Jan 23, 1928

Paris, France

When people gave Louis Malle credit for making a star of Jeanne Moreau in
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (1958) immediately followed by Amants, Les (1958),
he would point out that Moreau by that time had already been "recognized as
the prime stage actress of her generation." She had made it to the Comédie
Française in her 20s. She had appeared in B-movie thrillers with Jean Gabin
and Ascenseur was in that genre. The technicians at the film lab went to the
producer after seeing the first week of... ... (read more...) dailies for Ascenseur and said: "You
must not let Malle destroy Jeanne Moreau". Malle explained: "She was lit
only by the windows of the Champs Elysées. That had never been done.
Cameramen would have forced her to wear a lot of make-up and they would put
a lot of light on her, because, supposedly, her face was not photogenic".
This lack of artifice revealed Moreau's "essential qualities: she could be
almost ugly and then ten seconds later she would turn her face and would be
incredibly attractive. But she would be herself".

Moreau has told interviewers that the characters she played were not her.
But even the most famous film critic of his generation, Roger Ebert, thinks
that she is a lot like her most enduring role, Catherine in François
Truffaut's Jules et Jim (1962). Behind those eyes and that enigmatic smile
is a woman with a mind. In a review of Clothes in the Wardrobe (1993) (TV)
Ebert wrote: "Jeanne Moreau has been a treasure of the movies for 35
years... Here, playing a flamboyant woman who nevertheless keeps her real
thoughts closely guarded, she brings about a final scene of poetic justice
as perfect as it is unexpected".

Moreau made her debut as a director in Lumière (1976) -- also writing the
script and playing Sarah, an actress the same age as Moreau whose romances
are often with directors for the duration of making a film. She made several
films with Malle.

Still active in international cinema, Moreau presided over the jury of the
1995 Cannes Film Festival.