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The Beauty of the Real: What Hollywood Can Learn from Contemporary French Actresses
Even as actresses become increasingly marginalized by Hollywood, French cinema is witnessing an explosion of female talent―a Golden Age unlike anything the world has seen since the days of Stanwyck, Hepburn, Davis, and Garbo. In France, the joy of acting is alive and well. Scores of French actresses are doing the best work of their lives in movies tailored to their star images and unique personalities. Yet virtually no one this side of the Atlantic even knows about them. Viewers who feel shortchanged by Hollywood will be thrilled to discover The Beauty of the Real . This book showcases a range of contemporary French actresses to an audience that will know how to appreciate them―an American public hungry for the exact qualities that these women represent. To spend time with them, to admire their flashing intelligence and fearless willingness to depict life as it is lived, gives us what we're looking for in movies but so rarely insights into womanhood, meditations on the dark and light aspect's of life's journey, revelations and explorations that move viewers to reflect on their own lives. The stories they bring to the screen leave us feeling renewed and excited about movies again. Based on one-on-one interviews and the viewing of numerous films, Mick LaSalle has put together a fascinating profile of recent generations of French film stars and an overview of their best work. These women's insights and words illuminate his book, which will answer once and for all the two questions Americans most often have about women and the Where did all the great actresses go? And how can I see their movies?
- GenresNonfictionFranceFilm
248 pages, Hardcover
First published May 9, 2012
6 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Mick LaSalle
7 books14 followersMick LaSalle is an American film critic and the author of two books on pre-code Hollywood. As of March 2008[update], he has written in excess of 1550 reviews for the San Francisco Chronicle,[1] and he has been podcasting them since September 2005.[2]
LaSalle is the author of Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood, a history/critical study of the actresses who worked in the film industry between 1929-1934. It was published by Thomas Dunne Books in 2000. In his review in The New York Times, Andy Webster called it "an overdue examination of a historic conflict between Hollywood and would-be monitors of morality" and added LaSalle "has an avuncular but informative style, and makes his points with a relaxed economy."[3]
The book served as the basis for the documentary film Complicated Women, directed by Hugh Munro Neely and narrated by Jane Fonda, which originally was broadcast by Turner Classic Movies in May 2003. LaSalle provided commentary for and served as Associate Producer of the project.[4]
LaSalle's follow-up to Complicated Women was Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man, published by Thomas Dunne in 2002.
LaSalle has lectured on film subjects at various film festivals, including those in the Hamptons, Denver, Las Vegas, and Mill Valley and at New York City's Film Forum and San Francisco's Castro Theatre. For several years he taught a film course at the University of California, Berkeley, and now[when?] teaches film courses at Stanford University.
In the late 1990s, LaSalle was the on-air film critic for KGO-TV. He is a member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle,[5] and was a panelist at the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Venice Film Festivals. He was also a panelist at the 2009 Berlin film festival. In addition to his reviews, he answers film-related questions in the Chronicle column Ask Mick LaSalle.
LaSalle is the author of Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood, a history/critical study of the actresses who worked in the film industry between 1929-1934. It was published by Thomas Dunne Books in 2000. In his review in The New York Times, Andy Webster called it "an overdue examination of a historic conflict between Hollywood and would-be monitors of morality" and added LaSalle "has an avuncular but informative style, and makes his points with a relaxed economy."[3]
The book served as the basis for the documentary film Complicated Women, directed by Hugh Munro Neely and narrated by Jane Fonda, which originally was broadcast by Turner Classic Movies in May 2003. LaSalle provided commentary for and served as Associate Producer of the project.[4]
LaSalle's follow-up to Complicated Women was Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man, published by Thomas Dunne in 2002.
LaSalle has lectured on film subjects at various film festivals, including those in the Hamptons, Denver, Las Vegas, and Mill Valley and at New York City's Film Forum and San Francisco's Castro Theatre. For several years he taught a film course at the University of California, Berkeley, and now[when?] teaches film courses at Stanford University.
