'After a short time as a Decorative Arts student, Dominique Sanda works for Dorian Leight. Her photos appear in Glamour, Elle and Vogue. When she is 17, Robert Bresson, struck by her image and then by her voice, offers her the main role in Une femme douce (A Gentle Woman) from Dostoïevsky's novel. When she meets the director, she feels amazed and seduced by something that attracts her, something that helps her to understand and define herself. Playing the role of a tormented young woman, too beautiful and too gentle to bear everyday banality, fits Dominique so well that she hardly sees the difference between performing and identifying with the character. While actors in Bresson's movies often fall into oblivion, in this young woman's case, the film launches her international career.
'She is only 18 when Bernardo Bertolucci asks her to play the part of Anna in Il conformista (The Conformist). The young woman starts meeting exceptional people, in a country she did not know but would soon love, and where she would play her most important roles. Vittorio de Sica chooses her for the part of Micol in Le jardin des Finzi-Contini (The Garden of the Finzi-Continis). The film would be awarded an Oscar in the USA and until today the public in the whole world identifies Dominique with this character. She acts in L'Impossible objet (The Impossible Object) with John Frankenheimer. Then she signs with John Huston for Le piège (The Macintosh Man) and with Fred Haines for Le loup des steppes (Steppenwolf). Luchino Visconti offers her a short but dazzling part in Violence et passion (Conversation Piece). Bernardo Bertolucci offers her the role of Ada in 1900.
'As Irene in L'Héritage (L'Eredita Ferramonti) directed by Mauro Bolognini, Sanda receives the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1976. After her reunion with Marguerite Duras for Navire Night, she only acts in France: Le voyage en douce, directed by Michel Deville; Les ailes de la colombe, by Benoît Jacquot; Une chambre en ville, by Jacques Demy who had already directed Dominique in her first role for television as Hélène in La naissance du jour, adapted from Colette's novel. She goes on to star in more than 45 films and theater productions by directors such as Alain Resnais, Lina Wertmuller, Robert Wilson, Patrice Chereau, and Dino Risi, between the late 1970s and her retirement as a performer in 2008.' -- Viviane Forester
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Frames
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Media
Dominque Sanda interviewed in 1971 (in French)
Dominique Sanda smoking
'Dominique Sanda à propos du physique des réalisateurs'
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Further
Dominique Sanda Official Website
Dominque Sanda @ imdb
A webpage about 'Un Femme Douce'
Dominique Sanda Facebook Page
Cinematheque Francais Page
Dominque Sanda @ Myspace
Dominique Sanda films on DVD
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Selected films
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Un Femme Douce, 1969
'A highly successful fashion model before reaching the age of 20, Paris-born Dominique Sanda was still enough of an "unfamiliar" face to appeal to director Robert Bresson. Characteristically avoiding casting established stars in his films, Bresson spotlighted Dominique in 1969's Une Femme Douce. It is difficult to tell how much of Dominique's excellent performance was due to her own innate ability or to Bresson's painstaking tutelage, but the fact remains that the film firmly established the actress as a top screen personality.' -- NYT
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The Conformist, 1970
'The film is a case study in the psychology of fascism: Marcello Clerici is a bureaucrat dehumanised by a dysfunctional middle class family and a childhood sexual trauma. He accepts an assignment from Benito Mussolini's secret police to assassinate his former mentor, living in exile in Paris. In Trintignant's characterization, Clerici is willing to sacrifice his values in the interests of building a so-called "normal life." According to the political philosopher Takis Fotopoulos, "The Conformist" is "a beautiful portrait of this psychological need to conform and be 'normal' at the social level, in general, and the political level, in particular."' -- Wiki
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The Garden of the Finzi-Contini, 1970
'Set in northern Italy's Ferrara community at the outbreak of World War II, this classic film by Vittorio De Sica concerns an old, aristocratic Jewish family, the Finzi-Continis, who maintain their isolated, idyllic ways within the stone walls of their lush estate while Mussolini imprisons Jews outside. The story's central figure, young Giorgio (Lino Capolicchio), is a middle-class Jew who has always found perfect sanctuary within the Finzi-Continis' walls and who is in love with his childhood friend from that family, Micol (Dominique Sanda). Micol, however, is sexually restless and fit to burst for want of experiences impossible under government oppression.' -- Tom Keogh
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Steppenwolf, 1970
