| Juliette Binoche, daughter of an actress and a sculptor,
was only 23 when she first attracted the attention of international film
critics with _Unbearable Lightness of Being, The (1988). Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times film critic with an international following of his books
on film and TV reviews, wrote that she was "almost ethereal in her
beauty and innocence". That innocence was gone by the time Binoche
completed Louis Malle's Fatale (1992). In an interview after the film was
released, Binoche said: "Malle was trying to change my image! He
considered it too direct and wanted something more sophisticated". A
year later Krzysztof Kieslowski's Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993) was added to
her film credits and Ebert had this to say: "Binoche has a face that
is well-suited to this kind of role. Because she can convince you that she
is thinking and feeling, she doesn't need to 'do' things in an obvious
way". After a sabbatical from film-making to become a mother in 1994,
Binoche was selected as the heroine of France's most expensive ($35
million) movie ever: Hussard sur let toit, Le (1995). In his review of
that film, Stephen Holden, New York Times film critic, wrote:
"Binoche... conveys a mercurially eruptive spirit that makes Pauline
mysterious and utterly captivating". Barbara Shulgasser, San
Francisco Examiner film critic, liked Binoche a lot better than the film
itself or the leading man, Olivier Martinez, whom she found "a bit
dull here. Offscreen he's probably more exciting as he and Binoche are an
item. Binoche, on the other hand, is a joy to behold. With that simple
beauty, eyes that always look to be near tears and a sultry, swollen upper
lip, she does most of her acting just by manipulating that wonderful
face." |