Sylvie Testud born 17 January 1971 is a French actress, writer, and film director, whose film career began in 1991. She won the César Award for Most Promising Actress for Murderous Maids (2000), the César Award for Best Actress for Fear and Trembling (2003), and the European Film Award for Best Actress for Lourdes (2009). Her other film roles include Beyond Silence (1996), La Vie en Rose (2007), and French Women (2014).
Life and career
She grew up in the La Croix-Rousse quarter of Lyon, France. This was an area with many Portuguese, Spanish and Italian immigrants. Her mother immigrated from Italy in the 1960s. Her French father left the family when Sylvie was just two years old.
In 1985, when she was 14, she saw Charlotte Gainsbourg in her role of the complex young girl in L’Effrontée, a film directed by Claude Miller, identified with Gainsbourg, and so took drama classes in Lyon with the actor and director Christian Taponard. In 1989, she moved to Paris and spent three years at the Conservatoire (CNSAD). In the early and mid 1990s, she landed her first small roles in films like L’Histoire du garçon qui voulait qu’on l’embrasse, directed by Philippe Harel, and Love, etc., directed by Marion Vernoux. In 1997 she had great success in Germany with Caroline Link’s Jenseits der Stille for which she learned German, sign language, and the clarinet. In 1998 she had her first major role in French cinema playing Béa in Thomas Vincent’s Karnaval. In 2000 she starred in Chantal Akerman’s La Captive, an adaptation of La Prisonière, the fifth part of Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu. In 2001 she won the César Award for Most Promising Actress for her portrayal of Christine Papin, one of the Papin sisters, in Les Blessures assassines (English title: Murderous Maids). The story concerned a young servant woman found guilty of the murder, with her sister’s help, of her employer’s wife and daughter; it had made sensational headlines in France in 1933.
In 2003, she published the autobiographical book Il n’y a pas beaucoup d’étoiles ce soir, with anecdotes of her day-to-day life as an actress. The French edition featured a cover designed by her sister Ghislaine.
One of her most noted performances was as the star of the film Stupeur et tremblements, adapted from the novel by Amélie Nothomb, for which she was awarded a César and a Lumières Award for Best Actress in 2004. She plays a woman struggling with the difference in culture between the Japanese business world and the western, Belgian world, from which she comes. In 2005 or 2006 she returned to her native Lyon (to the Théâtre de la Croix Rousse), where she played the rôle of Edith in Philippe Faure’s adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s La Pitié dangereuse. She starred in 2007’s two-time Academy Award-winning film La Vie en rose, as Momone, Edith Piaf’s best friend. In the 2008 film Sagan, she portrayed the writer Françoise Sagan, earning unanimous praise for her hauntingly accurate portrayal and for which she was again nominated for the César for best actress.
She was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre national du Mérite in March 2009.
She has a son, Ruben, born on 15 February 2005, and a daughter Esther, born in January 2011.
In 2012, she participated in Rendez-vous en terre inconnue.
Filmography
Feature films
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Couples et amants | The young girl | John Lvoff | |
| 1994 | The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed | Girl at party offering food | Philippe Harel | |
| Maries Lied: Ich war, ich weiß nicht wo | Marie | Niko von Glasow | ||
| 1995 | Those Were the Days | Sylvie | Didier Haudepin | |
| 1996 | Beyond Silence | Lara | Caroline Link | German Film Awards – Best Actress |
| 1997 | Les Raisons du cœur | Esther | Markus Imhoof | |
| 1998 | Sentimental Education | Julia | C. S. Leigh | |
| The Misadventures of Margaret | Young Nun | Brian Skeet | ||
| Petit Point & Antoine | Laurence | Caroline Link | ||
| Karnaval | Béa | Thomas Vincent | Nomination César Award Most Promising Actress | |
| 1999 | Annaluise & Anton | Laurence | Caroline Link | |
| In Heaven | Valeska | Michael Bindlechner | ||
| 2000 | La Captive | Ariane | Chantal Akerman | |
| Sade | Renée de Sade | Benoît Jacquot | ||
| Murderous Maids | Christine Papin | Jean-Pierre Denis | César Award-Most Promising Actress | |
| La Chambre obscure | Azalaïs | Marie-Christine Questerbert | ||
| 2001 | The Chateau | Isabelle | Jesse Peretz | |
| Julies Geist | Julia | Bettina Wilhelm | ||
| I’m Going Home | Ariel | Manoel de Oliveira | ||
| 2002 | Everyman’s Feast | Sophie | Fritz Lehner | |
| Un moment de bonheur | The teacher | Antoine Santana | ||
| Les Femmes… ou les enfants d’abord… | Virginie | Manuel Poirier | ||
| Tangos volés | Alice/Paula | Eduardo de Gregorio | ||
| A Loving Father | Virginia | Jacob Berger | ||