'An interesting, experimental and largely successful adaptation of Herman Hesse's multilayered and psychologically complex novel. Harry Haller is a disillusioned man going through a mid life crisis who plans on commiting suicide by the time he turns fifty. Instead he goes on a spiritual journey and regains his humanity again. The first half covers the novel well while the second half and denoument seem like one self indulgent "acid" trip replete with cartoon animation during some scenes. The animation setup at the beginning is reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's Monty Python work.' -- learnmedia
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1900, 1976
'Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 (Novecento) is an attempt at a "popular," accessible film presenting the complexities of the social and political history of Italy between 1901 and 1945, specifically in the region twenty miles from Parma, where the director was born and brought up. It exists in two versions—an original Italian-language epic, five and half hours long, and an abridged English and French version, 75 minutes shorter and often shown in two parts, which is what most viewers have seen. In either version the central themes of this epic film are the same: the local struggle between the peasants and the feudal landowners and, on the national and local levels alike, the rise and fall of Fascism.' -- film reference
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The Inheritance, 1976
'This is a compelling drama about an Italian family in the 1880's. Papa (Anthony Quinn) closes down the long-standing Ferramonti bakery and informs his two sons Pippo and Mario and daughter Teta that they will have to fend for themselves in future. Irene his daughter-in-law under the guise of reconciling the family feuds maps out a plan to grab the inheritance for herself. Beautiful Dominique Sanda plays Irene as a shy serene young temptress using her charm and personal magnetism to good effect as she manipulates her lover and family members as cunningly as in a game of chess. Dominique Sanda (Winner Best Actor Cannes Film Festival) is not only a superb actor but has a beautiful presence in all her scenes.' -- imdb
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La chanson de Roland, 1978
'Roland des Roncesvalles is a legendary knight from the age of chivalry in France. In the 11th-century epic La Chanson de Roland, he is depicted as a key figure in halting the advance of the Arabs into France. In this film, the 10th-century legend is staged by a group of 12th-century pilgrims using the 11th-century poem. Their acting is interrupted by a violent peasant uprising, which kills many of their number. However, one of the survivors, who was playing Roland (Klaus Kinski), is converted to the peasant cause and later speaks out in favor of more just treatment for the downtrodden.' -- fandango
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La naissance du jour, 1980
'La naissance du jour - Réalisation Jacques Demy - Avec Danièle Delorme, Dominique Sanda, Jean Sorel, Orane Demazis, Tonie Marshall' -- the life cinematic
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p.s. Hey. ** Pilgarlic, Hey. I'm not sure if you know this, but I've written four porn films or rather scripts for porn films. None of them have ever managed to get produced, obviously. Two were solo efforts, and two were co-written with Jason Sato, who directed some of the most successful gay porn films/videos of the 80s. The most recent porn I wrote was only three years ago. Some porn producers said that if I wanted to write and direct a porn, they would finance and release it. But when they read the script, they bailed, saying it was too unconventional. That's been the story all along. It was an edgy film, relatively speaking, but it wasn't a fake snuff film or anything particularly outrageous. For instance, the scene they balked the most at involved this character who was quite obviously in his early twenties, but who claimed he was thirteen years old, and everyone else in the scene believed him and were convinced that they were having sex with a thirteen year old, even though the viewer was fully aware that they were delusional. I thought it was interesting way to present a regular, hot porn scene on the surface and give it this complicated and challenging aspect. But it was considered to be too out there and 'shocking'. So, it may be that the porn medium and I are at odds. Still, one of these days, I'm going to make a porn film one way or another 'cos it's virtually a lifelong dream of mine. ** James Greer, Jim! You're a generous man. Dude, how are you? I've owed you an email for ages. I'm finishing a novel and kind of dysfunctional as a result, but I'm weeks away from freedom of sorts. You heading over here at all? How's writing and everything else? Anyway, so good to see you, man. ** Tomkendall, It kind of really was, wasn't it? ** Christian Bok, Hello, greetings, welcome, and thank you a lot for gracing this place. I'm a great admirer of your work, and your visit is a total honor. ** Patrick deWitt, Hey. The rooms here come in all difference