In the late 1990s, LaSalle was the on-air film critic for KGO-TV. He is a member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle,[5] and was a panelist at the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Venice Film Festivals. He was also a panelist at the 2009 Berlin film festival. In addition to his reviews, he answers film-related questions in the Chronicle column Ask Mick LaSalle.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 28, 2012
French cinema is producing great movies right now. LaSalle highlights one aspect of French cinema - the actresses and the roles available. He does this to show the strength of French movies and the weakness of American ones. Unlike American film culture, the French see their films as vehicles for the directors more than for the stars. LaSalle's book is decidedly for American readers. He uses the American idea of focusing on the movie star to demonstrate why French films - not International, not independent ones - are the making the movies that American audiences want.
LaSalle is a newspaper critic and this book is predictably episodic. Each chapter is 9 to 11 pages. Some chapters have smooth transitions to the next subject and others are abrupt. As the book gets past its earlier chapters, LaSalle's writing becomes more conversational and more enjoyable.
This book is a one piece of a larger argument about the lack of roles for women - as actresses, directors, DPs, etc. - in American film. It is also one example of the reasons why the French film industry is making some of the best contemporary films. The fact that it is one of the first books to my knowledge to address these issues about the current state of filmmaking makes for a strong, informative, and important read. LaSalle uses the positive example of French cinema to point out the negative aspects of American film. By doing so, he imbues a certain amount of hope - that American audiences will see more contemporary French films and that the American film industry will also notice.
LaSalle is a newspaper critic and this book is predictably episodic. Each chapter is 9 to 11 pages. Some chapters have smooth transitions to the next subject and others are abrupt. As the book gets past its earlier chapters, LaSalle's writing becomes more conversational and more enjoyable.
This book is a one piece of a larger argument about the lack of roles for women - as actresses, directors, DPs, etc. - in American film. It is also one example of the reasons why the French film industry is making some of the best contemporary films. The fact that it is one of the first books to my knowledge to address these issues about the current state of filmmaking makes for a strong, informative, and important read. LaSalle uses the positive example of French cinema to point out the negative aspects of American film. By doing so, he imbues a certain amount of hope - that American audiences will see more contemporary French films and that the American film industry will also notice.
August 4, 2020
It was so refreshing to read this book in a 24-hour period. Mick is a very entertaining writer, which I knew from following him in his SF Chronicle movie reviews. This book illuminates the fact that the American film industry is focused on morality tales whereas French cinema concerns itself with human behavior. And, French cinema is the land of women's cinema, an industry where women continue acting well into their golden years, certainly different than what we have here in the U.S. I am excited to devote more viewing time to these films and actresses-- I have a lifetime of French film viewing ahead of me! :-)
May 6, 2025
Over the past few years, I've watched more French films than is healthy for anyone, so this is right up my street. Very readable and thoughtful that made me think about both French and American attitudes, interesting interviews, and an absolute deluge of titles that I wasn't even aware of up until now. I don't always agree with LaSalle (I quite like Isabelle Adjani, for one) but this is a really fascinating book.
February 13, 2021
One of the most interesting extended essays I've read in years. No doubt a love of film is at the heart of my engagement, although by any measure Rick LaSalle's perspective is compelling, persuasive and well illustrated through the careers of some of the best actresses currently active. Testing out the author's claims also requires viewing a few of the finest movies being crafted--so where, you might ask, is the down side?
In any case, the argument here goes that actresses are central to French cinema, and are regarded and utilized in ways that radically differ from their treatment by the US movie industry. But note also the title: it's not about French actresses' beauty, but about their being *real*--which, LaSalle holds, currently eludes Hollywood. Women of consequence are seldom portrayed in US films, which focus on action and struggle and violence in the outer world. Only Meryl Streep or Ashley Judd occasionally play the characters once routine to Bette Davis, Crawford and Hepburn. So, unlike their US counterparts, French actresses now and over the past 20 years have been playing women with intriguing, even "overwhelming passions... [and] the actions resulting from [these passions] ...are worthy of interest, depiction and examination." (140)
French filmmakers' lower budgets presumably account for this turn inward, toward women, the intimate, and the interpersonal. LaSalle's "French zone" is about "...exploring the intricacies, ambiguities and contradictions of human behavior, without assigning blame." (122) US cinema, by contrast, is over-preoccupied with right and wrong. Any culpability for having sex, for instance, requires dealing with human emotion, thoughts and motives (7)--precisely why, LaSalle argues, first-time lovers in US movies only seldom manifestly decide to have sex. Instead, they generally "...fall through the door and proceed to demolish the apartment," or conduct their proceedings, most improbably, standing up (6f).
