Jeanne Moreau, star of Jules et Jim dies aged 89.
Today saw the passing of one of the most celebrated actors of the 20th Century, Jeanne Moreau. She was best known as one of the faces of the French New Wave after her iconic role in the Francois Truffaut classic Jules et Jim (1962). It was this role as the irrepressible and care-free Catherine that set her on the road to stardom.
In a career that spanned almost seven decades, Moreau worked with some of the biggest names in film history including Orson Welles, Louis Malle, Michelangelo Antonioni and Tony Richardson. Welles once described her as the greatest actress in the world.
She possessed a heady mixture of eroticism and intelligence, of control and freedom. She often played women who were beautifully attractive yet she often had a stand-offish air that made it difficult to really know her.
For me she will always be remembered for her love affair with a Frenchman and a German in Jules et Jim and for that most wonderful of scenes, the race across the bridge dressed as a man. It was an astonishing performance that perfectly captured the freedom of the New Wave and 55 years later it still has the power to move and to please.
Jeanne Moreau, 23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017