Huppert heralded at home

Isabelle Huppert as Michèle Leblanc in Elle

One of France’s most prolific and admired actresses Isabelle Huppert, who never baulks at taking risks, will receive yet another accolade to add to her collection. The French Cinema Award will be bestowed next month in Paris during the course of the 19th Rendez-vous with French Cinema, which brings overseas buyers and media to the City of Light for a celebratory jamboree and market.

Isabelle Huppert at the Cannes Film Festival: 'The protagonist [in Elle] is an interesting character who isn’t quite a victim but isn’t a traditional "revenge girl".' Photo: Richard Mowe

Huppert has been even busier than usual this year, accompanying no less than four of her films around the globe and including Paul Verhoeven’s Elle (due tor UK release on March 10 next year) for which she has just been nominated as best actress in the Golden Globes by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Earlier in the year she presided over the Rendez-vous with French Cinema in New York as well as a similar event in Japan. The other films that she has also been actively promoting over the last few months comprise Things to Come (L’Avenir) by Mia Hansen-Løve; Guillaume Nicloux’s Valley Of Love and Samuel Benchetrît’s Asaphalte.

Elle, a psychological thriller in which the 63-year-old plays a business woman on the trail of the man who raped her, received its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Huppert has said that it was “my love of ambiguous, nuanced characters that drew me to the project.” She told trade magazine Screen International: "The protagonist is an interesting character who isn’t quite a victim but isn’t a traditional ‘revenge girl'. It’s like we’re inside her mind as she deals with the situation. You get the sense she feels compelled to act but, at the same time, it’s not clear what’s driving her. I like the idea that we can never truly know why people do things, but the fact is they do."

The prize is a special crystal trophy created by the prestigious firm Saint-Louis, who can trace their roots back to 1586. The Rendez-vous in Paris (from 12 to 16 January) is one of the biggest markets for French cinema in the world, and in addition involves one of the biggest Press junkets aimed at titles due for release in different countries.

At the last edition of the Rendez-vous in January 2016 the prize went to Aton Soumacheet Dimitri Rassam, the producers of the international box-office hit Le Petit prince.

Huppert recently has also figured opposite Jesse Eisenberg in Louder Than Bombs and incarnated a bored paté factory worker Lilliane in Bravo Defurne’s Souvenir.

Richard Mowe will be reporting for Eye for Film from the Paris Rendez-vous.