French filmmakers don't feel compelled to derive moral lessons from every circumstance, thereby gaining "...freedom to be more specific and detailed in presenting adulterous situations, even if those details make us more uncertain as to the proper course, not less." (142)
One should add at least Maggie, Blanchett, Tilda and Mirren, and possibly Bening, to LaSalle's list of actresses. This, in turn, blurs his clarity about how "Male box-office dominance has become a permanent condition." (p 7) Even so, much that he says is worth considering.
Bilingual Kristin Scott Thomas and Charlotte Rampling regularly float in and out of French films, and Rampling revived a dormant career with rich roles relatively late in life, just by taking the Chunnel southwards. Scott Thomas is an even more telling example of the thrill for actresses of working in France--and of what, for LaSalle, afflicts English-speaking film-making. He lists several movies she made in France portraying "sexy ...neurotic, dangerous, high-strung" women (96), and adds that the English roles she played before and after them depict women focused on who they once were, or "...regretting lost youth or worrying about [a] child." In 'Easy Virtue' she is not "the lead but ...the spiteful mother-in-law of the heroine, played by Jessica Biel." LaSalle sees Biel as among the "...most lightweight and unskilled of American actresses" (98)--hard to dispute, given the undemanding roles she chooses. She made no special impression in 'Easy Virtue,' her first real opportunity to show acting chops, and perhaps the last. (Then again, Brad Pitt and Demi Moore developed hefty portfolios of 'last-chance' opportunities.)
In any case, Scott Thomas just went to France and "...at forty-nine, she was young again." (98) More accurately, she could play women of consequence.
LaSalle develops a compelling study of film more generally by devoting brief chapters to a long list of notable actresses, scrutinizing some in detail. In passing, he discusses the longer 'shelf life' of French actresses plausible in romantic parts even after 50. Deneuve, Moreau, Fanny Ardant, and Nathalie Baye are cited; he elaborates on how Huppert has "...incarnated some uniquely sick individuals" (171); botched adventures in plastic surgery (Béart--who, like Faye Dunaway, could not resist leaving beautiful enough alone); how Adjani failed to make the most of her opportunities; directors who seek to "bring out new colors in" their actresses; the most promising talents from the past 20 years (Adjani, Huppert, Binoche, Bonnaire, Pailhas) and those worth watching downstream (Kiberlain, Carré, Jaoui, Bruni-Tedeschi). On the borderline between these two last groups I'd certainly agree about Karin Viard--even if the 5 films I've now seen differ from those touted by LaSalle, excepting Embrassez qui vous voudrez. I'd single out her brilliant performance in 'My Piece of the Pie' (Ma part du gateau) with Gilles Lellouche, and thought she also played to perfection a secondary role in Le Couperet. I'm not overwhelmed by Sandrine Kiberlain, although the single film of hers I've seen, Mademoiselle Chambon, was certainly striking.
Actresses to watch, among dozens that he discusses, include Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi (on the book's cover). Like Viard and Kiberlain, she is not particularly beautiful from many angles, yet her directors don't shy from these angles (note, again, the book's title). She certainly commands a magnetic sensuality. Her background is one of privilege, including a sister who was not long ago France's first lady. Yet Bruni-Tedeschi can depict working-class women, conveying with her eyes remote yet knowing depths, along with hidden determination.
Fanny Ardant as well, notably in 'Vivement Dimanche!' Francois Truffaut renders through her a very fresh idea of an independent female lead. This light noir was his last movie, and far from his most highly-touted with the gamine Ardant--pointing to yet more treats to come...
An unexpectedly good read. Those who delight in good film, French or other, may agree.
