Starring Catherine Deneuve

With more than 100 films and counting, Catherine Deneuve is a name synonymous with French cinema. Deneuve has that enigmatic charm, a kind of actress you have to dig deeper in order to appreciate her performance. A subtle actress? Yes. A dull actress? No. I actually think that Deneuve has an adequate emotional range. Her characters are usually profound.

As a birthday tribute to a living legend, allow me to present to you my top five — with two at number five — favorite performances by the beautiful Catherine Deneuve. So far, here they are.

1. My Favorite Season (1993)

The Final Work of a Master

Tagline: Cruise. Kidman. Kubrick.

EYES WIDE SHUT
Stanley Kubrick, 1999

Eyes Wide Shut is the final work of celebrated film director Stanley Kubrick. It is also an intriguing look at the realities of marriage.

The "Heterosexual Society" Might Be A Joke

"We live in a so-called heterosexual society which is really male heterosexual. Power, press, media, industry all stress male achievements. Heterosexuality was a mask. In the commercial cinema, this heterosexuality appears basically anti-feminine: you see more male faces on the posters than before. The world is showing its true face at last."

- Delphine Seyrig




DISCLAIMER: No copyright infringement intended. I don't own or claim to own any of the photos used.

I'm Still Hungry

Tagline: Nothing human loves forever.

THE HUNGER
Tony Scott, 1983

Plot: Just another sexy vampire movie about this sexy vampire who looks like Catherine Deneuve. The sexy vampire seduces a sexy guy who looks like David Bowie. Later on the sexy vampire seduces a sexy woman who looks like Susan Sarandon. It's quite a sexy movie with lots of vampires. Rawr! :P

A Warm Delight

VOLVER

Pedro Almodóvar, 2006

Volver - Spanish word for "to return."

Plot: After her death, Irene (Carmen Maura) returns to her home town in order to fix the situations she couldn't resolve during her life.

Oh, I'm Sorry, You Were Saying Something?

Tagline: Could you kill your best friend?

BATTLE ROYALE
Kinji Fukasaku, 2000

As per IMDb: In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.

Battle Royale is full of gratuitously violent scenes. The film likes to beat around the bush by showing us lots of blood and dream-like scenes. I don't know if this is a surrealist film, a sport movie, an action film, a romantic drama, or a satire.

We Have All the Time in the World

ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
Peter Hunt, 1969

Plot: The most emotional adventure of his career begins for James Bond on a deserted beach where a young woman tries to drown herself. He rescues the girl and for his trouble is attacked by two tough guys - the girl's bodyguards. It soon becomes much bigger for 007 - the girl is Contessa Teresa 'Tracy' DiVincenzo, daughter of crime boss Marc Ange Draco. Draco wants James to marry his wayward daughter, and in return he can provide 007 with information on an even more dangerous criminal leader - Ernst Stavro Blofeld of SPECTRE. But both James and Tracy find more than they ever bargained for when their paths collide in a vicious pursuit in the snow-capped mountains of Switzerland, an enormous avalanche, and a smuggling ring for germ warfare against the West by Blofeld - who proves most difficult to kill. The film followed the plot of the novel more closely than the other film adaptations of the eponymous source novels.

A Turning Point in Cinema

VANISHING POINT
Richard C. Sarafian, 1971

Vanishing Point is one of the most influential movies of all time. It even inspired a bunch of "car movies," most notably Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. Audioslave's music video for their song Show Me How To Live is a homage to Vanishing Point. Primal Scream even has an album named "Vanishing Point," which includes a song called Kowalski (named after the film's lead character).

Not Your Average Femme Fatale

NIKITA
Luc Besson, 1990

Later called La Femme Nikita, Nikita is a groundbreaking film that revolutionized the genre of action films with a tough and sexy woman as its lead character. La Femme Nikita probably inspired a bunch of girls-with-guns movies.

My Top Five Alfred Hitchcock Films

The following are my five favorite films by one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, the Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock:

1. Vertigo (1958)



Starring James Stewart and Kim Novak.

Plot: John "Scottie" Ferguson (Stewart) is a retired San Francisco police detective who suffers from acrophobia and Madeleine (Novak) is the lady who leads him to high places. A wealthy shipbuilder (played by Tom Helmore) who is an acquaintance from college days approaches Scottie and asks him to follow his beautiful wife, Madeleine. He fears she is going insane, maybe even contemplating suicide, because she believes she is possessed by a dead ancestor. Scottie is skeptical, but agrees after he sees the beautiful Madeleine.