Isabelle Huppert, icon of French and international cinema, was awarded the prestigious 2024 Lumière Prize during the 15th edition of the Lumière Festival in Lyon, thus establishing an exceptional career spanning more than 50 years.
The 2024 Lumière Prize award ceremony, which took place on Friday October 18 at the Amphitheater 3000 in Lyon, brought together an audience of stars from the 7e art who came to celebrate Isabelle Huppert Alfonso Cuarón, Claire Denis, Noémie Merlant and James Franco were among the distinguished guests. The emotion was palpable when singer Julien Clerc took the stage to perform his song My Preference in honor of the actress.
Isabelle Huppert’s journey commands admiration. Considered one of the most famous and recognized French actresses in the world, she has left her mark on the history of contemporary cinema. His impressive filmography bears witness to fruitful collaborations with great French directors such as Claude Chabrol and Jean-Luc Godard, but also with renowned international filmmakers such as Michael Haneke and Paul Verhoeven.
Visibly moved during the ceremony, Isabelle Huppert declared: “I was told that the Lumière Prize was special, but it is much more than I could have imagined, and yet I have a lot of imagination” . She noted the honor of receiving an award so intimately linked to the history of cinema, joining a prestigious list of winners, including Martin Scorsese, Jane Fonda and Wong Kar-wai.
Before the ceremony, Isabelle Huppert took part in the rare exercise of a masterclass, she who doesn’t much like talking about her work in public. She notably spoke about her method of choosing roles, based on intuition and sometimes on a line that particularly marks her in a scenario.
During a press conference the day after receiving the prize, the actress confided her atypical beginnings: “I had no cinema culture”. She revealed that she saw very few films before becoming an actress, comparing her journey to that of the Brontë sisters who wrote masterpieces without leaving their rectory. Isabelle Huppert praised the mission of “memory” maintained by the Lyon Lumière Festival, emphasizing the public’s interest in discovering or rediscovering films.
Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival and director of the Lumière Institute, declared: “The legitimacy of the choice of Isabelle (Huppert) is the legitimacy of her predecessors and predecessors, there was no doubt about it. elsewhere we immediately felt as soon as the announcement was made, that there was something incontestable.”
The Lumière Prize, created in 2009, celebrates each year in Lyon a personality for all of his work and his link with the history of cinema. By crowning Isabelle Huppert, the festival pays tribute to a timeless actress who knew how to mark with her talent and her presence the greatest pages of the 7e art. A well-deserved recognition for someone who, without having had an initial cinematographic culture, has established herself as an essential figure in French and international cinema.
With AFP
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