In any case, the argument here goes that actresses are central to French cinema, and are regarded and utilized in ways that radically differ from their treatment by the US movie industry. But note also the title: it's not about French actresses' beauty, but about their being *real*--which, LaSalle holds, currently eludes Hollywood. Women of consequence are seldom portrayed in US films, which focus on action and struggle and violence in the outer world. Only Meryl Streep or Ashley Judd occasionally play the characters once routine to Bette Davis, Crawford and Hepburn. So, unlike their US counterparts, French actresses now and over the past 20 years have been playing women with intriguing, even "overwhelming passions... [and] the actions resulting from [these passions] ...are worthy of interest, depiction and examination." (140)
French filmmakers' lower budgets presumably account for this turn inward, toward women, the intimate, and the interpersonal. LaSalle's "French zone" is about "...exploring the intricacies, ambiguities and contradictions of human behavior, without assigning blame." (122) US cinema, by contrast, is over-preoccupied with right and wrong. Any culpability for having sex, for instance, requires dealing with human emotion, thoughts and motives (7)--precisely why, LaSalle argues, first-time lovers in US movies only seldom manifestly decide to have sex. Instead, they generally "...fall through the door and proceed to demolish the apartment," or conduct their proceedings, most improbably, standing up (6f).
French filmmakers don't feel compelled to derive moral lessons from every circumstance, thereby gaining "...freedom to be more specific and detailed in presenting adulterous situations, even if those details make us more uncertain as to the proper course, not less." (142)
One should add at least Maggie, Blanchett, Tilda and Mirren, and possibly Bening, to LaSalle's list of actresses. This, in turn, blurs his clarity about how "Male box-office dominance has become a permanent condition." (p 7) Even so, much that he says is worth considering.
Bilingual Kristin Scott Thomas and Charlotte Rampling regularly float in and out of French films, and Rampling revived a dormant career with rich roles relatively late in life, just by taking the Chunnel southwards. Scott Thomas is an even more telling example of the thrill for actresses of working in France--and of what, for LaSalle, afflicts English-speaking film-making. He lists several movies she made in France portraying "sexy ...neurotic, dangerous, high-strung" women (96), and adds that the English roles she played before and after them depict women focused on who they once were, or "...regretting lost youth or worrying about [a] child." In 'Easy Virtue' she is not "the lead but ...the spiteful mother-in-law of the heroine, played by Jessica Biel." LaSalle sees Biel as among the "...most lightweight and unskilled of American actresses" (98)--hard to dispute, given the undemanding roles she chooses. She made no special impression in 'Easy Virtue,' her first real opportunity to show acting chops, and perhaps the last. (Then again, Brad Pitt and Demi Moore developed hefty portfolios of 'last-chance' opportunities.)
In any case, Scott Thomas just went to France and "...at forty-nine, she was young again." (98) More accurately, she could play women of consequence.
LaSalle develops a compelling study of film more generally by devoting brief chapters to a long list of notable actresses, scrutinizing some in detail. In passing, he discusses the longer 'shelf life' of French actresses plausible in romantic parts even after 50. Deneuve, Moreau, Fanny Ardant, and Nathalie Baye are cited; he elaborates on how Huppert has "...incarnated some uniquely sick individuals" (171); botched adventures in plastic surgery (Béart--who, like Faye Dunaway, could not resist leaving beautiful enough alone); how Adjani failed to make the most of her opportunities; directors who seek to "bring out new colors in" their actresses; the most promising talents from the past 20 years (Adjani, Huppert, Binoche, Bonnaire, Pailhas) and those worth watching downstream (Kiberlain, Carré, Jaoui, Bruni-Tedeschi). On the borderline between these two last groups I'd certainly agree about Karin Viard--even if the 5 films I've now seen differ from those touted by LaSalle, excepting Embrassez qui vous voudrez. I'd single out her brilliant performance in 'My Piece of the Pie' (Ma part du gateau) with Gilles Lellouche, and thought she also played to perfection a secondary role in Le Couperet. I'm not overwhelmed by Sandrine Kiberlain, although the single film of hers I've seen, Mademoiselle Chambon, was certainly striking.