| Vivre me tue | Myriam | Jean-Pierre Sinapi | ||
| 2003 | Fear and Trembling | Amélie | Alain Corneau | César Award-Best Actress Lumières Award-Best Actress |
| Sole Sisters | Tina | Pierre Jolivet | ||
| Dédales | Claude | René Manzor | ||
| 2004 | Tomorrow We Move | Charlotte | Chantal Akerman | |
| Tout pour l’oseille | Prune | Bertrand Van Effenterre | ||
| Cause toujours ! | Léa | Jeanne Labrune | ||
| Victoire | Victoire | Stéphanie Murat | ||
| Words in Blue | Clara | Alain Corneau | ||
| 2005 | It’s Our Life! | Louise Delhomme | Gérard Krawczyk | |
| 2006 | L’Héritage | Patricia | Temur Babluani | |
| 2007 | La Vie en rose | Mômone (Simone Berteaut) | Olivier Dahan | Nomination César Award Best Supporting Actress |
| La France | Camille | Serge Bozon | ||
| Ce que mes yeux ont vu | Lucie | Laurent de Bartillat | Nomination Lumières Award Best Actress | |
| 2008 | Sagan | Françoise Sagan | Diane Kurys | Globes de Cristal Awards- Best Actress Nomination César Award Best Actress Nomination Lumières Award Best Actress |
| Mange, ceci est mon corps | Madame | Michelange Quay | ||
| 2009 | L’Idiot | Daria Alexeïevna | Pierre Léon | |
| Je ne dis pas non | Adèle | Iliana Lolic | ||
| Lucky Luke | Calamity Jane | James Huth | ||
| Vengeance | Irène Thompson | Johnnie To | ||
| A Happy Man (Le Bonheur de Pierre) | Catherine Martin | Robert Ménard | ||
| Gamines | Sibylle | Éléonore Faucher | ||
| Lourdes | Christine | Jessica Hausner | European Film Awards-Best Actress | |
| 2010 | The Round Up | Bella Zygler | Roselyne Bosch | |
| Mumu | Mumu | Joël Séria | ||
| Avant l’aube | Sylvie Poncet | Raphaël Jacoulot | ||
| 2011 | Rebellion | Chantal Legorjus | Mathieu Kassovitz | |
| 2012 | The Scapegoat | Bela | Charles Sturridge | |
| À votre bon cœur, mesdames | Lolita | Jean-Pierre Mocky | ||
| Les Mains de Roxana | Roxana Orlac | Philippe Setbon | ||
| 2013 | Max | Nina | Stéphanie Murat | |
| Une chanson pour ma mère | Sylvie | Joël Franka | ||
| For a Woman | Anne | Diane Kurys | ||
| Je m’appelle Hmmm… | Céline’s mother | agnès b. | ||
| 2014 | 96 hours | Marion Reynaud | Frédéric Schoendoerffer | |
| 24 Days | Brigitte Farell | Alexandre Arcady | ||
| French Women | Sam | Audrey Dana | ||
| Papa Was Not a Rolling Stone | Nadège | Sylvie Ohayon | ||
| Géographie du cœur malchanceux | Sophie | David Allain Alexandra Billington |
||
| 2015 | Le Talent de mes amis | Stéphane Brunge | Alex Lutz | |
| Au plus près du Soleil | Sophie Picard | Yves Angelo | ||
| Deux femmes | Elisaveta Bogdanovna | Vera Glagoleva | ||
| 2016 | Arrête ton cinéma | Sybille Teyssier | Diane Kurys | |
| The Visitors: Bastille Day | Charlotte de Robespierre | Jean-Marie Poiré | ||
| Le Correspondant | Eloïse (Malo’s mother) | Jean-Michel Ben Soussan | ||
| Tamara | Amandine (Tamara’s mother) | Alexandre Castagnetti | ||
| 2017 | Jour J | Clarisse | Reem Kherici | |
| Final Portrait | Annette Arm | Stanley Tucci | ||
| 2018 | Suspiria | Miss Griffith | Luca Guadagnino | |
| Comme des rois | Val | Xabi Molia | ||
| Tamara Vol. 2 | Amandine (Tamara’s mother) | Alexandre Castagnetti |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Lettre ouverte à Lili | Virginie | Jean-Luc Trotignon |
| Le Nid tombé de l’oiseau | Laurence | Alain Schwartzstein | |
| 2009 | L’une chante, l’autre aussi | Herself | Olivier Nicklaus |
| 2010 | Louise Michel | Louise Michel | Sólveig Anspach |
| 2011 | Le Grand Restaurant | A Client | Gérard Pullicino |
| 2012 | Rendez-vous en terre inconnue | Herself | |
| 2013 | Les Déferlantes | Louise | Éleonore Faucher |
| 2014 | Ceux qui dansent sur la tête | Catherine | Magaly Richard-Serrano |
| Fais pas ci, fais pas ça | Sylviane Chinsky, the marriage therapist | Pascal Chaumeil | |
| 2017 | Maximilian | Charlotte de Savoie | Andreas Prochaska |
| 2018 | Germanized | Odile | Denis Dercourt |
Director
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Je veux descendre | Short |
| 2012 | Another Woman’s Life |
Decorations
- Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters (2016)
Awards and nominations
Testud in 2013
Deutscher Filmpreis
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Beyond Silence | Best Actress | Won |
César Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Karnaval | Most Promising Actress | Nominated |
| 2001 | Murderous Maids | Most Promising Actress | Won |
| 2004 | Fear and Trembling | Best Actress | Won |
| 2008 | La Vie en rose | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated |
| 2009 | Sagan | Best Actress | Nominated |
Lumières Award
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Fear and Trembling | Best Actress | Won |
| 2008 | Ce que mes yeux ont vu | Best Actress | Nominated |
| 2009 | Sagan | Best Actress | Nominated |
Globes de Cristal Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Sagan | Best Actress | Won |
European Film Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Lourdes | Best Actress | Won |