Carte Blanche 30 years of Étrange - Noémie Merlant

Prior to her revelation in Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire alongside Adèle Haenel, Noémie Merlant already had a solid career behind her. She was born in Paris on November 27, 1988 and grew up near Nantes, where she studied singing and dance. After her baccalauréat diploma, she returned to Paris and became a model, an experience she doesn’t remember fondly, as she felt she was treated as “an object, or meat, for products and brands'' : “It messed me up good.” She then studied at the Cours Florent from 2007 to 2011. After several short films and a music video, Jacques Richard foresees her potential and gives her the lead role in L'orpheline avec en plus un bras en moins (The Orphan Girl Without an Arm), a rejoicing dark comedy flirting with the absurd, adapted from Roland Topor.

Though she frequently appears on TV or in the theater, in the movies she only lands supporting roles with Delphine Gleize, Kim Chapiron, Jean-François Richet, Mélanie Laurent ou Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, until Céline Sciamma reveals her as a painter in love with her muse in 2019: from then on she is an essential actress not only in French cinema, but also in Hollywood. In films by Zoé Wittock, Jacques Audiard, Todd Field or André Téchiné she demonstrates a sensitive and varied acting talent, disappearing into her roles and taking risks. Surprise: she reveals her comedy talent in Louis Garrel’s The Innocent. Amazing, she seems so at ease that her jubilation is infectious. For this film she wins the Ceasr for best supporting actress in 2023.

Noémie is not the type that satisfies those who dream of beautiful and silent actresses. Engaged, since her father’s stroke, she’s particularly concerned by the issues facing caregivers and brought a camera to a family Christmas dinner to document, both intimately and universally, the daily life of a family faced with illness and disabilities. She cried out her anger against the pension reform project, alongside Camille Cottin, Juliette Binoche, Swann Arlaud, or Dominique A.  And when she ventures into directing, it’s again to make her voice heard,, to share her outlook on life, witness her first short film Je Suis #unebiche (I am #adoe) that raises the issues of the dangers of social media use by the younger generations.

Noémie Merlant is currently a hot news item as this month will see the release of Audrey Diwan’s new adaptation of Emmanuelle. In this feminist contemporary remake of the erotic classic, she takes on the challenge of replacing mythical Sylvia Kristel. Shortly after she directs The Balconettes, her second feature film (after Mi iubita, mon amour in 2022), co-written with Céline Sciamma, which she describes as “a bloody and comical horror movie with a cheeky feminist touch”, thus revealing her love of genre films, as her selection for her Carte blanche clearly demonstrates.