Emmanuelle Riva (French pronunciation: [ɛmanɥɛl ʁiva]; 24 February 1927 – 27 January 2017) was a French actress, best known for her roles in the films Hiroshima mon amour (1959) and Amour (2012).

Emmanuelle Riva
Riva in 1962
Born
Paulette Germaine Riva

(1927-02-24)24 February 1927
Cheniménil, France
Died27 January 2017(2017-01-27) (aged 89)
Paris, France
Resting placeCimetière de Charonne, Paris
NationalityFrench
Occupations
  • Actress
  • poet
  • photographer
  • artist
  • chanteuse
Years active1956–2017

Riva was nominated for a BAFTA Award for her role in Hiroshima mon amour, and won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for Thérèse Desqueyroux (1962). For her lead role in Michael Haneke's Amour, she won a BAFTA Award and the César Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Early life

edit

Riva was born Paulette Germaine Riva on 24 February 1927 in Cheniménil, France,[1] the daughter of Jeanne Fernande (née Nourdin), a seamstress, and René Alfred Riva, a sign painter from Italy.[2]

Growing up in Remiremont, Riva showed an early passion for acting, performing in plays at her local theatre, but worked for several years as a seamstress. After seeing an advertisement on a local newspaper, Riva applied to an acting school in Paris.[3]

At 26, she moved to Paris to pursue acting despite her family's objections.[2][4] In 1954, she performed her first role on stage in a Paris production of George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man.[3] In 1957, Riva made her onscreen acting debut in the TV series Énigmes de l'histoire.[5]

Career

edit
 
Emmanuelle Riva at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival

Film

edit

Riva was cast as one of the leads in Hiroshima mon amour (1959), a film directed by Alain Resnais and written by Marguerite Duras, in which she played a French actress having an affair with a Japanese architect (Eiji Okada) in Hiroshima.[3] Her performance was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress in 1960.[5] She next appeared in Gillo Pontecorvo's Kapò (1960), Jean-Pierre Melville's Léon Morin, Priest (1961) and Georges Franju's Thérèse Desqueyroux (1962), for which she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 23rd Venice International Film Festival. Riva also appeared in Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colors: Blue (1993), Tonie Marshall's Venus Beauty Institute (1999), Julie Delpy's Skylab (2011)[3][4] and Fiona Gordon & Dominique Abel 's Lost in Paris (2016).

Riva starred in Michael Haneke's film Amour (2012) with Jean-Louis Trintignant, playing an elderly music teacher being cared for by her husband after a series of debilitating strokes. She won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 2013 for her performance, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Riva traveled to the 85th Academy Awards ceremony, which was held on her 86th birthday, but Jennifer Lawrence won for Silver Linings Playbook instead.[4] At 85, when she was nominated, Riva was the oldest ever Best Actress nominee and the second-oldest acting nominee after Gloria Stuart, who was 87 when she was nominated for Titanic (1997).[6]

Other works

edit

Riva had an extensive theatre career in Paris. In 2001, she performed in Medea at the Festival d'Avignon. She appeared occasionally on French television. Riva returned to the Paris stage in February 2014, co-starring with Anne Consigny in the Marguerite Duras play Savannah Bay at the Théâtre de l'Atelier.[7]

While filming Hiroshima mon amour, Riva photographed Hiroshima; a half-century later these photographs were exhibited at the Nikon Salon and issued in book form in France and Japan.[8] Riva was a published poet.[9]

 
Riva's final resting place in Paris

Personal life

edit

Riva led a private life, never married and did not have children.[4] She had a partner, who died in 1999.[3] Riva owned a fourth-floor walk-up apartment in the Latin Quarter of Paris, and lived there for more than half a century.[2]

Death

edit

Riva died from cancer on 27 January 2017 in Paris, four weeks before her 90th birthday. A memorial service was held on 4 February 2017 at Saint-Germain de Charonne church in the 20th arrondissement of Paris; she was then buried in Charonne cemetery.[10][11]

