EARLY YEARS
Marie Gillain was born on 18
June 1975 in the village of Rocourt, close to Liège, in the French speaking
region of Belgium. From an early age she showed a keen interest in the world of
entertainment and along with her young sister Céline and the children of her
village, would dress up and organise small shows in the attic of her home. As a
teenager she took part in theatre workshops for young people and was by now
dreaming of becoming an actress.
At the age of 14 she saw an
advertisement in a Belgian weekly newspaper for the film L'Amant (The
Lover) which was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. She decided to send in an
audio tape on which she read an extract from a novel by Marguerite Duras, and as
a result of this was asked to attend an audition. Unfortunately, she was not
selected for the film, the role eventually going to the English actress Jane
March. The experience was not wasted because the following year the same
casting director contacted her for a major part in what was to become her first
feature film Mon Père, Ce Héros. She played
the role of Véronique, the teenage daughter of Gérard Depardieu. The film became
an international success and was remade by Hollywood a few years later under the
English title My Father The Hero. An inferior film to the original, Marie
made a wise decision not to appear in the new version, although Gérard Depardieu
reprised his role as the father.
Whilst she completed her
secondary education at the Saint-Louis College in Liège, Marie continued to make
films both for the cinema and television. Her second feature, a Belgian film,
was called Marie and this was followed by Un Homme à la Mer (A
Man At Sea) directed by Jacques Doillon for French television. She then
attended the "École du Cirque" (Circus School) in Brussels for a period of four
months where her classes included singing, dancing, drama and acrobatics. During
this period she made her third feature film L'Appât (The Bait)
which was directed by Bertrand Tavernier, one of the top film makers in France.
The film was a critical success and Marie gave one of her best performances to
date. In an interview on Belgian television in February 1996 Tavernier described
Marie as a sublime actress. They would work together again in 2002 on the film
Laissez-Passer (Safe Conduct). Another feature by this director
entitled Holy Lola (2004) originally included Marie in the cast, but she
had to withdraw from the project when she became pregnant with her first
child.
THEATRE DEBUT
Having established herself as a
film actress Marie began to work in the theatre. She made her debut in 1995 in
the play Le Journal d'Anne Frank (The Diary Of Anne Frank). After
fifty performances in Lyon the production moved to Paris where it became a huge
success; a tour of Belgium followed. Les Affinités Électives (The
Elective Affinities) was her next film which was made
in Tuscany. It was directed by the Taviani brothers and shown out of
competition at the 49th Cannes Film Festival.
After
shooting Un Air Si Pur (An Air So
Pure) in Poland in 1996 Marie took part in
L'Orchestre à la Portée des Enfants with
the Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège. This was a series of concerts organised
by the Musical Youth of Liège and Brussels with the intention of helping
children discover and appreciate the world of classical music. She was the
narrator in La Boîte à Joujoux (The Toy Box) by Claude Debussy,
L'Histoire de Babar (The Story Of Babar) by Francis Poulenc and
Pierre et Le Loup (Peter and The Wolf) by Serge Prokofiev. Marie
repeated her role the following year with Casse-Noisette (The
Nutcracker) by Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky, L'Apprenti Sorcier (The
Sorcerer's Apprentice) by Paul Dukas and Ma Mère L'Oye (Mother
Goose) by Maurice Ravel.
Her next two
films were made by established directors. In 1997 Phillipe de Broca made Le
Bossu, a big budget swashbuckling movie which did well at the international
box office. It was released in several countries with the title of On Guard!
Then came a small part in an Italian drama Le Dîner directed by
Ettore Scola. Marie played the lead role in Ferzan Ozpetek's Le Dernier
Harem (Harem Suare), which was presented in the section "Un Certain
Regard" at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999.
MODEL
ACTRESS
Since 1998 Marie
has been one of the faces for the cosmetics firm Lancôme. This contract
provides the financial security which has allowed her to be selective in
choosing new scripts. Having made films with established directors, she was keen
to work with new and less experienced film makers. This resulted in Laissons
Lucie Faire! (Leave It To Lucie!) by Emmanuel Mouret and Barnie et
Ses Petites Contrarietes (Barnie and His Minor Annoyances) by Bruno
Chiche. She then built on her reputation as a fine comedy actress by starring in
Absolument Fabuleux directed by Gabriel Aghion. This film was a French
adaptation of the cult British television series.
In June 2002
Marie played the part of narrator in a concert entitled Bach au Feminin
which was organised by the Festival of Wallonie in Brussels. It was a
selection of classical music and songs, performed by various musicians including
the Belgian singer Maurane. In September 2002 Marie took to the stage again,
appearing in the play Hysteria which was directed by the American actor
John Malkovich. Adapted from the award winning British production it was a huge
success in Paris, running for five months. A tour of France, Switzerland and
Belgium followed, sadly without Marie.
In media
interviews she has let it be known that she would like to work with directors
such as Emir Kusturica, Woody Allen, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rob Reiner, Ken Loach,
Mike Leigh and Jaco van Dormael. After letting slip the name of Cédric Klapisch
on several occasions she finally got the opportunity to work with him in the
crime drama, Ni Pour, Ni Contre (Bien au Contraire) (Not For or
Against, Quite the Contrary). Her next film was the comedy Tout Le
Plaisir Est Pour Moi (The Pleasure Is All Mine) directed by Isabelle
Broué, her first full length feature.
FUTURE
PLANS
On 12 April 2004 Marie gave
birth to her first child, a daughter called Dune. Since then she has completed
her next film, L'Enfer directed by Danis Tanovic, who previously made the
award winning No Man's Land. The film which also stars Carole Bouquet,
Emmanuelle Beart and Karin Viard opened in France in the summer 2005.
More to come...