Emmanuelle Riva

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Emmanuelle Riva
Riva in 1962
Born
Paulette Germaine Riva

(1927-02-24)24 February 1927
Cheniménil, France
Died27 January 2017(2017-01-27) (aged 89)
Paris, France
Resting placeCimetière de Charonne, Paris
NationalityFrench
Occupations
  • Actress
  • poet
  • photographer
  • artist
  • chanteuse
Years active1956–2017

Emmanuelle Riva (French pronunciation: [ɛmanɥɛl ʁiva]; 24 February 1927 – 27 January 2017) was a French actress, best known for her roles in the films Hiroshima mon amour (1959) and Amour (2012).

Riva was nominated for a

Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for Thérèse Desqueyroux (1962). For her lead role in Michael Haneke's Amour, she won a BAFTA Award and the César Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award
.

Early life

Riva was born Paulette Germaine Riva on 24 February 1927 in

née Nourdin), a seamstress, and René Alfred Riva, a sign painter from Italy.[2]

Growing up in Remiremont, Riva showed an early passion for acting, performing in plays at her local theatre, but worked for several years as a seamstress. After seeing an advertisement on a local newspaper, Riva applied to an acting school in Paris.[3]

At 26, she moved to Paris to pursue acting despite her family's objections.[2][4] In 1954, she performed her first role on stage in a Paris production of George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man.[3] In 1957, Riva made her onscreen acting debut in the TV series Énigmes de l'histoire.[5]

Career

Emmanuelle Riva at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival

Film

Riva was cast as one of the leads in

(2016).

Riva starred in Michael Haneke's film Amour (2012) with Jean-Louis Trintignant, playing an elderly music teacher being cared for by her husband after a series of debilitating strokes. She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 2013 for her performance, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Riva traveled to the 85th Academy Awards ceremony, which was held on her 86th birthday, but Jennifer Lawrence won for Silver Linings Playbook instead.[4] At 85, when she was nominated, Riva was the oldest ever Best Actress nominee and the second-oldest acting nominee after Gloria Stuart, who was 87 when she was nominated for Titanic (1997).[6]

Other works

Riva had an extensive theatre career in Paris. In 2001, she performed in Medea at the Festival d'Avignon. She appeared occasionally on French television. Riva returned to the Paris stage in February 2014, co-starring with Anne Consigny in the Marguerite Duras play Savannah Bay at the Théâtre de l'Atelier.[7]

While filming Hiroshima mon amour, Riva photographed Hiroshima; a half-century later these photographs were exhibited at the Nikon Salon and issued in book form in France and Japan.[8] Riva was a published poet.[9]

Riva's final resting place in Paris

Personal life

Riva led a private life, never married and did not have children.[4] She had a partner, who died in 1999.[3] Riva owned a fourth-floor walk-up apartment in the Latin Quarter of Paris, and lived there for more than half a century.[2]

Death

Riva died from cancer on 27 January 2017 in Paris, four weeks before her 90th birthday. A memorial service was held on 4 February 2017 at Saint-Germain de Charonne church in the 20th arrondissement of Paris; she was then buried in Charonne cemetery.[10][11]

Selected filmography

Year Title Director Notes
1959 Hiroshima mon amour Alain Resnais Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
1959
Kapò
Gillo Pontecorvo
1960 The Eighth Day Marcel Hanoun
Adua and Friends
Antonio Pietrangeli
Recourse in Grace
Laslo Benedek
1961 Léon Morin, Priest Jean-Pierre Melville
1962 Thérèse Desqueyroux Georges Franju
Volpi Cup for Best Actress
Climats Stellio Lorenzi
1963 The Hours of Love Luciano Salce
Le gros coup Jean Valère
1965 Thomas the Impostor Georges Franju
1967 Les risques du métier André Cayatte
1973 I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse Fernando Arrabal
1982 The Eyes, the Mouth Marco Bellocchio
1983 Liberté, la nuit Philippe Garrel
1993
Three Colors: Blue
Krzysztof Kieślowski
1999 Venus Beauty Institute Tonie Marshall
2001 Médée Don Kent
2009 A Man and His Dog Francis Huster
2011 Le Skylab Julie Delpy
2012 Amour Michael Haneke for Best Actress
2016 Marie and the Misfits Sébastien Betbeder
2016 Lost in Paris
Fiona Gordon
2017 La Sainte Famille Marion Sarraut

Bibliography

  • Riva, Emmanuelle (1975). Le Feu des miroirs (in French). Paris: Éditions Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
  • Riva, Emmanuelle (1976). Juste derrière le sifflet des trains (in French). Paris: Éditions Saint-Germain-des-Prés. .
  • Riva, Emmanuelle (1982). L'otage du désir (in French). Paris: Nouvelles Éditions latines. .
  • Riva, Emmanuelle (2008). Hiroshima 1958 (in Japanese). Tokyo: Inscript. .
  • Riva, Emmanuelle (2009). Tu n'as rien vu à Hiroshima (in French). Paris: Gallimard. .

See also

References

External links