Selected filmography

edit
Year Title Director Notes
1959 Hiroshima mon amour Alain Resnais Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
1959 Kapò Gillo Pontecorvo
1960 The Eighth Day Marcel Hanoun
Adua and Friends Antonio Pietrangeli
Recourse in Grace Laslo Benedek
1961 Léon Morin, Priest Jean-Pierre Melville
1962 Thérèse Desqueyroux Georges Franju Volpi Cup for Best Actress
Climats Stellio Lorenzi
1963 The Hours of Love Luciano Salce
Le gros coup Jean Valère
1965 Thomas the Impostor Georges Franju
1967 Les risques du métier André Cayatte
1973 I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse Fernando Arrabal
1982 The Eyes, the Mouth Marco Bellocchio
1983 Liberté, la nuit Philippe Garrel
1993 Three Colors: Blue Krzysztof Kieślowski
1999 Venus Beauty Institute Tonie Marshall
2001 Médée Don Kent
2009 A Man and His Dog Francis Huster
2011 Le Skylab Julie Delpy
2012 Amour Michael Haneke BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress[12]
César Award for Best Actress[13]
Dublin Film Critics' Circle Award for Best Actress[14]
European Film Award for Best Actress[15]
International Cinephile Society Award for Best Actress[16]
London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actress of the Year[17]
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress (tied with Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook)[18]
Lumières Award for Best Actress[19]
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress[20]
New York Film Critics Online Award for Best Actress[21]
Premio Cinema Ludus for Best European Actress (tied with Marion Cotillard for Rust and Bone)[22]
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—AACTA International Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Dorian Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Houston Film Critics Society for Best Actress
Nominated—Irish Film & Television Awards – Best International Actress
Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Días de Cine Awards for Best Actress
2016 Marie and the Misfits Sébastien Betbeder
2016 Lost in Paris Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon
2017 La Sainte Famille Marion Sarraut

Bibliography

edit
  • Riva, Emmanuelle (1975). Le Feu des miroirs (in French). Paris: Éditions Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
  • Riva, Emmanuelle (1976). Juste derrière le sifflet des trains (in French). Paris: Éditions Saint-Germain-des-Prés. ISBN 2-243-00380-5.
  • Riva, Emmanuelle (1982). L'otage du désir (in French). Paris: Nouvelles Éditions latines. ISBN 2-7233-0184-2.
  • Riva, Emmanuelle (2008). Hiroshima 1958 (in Japanese). Tokyo: Inscript. ISBN 978-4-900997-22-6.
  • Riva, Emmanuelle (2009). Tu n'as rien vu à Hiroshima (in French). Paris: Gallimard. ISBN 978-2-07-012298-1.

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Emmanuelle Riva: a life in pictures". The Guardian. 28 January 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "Emmanuelle Riva: 'I thank heaven for the child that's still in me'". The Irish Times. 10 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Renewed Love for Symbol of New Wave". The New York Times. 1 January 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d "Emmanuelle Riva, French icon who starred in Amour, dies aged 89". The Guardian. 28 January 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  5. ^ a b "'Amour' Star Emmanuelle Riva Dies: Oscar-Nominated Actress Was 89". IndieWire. 28 January 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  6. ^ "Oscars 2013: Records Broken for Oldest, Youngest Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  7. ^ "Oscar Nominee Emmanuelle Riva to Star in French-Language Savannah Bay in Paris and Washington, D.C." Playbill. 30 October 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Emmanuelle Riva 'Hiroshima 1958'", Tokyo Art Beat. エマニュエル・リヴァ展 [Hiroshima 1958], Nikon. Both accessed 2010-07-24.
  9. ^ Kim Willsher "Emmanuelle Riva, 85, star of Amour, tells of her extraordinary life", The Observer, 10 February 2013.
  10. ^ "L'actrice Emmanuelle Riva enterrée dans la discrétion à Paris". Le Parisien. 4 February 2017. Archived from the original on 14 August 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  11. ^ "Emmanuelle Riva enterrée en toute discrétion à Paris". Paris Match. 5 February 2017.
  12. ^ "BSFC Winners 2010s". Boston Society of Film Critics. Boston Society of Film Critics. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Emmanuelle Riva". César. Académie des César. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  14. ^ "Dublin Film Critic's Circle 2012 Awards". EAM cinema. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  15. ^ "EFA Highlights 2012". European Film Awards. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  16. ^ Stevens, Beth (11 February 2013). "2013 ICS Award Winners". International Cinephile Society. International Cinephile Society. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  17. ^ Leith, Alex (23 January 2013). "The 33rd London Critics' Circle Film Awards". The Critics' Circle. Critics' Circle. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  18. ^ "38th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards". LAFCA. Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  19. ^ Richford, Rhonda (19 January 2013). "'Amour' Named Best Film at France's Lumiere Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  20. ^ "Past Awards". National Society of Film Critics. National Society of Film Critics. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  21. ^ Lyttelton, Olive (9 December 2012). "'Amour' & 'The Master' Top Winners At LA Film Critics Awards, 'Zero Dark Thirty' Takes Victory In Boston". IndieWire. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  22. ^ "Vincitori 2012". Premio Cinema Ludus. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
edit