Myriem Roussel
Myriem Roussel (born in Rabat, Morocco, 26 December 1961)[1] is a French actress and model. She is best-known for her role as Marie in Jean-Luc Godard's 1985 film Hail Mary, which was controversial upon its release.[2]
Career
Roussel had come to Godard's attention when she appeared as an extra in his film Passion (1982).[3] She appeared in Godard's First Name: Carmen (1983) and alongside Charlotte Rampling in Joy Fleury's Tristesse et beauté (1985), an adaptation of Yasunari Kawabata's 1964 novel Beauty and Sadness.
Roussel then starred in the central role of Marie in Godard's
Godard forced me to write down a diary of my thoughts, not regular writing but from my depths. I had no religious education, so I had to study
the Bible. I watched Pasolini's film, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, and also Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc. Godard loves that film, and I understand why he loves it. And I had to learn basketball. Godard wanted to do a basketball scene very much.[10]
Roussel defended her nude scenes in the film, telling Peary, "Mary is a virgin, but Mary is a woman too. For me, the decision was to show her in 1985 as an actual contemporary person. Maybe if we'd set the film in Biblical times, it could be shocking, but not now." She also recounted her experience of meeting Hail Mary picketers in Strasbourg: "There were five men, including a priest, and they hadn't seen the movie. I said to one man, 'I'll give you $3 to go inside,' but it was impossible to have a dialogue with them."[11]
After Hail Mary, Roussel starred as Sister Virginia de Leyva in
...what is most lingering about the picture is what lingers about the films Roussel made with Godard: the devotion it pays to her
Alessandro Gassman), looks into a mirror and pulls her habit away from a cascade of long auburn hair. The effect is nearly breathtaking... What makes this moment so powerful is how, in the space of these few frames, Roussel's expression subtly morphs from timid curiosity to combined arousal and sorrow -- she tears her habit like a hymen -- and then from awe at her mirror's disclosure of her sensuality to a final expression that shows contempt for her vanity as she feels herself empowered by it. It is the moment of Sister Virginia's emergence as a complete, sexual being, body and soul, and by this point in the movie, we feel our heart breaking for her as it also pounds for her.[12]
Roussel's other film appearances include Yves Boisset's Bleu comme l'enfer (1986), Robert van Ackeren's The Venus Trap (1988), Raúl Ruiz's Dark at Noon (1993), Éric Rochant's The Patriots (1994), and Laurent Bénégui's Au petit Marguery (1995).
Roussel also made appearances in French episodic television in the 1990s and 2000s.
Roussel's sister Anne is an actress; the two sisters both appeared in Pierre-Loup Rajot's Jeunes gens (1996).
References
- ^ Les gens du cinéma pour extrait de naissance.
- ^ Peary, Gerald (2006). "Interview with Myriem Roussel". Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ "Myriem Roussel - Cinémathèque française". Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ Je vous salue, Marie Spiral (Retrieved 24 February 2008)
- ^ The Last Great Godard Film Slate (Retrieved 24 February 2008)
- ^ HAIL MARYArchived 2007-10-24 at the Wayback Machine Moria (Retrieved 24 February 2008)
- ^ "Je vous salue Marie (1985) - JPBox-Office".
- ISBN 0-521-58971-1.
- ^ Silva, Eumano (10 January 2020). "Sarney tentou impedir brasileiros de ver um filme do Godard". Metrópoles (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 21 October 2021.
- ^ ""Interview with Myriem Roussel"". Boston Phoenix. February 2006.
- ^ ""Interview with Myriem Roussel"". Boston Phoenix. February 2006.
- ^ ""In Genuflection to Myriem Roussel"". Video WatchBlog. January 1, 2009.
External links
- Myriem Roussel at IMDb