Always Beautiful

She captivated audiences with her role in Luis Buñuel’s Belle de Jour, she was an inspiration for Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic, and one of the most seductive actors of all time. Bazaar speaks to Catherine Deneuve about the controversial letter she signed with other artists in opposition to the #MeToo movement, of her fascination with fashion, and how she is still breaking moulds and hearts.

- Eleonore Marchand

Catherine Deneuve is looking for her cigarettes—her Marlboro slims. She lights one and, as we speak, it’s not long until she reaches for another.

“I smoke too much,” she says. I would love it if that could be erased from me.” But in the meantime, Deneuve says she might just switch to vapour cigarettes.

Perhaps a more realistic approach than having something erased from a celebrated fixture of French culture, one who was the actual model for Marianne, the figure of the French Republic appearing for years on coins and stamps nationwide.

At 74, the sovereign of French cinema has preserved a global image as the undisputed embodiment of French chic and is an icon of style, still very much present in the fashion world.

She made controversial headlines last January when she joined 99 other women in signing an open letter that challenged the #MeToo movement and its French counterpart, #BalanceTonPorc, claiming that the public campaigns infantilise women and contribute to a climate of sexual puritanism and totalitarian thinking.

A strong backlash ensued, and Deneuve responded with a letter stating that while she stood by the original statement published in the French daily newspaper Le Monde, she did not condone sexual abuse or misconduct.

“I’m a free woman and I will remain one,” Deneuve said in her follow-up letter to the French newspaper Libération. “I fraternally salute all women victims of odious acts, who may have felt aggrieved by the letter in Le Monde. It is to them, and them alone, that I apologise.”

Today she says she does not have much to add and stands by her words. “I’ve done my part and I have no more to say than what I said in my letter.”