By Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer
The great French film star Catherine Deneuve will receive the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in September, organizers said Wednesday.
With her angular features, blonde hair and regal demeanor, Deneuve was a key figure in the French New Wave. She broke out after starring as the lovesick Geneviève in Jacques Demy's candy-colored musical "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," which came out in 1964. It would lead to more lauded collaborations with Demy ("The Young Girls of Rochefort," "Donkey Skin") as well as directors like Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut ("The Last Metro") and Roman Polanski ("Repulsion").
Now 78, Deneuve has worked consistently for nearly 60 years, transcending her ingenue beginnings to become one of the most recognizable and respected stars in the world. In addition to her 14 César Awards nominations and two wins, she was also nominated for best actress at the Oscars for "Indochine" from 1992.
Her association with the Venice Film Festival has spanned over five decades, too. In 1967, she won the festival's Golden Lion for her performance as a housewife who begins working at a high-end brothel during the day in Buñuel's classic "Belle de Jour." In 1998, she won the festival's Volpi Cup for "Place Vendôme."
"It is a joy to receive this prestigious award at the Venice Festival," Deneuve said in a statement. "It is also an honor to be chosen for this tribute at the Film Festival that has accompanied me so often for so many movies."
Festival director Alberto Barbera said in a statement that Deneuve is, "The very symbol of French cinema, a timeless diva and a true icon of the silver screen."
"Deneuve has come to embody the essence of the universally recognized diva, taking her place as one of the greatest actresses in film history," he added.
Also receiving the festival's lifetime achievement award this year is "Taxi Driver" writer and "American Gigolo" director Paul Schrader.
The 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival runs from Aug. 31 through Sept. 10 in Venice, Italy.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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