sizes from quite immense to the kind of space I'm in, which is the most common: single room, kitchen, bathroom, living area, very high ceiling, roomy loft area with bed and closet space and etc., space downstairs for a second bed if needed. These most common type spaces come in various sizes and shapes. The 10th is an arr. that tourists don't usually visit. It's quite central, lively, very racially mixed, increasingly full of artsy types and hipsters, but not excessively so. The Recollets is across the street from the Gare de l'Est, which has an excellent hub of a metro station where you can catch several key lines. It's a good deal. ** JW Veldhoen, Uh, no French equivalent of the YMCA that I know of anyway. Hostels. Hm, I'll check with more knowing locals to make sure though, for future reference. Really, really good wishes and best of luck to your dad. ** Jose, Hey. I kind of like 3D movies, or a handful of them so far, but I'm a cheap date who's perfectly happy to think of movies as flat amusement park rides when necessary. ** David Ehrenstein, Hey. Wow, it's really the year of the returning auteur/hero, isn't it? Stillman, Davies, Jodorowsky, et. al. ... Nice. ** Ken Baumann, You're the winner! I imagine you know that by now. Nice going, man. You've got a hell of a brain there. ** Bollo, Hey, Jonathan! Good to see you. I've been wondering how and where you were/are. Figured it was the move and new circumstances/ habits, etc. Give the word when those pictures of the show are up on your blog please. Oh, I remember that HTMLG post about your friend Joan. I was most intrigued. The band is very good news. I'm doing fine over here, just a broken record of repetitive talk about my broken record work on my novel. Which is good. Yeah, be back soon. ** Slatted Light, Hi, D. Aw, thanks about my tower. I try. I do try. Actually, 'behaving itself' will do. The novel's ability to behave is a real factor in how it works. Makes no sense, I know. Will once you've read it, if I'm not crazy. Ha, you have about as much chance to win that Nobel Prize as I have to win the Prize in my category. ** Derek McCormack, Hey, Derek! No, thank you. Thank you endlessly. Ken won. I'm very happy about that. It just seems ... right somehow. You good? I repeat: come visit Paris and me. I repeat: come visit Paris and me! ** Rigby, Sorry about your losses, man. I lost out on a chance to eat nachos yesterday, if that's any comfort. Yeah, I don't know why they all sound like they're 9 with a cock in their mouths. I really don't. ** _Black_Acrylic, Excellent about the good start on the YnY piece. Are you guys trading back and forth as you go along? ** Syreearmwellion, Hey, man! Really good to see you! Very cool about the new book of poetry. And about the forthcoming self-published books. Happy to promo/ announce them on my blog, if you like. Want to make a post or send me stuff so I can make one? Yeah, I'm really getting there on my novel, I think. It's inching to some kind of conclusion. A couple of weeks left, I hope, if I can keep the momentum going. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Hey. It's kind of super, yeah. Oh, so that's what your mysterious operation was about. Might I say ouch? Maybe it isn't an ouch kind of deal. Seems like it would be. Anyway, out with the old and in with the ... void? I don't know. I've only ever been circumcised. It works for me. Anyway, enough about that. ** Steevee, No, I didn't see that mention in the Voice. I'll go look. Curious comparison, ha ha. Sounds like Lil B is as confused as you are. Kylesa album? No. I haven't heard it. Of course I will now. ** Chris Cochrane, Thanks, man, about the pix. That piece of Ish's is legendary. He must have a video document somewhere, I hope. Novel's getting there. Push push push. Are the January 'Them' dates set yet? I should figure out my travel and NYC lodging stuff maybe. I sure hope Rico can be in it. ** Sypha, Really? That's interesting. I mean about that Buddhist meditation being applicable to my stuff. Hm, I'll investigate. ** Misanthrope, Me, crafty? Oh, I guess so. Wait'll you read my novel. Yikes. Speaking of novels, I'm sure you killing our old friend Mark is for a good cause. It is sad, though. But, hey, he's had a long, rich, eventful life. I just saw that xxBxixexbxsxx won the AMA stuff while I was coffeeing. THe AMAs are the absolute worst music prize bullshit thing in the world, though. Bristol Palin is probably going to win too. What is happening, George?! Make it stop! ** Statictick, Happy to catch you during your stopover. You sound, wow, good. Stay pumped, man. Don't let Grinderman stop you. I just waved at your nipples, and they snubbed me. Not a twitch. Wtf?! ** Tender prey, Hi, Marc. Yeah, I'm good for Tuesday or Wednesday. During the afternoon sometime? Does that work?I'm around. I guess just give me a good time for you, and we'll cement it. Coolness ** Okay, happy Monday. I was thinking the other day about how no one ever talks about Dominque Sanda anymore, even here in France, and how weird that is, and so a post was born. Enjoy it, hopefully. See you tomorrow.
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