikolcic | Short | ||
Iron Ivan | Eugene de Paris | Gleb Orlov | ||
Le mystère des jonquilles | Sam | Jean-Pierre Mocky | ||
Pitchipoï | Pierre Schulmann | Charles Najman | ||
Fracas | Kévin Noguès | Short | ||
2015 | Graziella | Antoine | Mehdi Charef | |
Eva no duerme | Koenig | Pablo Agüero | ||
Phasme | Jean | Maéva Ranaivojaona | Short | |
History's Future | Lottery Ticket Seller | Fiona Tan | ||
Me and Kaminski | Karl-Ludwig | Wolfgang Becker | ||
21 Nights with Pattie | André | Arnaud Larrieu & Jean-Marie Larrieu | ||
Full House | The Hangman | Quentin Bocksberger | Short | |
2016 | Boris Without Béatrice (Boris sans Béatrice) | The Unknown | Denis Côté | |
Louis-Ferdinand Céline, deux clowns dans la catastrophe | Louis-Ferdinand Céline | Emmanuel Bourdieu | ||
2018 | À nos pères | Monsieur Loyal | Franchin Don | |
The Mountain | Jack | Rick Alverson | ||
The Night Eats the World | Alfred | Dominique Rocher | ||
2020 | Night of the Kings (La Nuit des rois) | Silence | Philippe Lacôte | |
Gagarine | Gérard | Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh | [7] | |
2022 | Human Flowers of Flesh | Galoup | Helena Wittmann | |
2024 | It's Not Me [8] | Leos Carax (5) |
Juliette Binoche is a French actress. She has appeared in more than 60 films, particularly in French and English languages, and has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award and a César Award.
Beau Travail is a 1999 French film directed by Claire Denis that is based on Herman Melville's 1888 novella Billy Budd. The story is set in Djibouti, where the protagonists are soldiers in the French Foreign Legion. Parts of the soundtrack of the movie are from Benjamin Britten's 1951 opera based on the novella.
Harmony Korine is an American filmmaker, actor, photographer, artist, and author. His methods feature an erratic, loose and transgressive aesthetic, exploring taboo themes and incorporating experimental techniques, and works with art, music, fashion and advertising.
Salim Kechiouche is a French actor.
Yekaterina Nikolaevna Golubeva, usually credited as Katerina Golubeva or Katia Golubeva, was a Russian actress who moved to Paris and became known for her films with such directors as Šarūnas Bartas, Claire Denis, and Leos Carax.
Alex Christophe Dupont, best known as Leos Carax, is a French film director, critic and writer. Carax is noted for his poetic style and his tortured depictions of love. His first major work was Boy Meets Girl (1984), and his notable works include Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (1991), Holy Motors (2012) and Annette (2021). For the last, he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. His professional name is an anagram of his real name, 'Alex', and 'Oscar'.
Les Amants du Pont-Neuf is a 1991 French romantic drama film directed by Leos Carax, starring Juliette Binoche and Denis Lavant. The film follows a love story between two young vagrants: Alex, a would-be circus performer addicted to alcohol and sedatives, and Michèle, a painter with a disease that is slowly turning her blind. The streets, skies and waterways of Paris are used as a backdrop for the story in a series of set-pieces set during the French Bicentennial celebrations in 1989.
Michel Subor was a French actor who gained initial fame with the starring role in Jean-Luc Godard's second feature, Le petit soldat (1960), but the French government banned it until 1963 because of its political content, touching on terrorism during the undeclared Algerian War. He acted in a couple of American films in the late 1960s including the role of Claude Jade's husband in Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz. In 1999, he once again played Forestier in Beau Travail, a highly praised variation of Billy Budd, directed by Claire Denis. He continued to work with her.
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Cinéma du look was a French film movement of the 1980s and 1990s, analysed, for the first time, by French critic Raphaël Bassan in La Revue du Cinéma issue no. 449, May 1989, in which he classified Luc Besson, Jean-Jacques Beineix and Leos Carax as directors of the "look".
Mauvais Sang, also known as The Night Is Young, is Leos Carax's second film. Released in 1986, the film played at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival before being nominated for three César Awards and winning the Prix Louis-Delluc. The film sold 504,803 tickets in France. The title refers to Arthur Rimbaud's poem in A Season in Hell.
Grégoire Colin is a French actor.
Mister Lonely is a 2007 comedy drama film directed by Harmony Korine and co-written with his brother Avi Korine. It features an ensemble cast of international actors, including Diego Luna, Samantha Morton, Denis Lavant, Werner Herzog, James Fox, Anita Pallenberg and Leos Carax. The film follows a Michael Jackson look-alike joining a commune filled with other impersonators as they build a stage to attract people to see them perform. Mister Lonely garnered mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb, grossing $393,813 against an $8.2 million budget.
Tokyo! is a 2008 anthology film containing three segments written by three non-Japanese directors and filmed in Tokyo, Japan. Michel Gondry directed "Interior Design," Leos Carax, "Merde," and Bong Joon-ho's "Shaking Tokyo."
Jean-Yves Escoffier was a French cinematographer. For his work on films by Leos Carax, Escoffier received the European Film Award for Best Cinematographer and was nominated for the César Award for Best Cinematography.
Boy Meets Girl is a 1984 French romantic drama film written and directed by Leos Carax in his feature directorial debut. The plot follows the relationship between an aspiring filmmaker, who has just been left by his lover, and a suicidal young woman, also reeling from a failed romance.
Holy Motors is a 2012 surrealist fantasy drama film written and directed by Leos Carax and starring Denis Lavant and Édith Scob. Lavant plays Mr. Oscar, a man who appears to have a job as an actor, as he is seen dressing up in different costumes and performing various roles in several locations around Paris over the course of a day, though no cameras or audiences are ever seen around him. The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
Mr Leos caraX is a 2014 French documentary film written, directed and produced by Tessa Louise-Salomé. The film premiered in-competition in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014.
Yves-Marie Chiron de la Casinière was a French musician, composer and music educator.
It's Not Me is a 2024 French film written and directed by Leos Carax.