Actresses to watch, among dozens that he discusses, include Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi (on the book's cover). Like Viard and Kiberlain, she is not particularly beautiful from many angles, yet her directors don't shy from these angles (note, again, the book's title). She certainly commands a magnetic sensuality. Her background is one of privilege, including a sister who was not long ago France's first lady. Yet Bruni-Tedeschi can depict working-class women, conveying with her eyes remote yet knowing depths, along with hidden determination.
Fanny Ardant as well, notably in 'Vivement Dimanche!' Francois Truffaut renders through her a very fresh idea of an independent female lead. This light noir was his last movie, and far from his most highly-touted with the gamine Ardant--pointing to yet more treats to come...
An unexpectedly good read. Those who delight in good film, French or other, may agree.
November 14, 2018
I loved reading this book because my favourite country for cinema is France. Like his previous books, this book has a conversational and accessible quality to it. One of Mick LaSalle's talents is his ability to understand the diversity of women in real life, and the need to mirror this on the big screen, with all their complexity and humanity. He also has a talent for making his subject matter very interesting, and to successfully capture the female characters in the movies he's discussing. There's a lot of empathy and intelligence in his approach to women's roles in cinema.
One of the big draws for me with this book was the interviews he did with most of the contemporary French actresses he chose to highlight in this work.
Lastly, even though this is targeted to an American audience, it can very much be enjoyed by readers from other countries (myself included). If you love French Cinema or if you're new to French Cinema, I highly recommend this.
One of the big draws for me with this book was the interviews he did with most of the contemporary French actresses he chose to highlight in this work.
Lastly, even though this is targeted to an American audience, it can very much be enjoyed by readers from other countries (myself included). If you love French Cinema or if you're new to French Cinema, I highly recommend this.
May 2, 2024
yikes.
the books i've read on actors are few and far between (which i need to amend). david thomson's books on bogie and ingrid b and maybe the one on bette davis, a great one called watching them be, probably a couple bios? i'm blanking. (shonni enelow's method acting and its discontents is high on my radar) this one was definitely weak but it at least gave me some movies to check out, gave me a tiny bit of context and framing for some actresses i like. the thing is this guy is the token film critic for a newspaper when they were going out of style and it shows. his observations on films and performances are painfully shallow, he's treating 30 years of acting like someone trying to do europe in a week. it's almost useless. LINGER my man. also his tastes seem mad sus and the tone he comes across with just always seems slightly preachy and cringe (i'd unfollow him on film twitter FAST). oh well. i love actresses, i love thinking about star text, i read the goop anyway.
the books i've read on actors are few and far between (which i need to amend). david thomson's books on bogie and ingrid b and maybe the one on bette davis, a great one called watching them be, probably a couple bios? i'm blanking. (shonni enelow's method acting and its discontents is high on my radar) this one was definitely weak but it at least gave me some movies to check out, gave me a tiny bit of context and framing for some actresses i like. the thing is this guy is the token film critic for a newspaper when they were going out of style and it shows. his observations on films and performances are painfully shallow, he's treating 30 years of acting like someone trying to do europe in a week. it's almost useless. LINGER my man. also his tastes seem mad sus and the tone he comes across with just always seems slightly preachy and cringe (i'd unfollow him on film twitter FAST). oh well. i love actresses, i love thinking about star text, i read the goop anyway.
November 20, 2018
Awesome read
I am an actress and I feel everything I have learned from acting have been from French actresses. This was truly a wonderful read. Thank you, Mr. LaSalle for writing this book.
I am an actress and I feel everything I have learned from acting have been from French actresses. This was truly a wonderful read. Thank you, Mr. LaSalle for writing this book.
November 18, 2019
I only wish I’d taken notes. So beyond my expectations. Especially for a book with as shit a cover as this one has.
I wish I could be bothered to write more about how worthy this book is.
I wish I could be bothered to write more about how worthy this book is.
July 28, 2014
Many of my favorites, a few new names and lots of films to add to my wish list. Thorough, insightful, admiring without being overly adoring.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews