French actor (born 1961)
Denis Lavant
Born (1961-06-17 ) 17 June 1961 (age 63) Occupation Actor Years active 1982–present
Denis Lavant (born 17 June 1961) is a French actor . He is known for his distinctive face and the physically demanding aspects of the roles he plays, which often involve slapstick , acrobatics or dance , as well as for his long-standing association with director Leos Carax . Lavant has played the lead role in all but two of Carax's films. Lavant is also known for his roles in Claire Denis ' Beau Travail , and Harmony Korine 's Mister Lonely .
Life and career
Lavant was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine , Hauts-de-Seine , in France. At 13, he took courses in pantomime and the circus, fascinated by Marcel Marceau . He trained at the Paris Conservatoire under Jacques Lassalle ,[1] and began his professional career in 1982 in theatre, acting in Shakespeare's Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice . In 1982 he appeared in the television film L'Ombre sur la plage , before playing the minor part of Montparnasse in Robert Hossein 's Les Misérables ,[1] which was entered into the 13th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a Special Prize.[2] He appeared in several further minor roles before making his breakthrough in 1984 as the lead in Boy Meets Girl , playing a depressed, aspiring filmmaker who falls in love with a suicidal young woman. The film marked the feature-film debut of Leos Carax , with whose work Lavant has been associated ever since.[3] [4]
In 1986, Lavant and Carax worked together again on the thriller Mauvais Sang and again in 1991 on Carax's third film, Les Amants du Pont-Neuf . In both Mauvais Sang and Les Amants du Pont-Neuf , Lavant starred opposite Juliette Binoche .[3] In 1998, Lavant appeared in the Jonathan Glazer -directed video for the UNKLE song "Rabbit in Your Headlights ", and in 1999, he played one of the lead roles in Beau Travail , directed by Claire Denis . In 2007, he appeared in Harmony Korine 's Mister Lonely , in which he portrayed a Charlie Chaplin impersonator. Lavant, who does not speak English, took an intensive language course in preparation and learned his lines phonetically.[5] His longtime associate Leos Carax appears in a supporting role as the main character's talent agent .
In 2008, Lavant and Carax re-united for the anthology film Tokyo! , which marked their first work together since Lovers on the Bridge and Carax's first major directing work in nearly a decade. Carax's segment for the film, called "Merde," starred Lavant as a violent monster who lives in the sewers of Tokyo and speaks in a gibberish language, venturing out occasionally to attack passersby.
In 2012, he starred in Leos Carax ' film Holy Motors where he plays a "chameleonic actor on assignment, ferried around Paris in a white limousine and changing en route from beggar-woman to satyr to assassin to victim."[6] The film was an entrant at the Cannes Film Festival .
In 2016, he starred in a 30-second clip directed by Yorgos Lanthimos to accompany the song "Identikit " by Radiohead .
Filmography
Year
Title
Role
Director
Notes
1982
L'ombre sur la plage
Mathieu
Luc Béraud
TV movie
Les Misérables
Montparnasse
Robert Hossein
1983
Entre Nous
Soldier
Diane Kurys
The Wounded Man
Wanderer
Patrice Chéreau
Paris ficelle
Joe
Laurence Ferreira Barbosa
Short
Au-delà de minuit
Voice
Pierre Barletta
Short
1984
Viva la vie
Caviar delivery man
Claude Lelouch
Boy Meets Girl
Alex
Leos Carax
1985
Partir, revenir
Simon Lerner's patient
Claude Lelouch (2)
Hôtel du siècle
The statue
Jean Kerchbron
TV series (1 Episode)
1986
Cinéma 16
Jean-Pierre
François Dupont-Midi
TV series (1 Episode)
Mauvais Sang
Alex
Leos Carax (2)
1987
L'étendu
Gilles Marchand
Short
1988
Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret
P'tit Louis
Jean Kerchbron (2)
TV series (1 Episode)
1989
Un tour de manège
Berville
Pierre Pradinas
Mona et moi
Pierre
Patrick Grandperret
1991
Les Amants du Pont-Neuf
Alex
Leos Carax (3)
Nominated - European Film Award for Best Actor
C'est merveilleux
Solange Martin
Short
1992
Drôle d'immeuble
Simon Pradinas
Short
1993
De force avec d'autres
Denis
Simon Reggiani
Fuis la nuit
Patrick Brunie
Short
1994
La partie d'échecs
Max
Yves Hanchar
Short
1995
L'ennemi
Higra
Hervé Renoh
Short
Visiblement je vous aime
Denis
Jean-Michel Carré
1997
Wild Animals
Emil
Kim Ki-duk
1998
Don Juan
Pierrot
Jacques Weber
Le monde à l'envers
Yann
Rolando Colla
Cantique de la racaille
The hitchhiker
Vincent Ravalec
"Rabbit in Your Headlights "
Man
Jonathan Glazer
Music Video
1999
Beau travail
Galoup
Claire Denis
Tuvalu
Anton
Veit Helmer
Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema - Best Actor
2000
Deep in the Woods
Stéphane
Lionel Delplanque
La squale
The joker
Fabrice Genestal
2001
Married/Unmarried
Love
Noli
Sofor
The driver
Guldem Durmaz
Short
Affaire Libinski
Anatoli Libinski
Delphine Jaquet, Philippe Lacôte
Short
2002
Sous-commandant Père Noël
Christophe Vindis
Short
La merveilleuse odyssée de l'idiot Toboggan
Voice
Vincent Ravalec (2)
2004
Luminal
Ryu
Andrea Vecchiato
A Very Long Engagement
Six-Soux
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Le soldat inconnu vivant
Voice
Joël Calmettes
TV movie
Low Street
Old Man
Tom Petch
Short
2005
Camping sauvage
Blaise
Christophe Ali, Nicolas Bonilauri
2006
Elegant
Daniel Wiroth
Short
2007
Le passeur
Philippe Lacôte (2)
Short
Mister Lonely
Charlie Chaplin
Harmony Korine
Capitaine Achab
Captain Ahab
Philippe Ramos
Iyi Seneler Londra
Gerard
Berkun Oya
2008
Tokyo!
Merde
Leos Carax (4)
Comment Albert vit bouger les montagnes
Harold Vasselin
2009
Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie
André Custe
Eric Woreth
TV series (1 Episode)
Les Williams
Alban Mench
Short
Tamanrasset
Philippe
Merzak Allouache
TV movie
The Temptation of St. Tony
Count Dionysos Korzybski
Veiko Õunpuu
Les cow-boys n'ont pas peur de mourir
Voice
Anne-Laure Daffis, Léo Marchand
Short
Obsession(s)
Marc Douelec
Frédéric Tellier
TV movie
2010
Via
Denis
Leonore Mercier
Short
Je, François Villon, voleur, assassin, poète
Bezon
Serge Meynard
TV movie
Tandis qu'en bas des hommes en armes
Vilard
Samuel Rondière
Short
HH, Hitler à Hollywood
Himself
Frédéric Sojcher
Io sono con te
Sapiente
Guido Chiesa
Enterrez nos chiens
Lucas
Frédéric Serve
2011
Atlantika
Jack
Igor Voloshin
Short
My Little Princess
Ernst
Eva Ionesco
Les amours perdues
Vincent
Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm
Short
Le petit poucet
The Ogre
Marina de Van
Waster
Philippe Prouff, Virginie Nallet
Short
2012
L'oeil de l'astronome
Kepler
Stan Neumann
Holy Motors
Mr. Oscar/ The Banker / The Beggar / The Motion Capture Actor / Monsieur Merde / The Father / The Accordionist / The Killer / The Killed / The Dying / The Man at Home
Leos Carax (5)
Chicago International Film Festival - Best Actor Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Indiewire Critics' Poll - Best Performance International Cinephile Society Awards - Best Actor Nominated - César Award for Best Actor Nominated - Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated - Italian Online Movie Award for Best Actor Nominated - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated - Lumières Award for Best Actor Nominated - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Nominated - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated - Village Voice Film Poll - Best Actor Nominated - International Online Cinema Awards - Best Actor
L'étoile du jour
Elliot
Sophie Blondy
2013
Barricade: le film
Short
Fatigués d'être beaux
The duke
Anne-Laure Daffis (2), Léo Marchand (2)
Short
Marussia
The tramp
Eva Pervolovici
Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas
The theologist
Arnaud des Pallières
Les grandes marées
Marc
Mathias Pardo
Short
Méandres
Voice
Elodie Bouedec, Florence Miailhe, Mathilde Philippon-Aginski
Short
Je sens plus la vitesse
Joanne Delachair
Short
Jiminy
Otto Hoffmann
Arthur Môlard
Short
2014
Dassault, l'homme au pardessus
Marcel Dassault
Olivier Guignard
TV movie
Journey to the West
Dragon
Tsai Ming-liang
Liberté, égalité, cheveux lissés
The white man
Elefterios Zakaropoulos
Short
Agafay
Olivier Nikolcic
Short
Iron Ivan
Eugene de Paris
Gleb Orlov
Le mystère des jonquilles
Sam
Jean-Pierre Mocky
Pitchipoï
Pierre Schulmann
Charles Najman
Fracas
Kévin Noguès
Short
2015
Graziella
Antoine
Mehdi Charef
Eva no duerme
Koenig
Pablo Agüero
Phasme
Jean
Maéva Ranaivojaona
Short
History's Future
Lottery Ticket Seller
Fiona Tan
Me and Kaminski
Karl-Ludwig
Wolfgang Becker
21 Nights with Pattie
André
Arnaud Larrieu & Jean-Marie Larrieu
Full House
The Hangman
Quentin Bocksberger
Short
2016
Boris Without Béatrice (Boris sans Béatrice)
The Unknown
Denis Côté
Louis-Ferdinand Céline, deux clowns dans la catastrophe
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Emmanuel Bourdieu
2018
À nos pères
Monsieur Loyal
Franchin Don
The Mountain
Jack
Rick Alverson
The Night Eats the World
Alfred
Dominique Rocher
2020
Night of the Kings (La Nuit des rois)
Silence
Philippe Lacôte
Gagarine
Gérard
Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh
[7]
2022
Human Flowers of Flesh
Galoup
Helena Wittmann
2024
It's Not Me [8]
Leos Carax (5)
References
External links
International National Academics Artists People Other