Agnès Jaoui

Biography: life and films

One of the most highly acclaimed (certainly one of the most well-rewarded) of French screenwriters, Agnès Jaoui was born on 19th October 1964, in Antony, Hauts-de-Seine, in the south suburbs of Paris. Being of Tunisian Jewish origin, her parents settled in Paris after fleeing their home country when it gained independence in 1962 and spending a year in a kibbutz founded by Hachomer Hatzaïr. Jaoui is related to the actor Dominique Zardi and her brother, Laurent Jaoui, would, like her, make his name as a screenwriter and film director. As a child, she was an avid reader and began writing and acting (in her school's drama club) at an early age. She studied drama at the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre, under Patrice Chéreau, and spent a while completing her training as an actress in the United States. Having made her screen debut in a small role in Paul Boujenah's Le Faucon (1983), Chéreau gave her a part in his 1987 film Hôtel de France. Jacques Doillon also cast her in L'Amoureuse (1987) and, that same year, she appeared on stage in a production of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party, directed by Jean-Michel Ribes. It was here that she first met Jean-Pierre Bacri, with whom she formed a couple for the next 25 years and also a highly successful writing team.

Jaoui and Bacri began their writing partnership with their stage play Cuisine et dépendances, which won them a Molière award when it was first performed in 1992; the next year, it was made into a film by Philippe Muyl. This first success led director Alain Resnais to hire the team to adapt eight plays in Alan Ayckbourn's Intimate Exchanges series for his ambitious film diptych Smoking / No Smoking (1993). This won the duo their first César for Best Screenplay, which was swiftly followed by a second for their work on Cédric Klapisch's Un air de famille (1996). This is the film in which Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri first appeared on screen together, and they both acquired instant celebrity status on the back of its success at the French box office. Jaoui and Bacri returned to the screen not long afterwards in Alain Resnais's On connaît la chanson (1997), which they also scripted, winning themselves a third Best Screenplay César. Jaoui also won the César for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in this film.

After solo appearances in Alain Corneau's Le Cousin (1997) and Christophe Blanc's Une femme d'extérieur (2000), Jaoui once again teamed up with Bacri for what was to be their most successful collaboration, Le Goût des autres (2000). The first film directed by Jaoui, this culture-clash romantic comedy was a hit with both critics and audiences, not only attracting 3.9 million cinemagoers in France but also winning Césars in the Best Film and Best Screenplay categories. It would be four years before Jaoui directed her second film, Comme une image (2004), which took the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival. In between, she played the lead role in Laurent Bouhnik's 24 heures de la vie d'une femme (2002), based on a Stefan Zweig novella, and starred alongside Karin Viard in François Favrat's Le Rôle de sa vie (2004) as a self-absorbed celebrity (a part she would never allow herself to play in real life).

After taking the lead in Richard Dembo's last film, La Maison de Nina (2005), Jaoui took time out to start a new career as a singer. In 2006, she brought out her album Canta, with songs that combined various Latin genres. She returned to cinema in 2008 to write, direct and star in her next film Parlez-moi de la pluie (2008), where she once again appeared with Bacri and gave the comedian Jamel Debbouze a long overdue opportunity to prove himself as a serious screen actor. Although Jaoui and Bacri separated in 2012, they remain on good terms and worked together on another film, Au bout du conte (2013), although this fourth directorial offering met with mixed reviews.

Agnès Jaoui returned to the stage in 2014 in Catherine Schaub's production of Les Uns sur les autres at the Théâtre de la Madeleine, and then in Molière's Les Femmes savantes (2016), directed by Catherine Hiegel. Recent screen appearances include Brice Cauvin's L'Art de la fugue (2014) and Bruno Podalydès's Comme un avion (2015). Not only is Jaoui highly cultured, she is also very politically engaged and has adopted two Brazilian children.

Filmography

Click here to view complete list of films...