The Beauty of the Real: Contemporary French Actresses
In France, an actress can work steadily from her teens through old age. She can start out in stories of youthful rebellion and end up, fifty years later, a screen matriarch. And in the process, her career will end up telling the story of a life — her own life, in a sense, with the films serving, as Valeria Bruni Tedeschi puts it, as a "journal in time," or diary, of one woman's emotions and growth. No wonder so many French actresses are beautiful.
They're radiant with living in a cinematic culture that values them, and values women. In the luminous humanity of their faces and in the illuminated humanity of their characters, we discover in these actresses something much more inspiring than the blank perfection and perfect blankness of the Hollywood starlet. We discover the beauty of the real.
Films to be viewed in advance and discussed in class:
- Week One: East/West, with Sandrine Bonnaire
- Week Two: Le Petit Lieutenant, with Nathalie Baye
- Week Three: Five Times Two, with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
- Week Four: Number One Fan, with Sandrine Kiberlain
Faculty Bio
Mick LaSalle is film critic emeritus and columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle. He is the author of several books on film, including The Beauty of the Real: What Hollywood Can Learn from Contemporary French Actresses.
This is a Livestreamed + Recorded Course
- Classes will stream live on the scheduled day and time
- Classes will also be video recorded
- Note: All of the films are available on various streaming services; please review the syllabus for details
- You must be a current OLLI @Berkeley member to register. Learn about membership, including our fee assistance program.
Schedule Highlights
- Course starts on Tues., Jan. 20, and ends on Tues., Feb. 10
- Classes meet for 4 weeks, 1.5 hours per session (10:30–noon)
- All course materials will be available in Member Dashboards through March 29