French actressMarion Cotillardhas been acting in TV and film since she was young, and her movies include everything from independent French dramas to major box office blowouts. Since first appearing in a short film at age 7, Marion Cotillard has appeared in nearly 80 movies in a variety of capacities. She’s played background characters and supporting parts, but more often than not, she’s led films with her ability to play both dangerous and pathetically sweet in equal measure. With just a small look, Cotillard can go from cold to warm and back again.
Over her lauded career, Cotillard has earned two Academy Award nominations, winning once; four Golden Globe nominations, winning once; and been nominated another four times for the Screen Actors Guild. She’s appeared in musical biopics and Christopher Nolan-style blockbuster epics. Cotillard has found a dual home for herself, fitting in well in quiet independent dramas, seamlessly blending in as a real person, but still having enough charisma and presence to play larger-than-life characters in major blockbusters from populist filmmakers. No matter what she’s in,Cotillard can be counted on to give a great performance.
Taxi
Cast
Taxi, released in 1998, follows Daniel, a skilled pizza delivery boy in Marseilles who becomes a taxi driver. After a speed infraction, he aids Emilien, an inept inspector, in pursuing German bank robbers to retain his license and fulfill his dream of driving professionally.
Taxiis the first film in the French comedy series which starred Marion Cotillard untilTaxi 4in 2007. Cotillard plays Lilly Bertineau, the girlfriend of Daniel Morales (Samy Naceri), a talented driver who becomes a cabbie. Daniel is blackmailed by a police inspector into going after a German gang. This is one of Cotillard’s earlier movie roles and though her part is fairly simple, she makes the most of it. She’s having as much fun as anyone else in the cast and is exactly the type of girlfriend a character like Daniel would be willing to risk everything for.
Big Fish
Big Fish is a Tim Burton film released in 2003, featuring Albert Finney as Edward Bloom, a storyteller whose fictive yarns puzzle his son, William, played by Billy Crudup. As his father ages, William delves into Edward’s past, unraveling truth from his father’s fantastical tales.
Marion Cotillard’s first English-language role came inTim Burton’s celebrated late-period movie,Big Fish, as Joséphine Bloom, the wife of Edward Bloom (Ewan McGregor). InBig Fish, Cotillard shows her uncanny ability to turn even the smallest part into something worthwhile. Joséphine is newly pregnant in the movie and only appears every so often to advise her husband. Still, each time she’s on-screen, her big eyes and gentle kindness make everything she says sound relevant and worth paying attention to.
The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises follows Batman as he returns to Gotham City eight years after the death of Harvey Dent. Now pursued by law enforcement, he faces new challenges from Selina Kyle and Bane, a formidable terrorist leader who threatens the city’s safety, compelling Batman to defend a city that sees him as a foe.
Barring one bad scene inThe Dark Knight Rises, Marion Cotillard brings a fire to the third Christopher Nolan/BaleBatmanfilm that threatened to be extinguished after Maggie Gyllenhaal left the series in the previous movie. Marion Cotillard plays Miranda Tate in the film, a wealthy philanthropist who falls in love with Bruce Wayne (Bale) and is partially responsible for re-inspiring the caped crusader. However, her character hides a dark secret, andCotillard’s ability to play sweet and sour is put to excellent use when she eventually turns face.
A Very Long Engagement
Jeunet’s romantic World War I film starring Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, and the director’s beloved regular, Dominique Pinon.
A Very Long Engagementis a fictional story about a young woman, Mathilde Donnay (Audrey Tautou), who goes searching for her husband during World War I, after refusing to believe reports about his death. Marion Cotillard has a supporting part as Tina Lombardi, a vengeful and furious French woman who helps Mathilde but whose own methods are much more violent. Cotillard is commanding in the role, and the rage behind her smile in only a few scenes is almost frightening. It’s a part that could be silly but instead is made formidable by Cotillard.
Contagion
Directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishbrune, and Marion Cotillard, Contagion is a 2011 thriller that details the beginning of a global pandemic. After the death of patient zero, health professionals and government officials struggle to contain a deadly virus that spreads like wildfire.
Steven Soderbergh’s 21st feature film,Contagion, had a bit of a resurgence in the 2020s with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. This fast-moving, heart-pounding, and undeniably disturbing movie was eerily prescient of what would happen to the world when a dangerous virus is unleashed on an unsuspecting populace. Marion Cotillard plays Dr. Leonora Orantes, a World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiologist, who puts her life on the line to save a remote village. It’s a powerful role that Cotillard plays with a brave weariness.
Midnight in Paris
Written and directed by Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris stars Owen Wilson as Gil Pender, a struggling writer who, on a trip to Paris with his fiance, begins traveling back in time to the 1920s every night at midnight, leading him to meet and mingle with some of the city’s biggest names of the time. Besides Wilson, the cast includes Rachel McAdams, Tom Hiddleston, Kathy Bates, Marion Cotillard, Corey Stoll, and Adrien Brody.
Midnight in Parismay be film purgatory as one ofWoody Allen’s notable modern movies, but it’s still a mesmerizingly beautiful and relevant film about nostalgia, romance, and what it means to be an artist, all wrapped in the bright lights of modern and 1920s Paris. Owen Wilson stars as Gil Pender, a disillusioned writer in a sham relationship who’s transported to the 1920s during his vacation to Paris. There he meets Adriana (Marion Cotillard), among a cast of real-life artists from the time. Kind, smart, and encouraging,Cotillard is the perfect guide through the impossible time jump.
From the Land of the Moon
From the Land of the Moon, released in 2016, is set in 1950s France and follows a free-spirited woman who is trapped in an arranged marriage. She finds herself falling in love with an injured veteran of the Indochinese War, leading to a complex romantic entanglement.
InFrom the Land of the Moon, Marion Cotillard stars as Gabrielle, a woman who enters a marriage of convenience at the end of World War II because her betrothed showed her family kindness during the war. After a medical visit, Gabrielle finds herself falling in love with a doctor and must decide whether to build a family for love or for duty.Gabrielle is never treated like an object, she’s neither romanticized nor demonized, she’s a completely human character. Cotillard strengthens a wavering story and helps it overcome some wandering plots.
Pretty Things
Pretty Things, released in 2001, centers on identical twins Lucie and Marie, whose contrasting personalities lead them into a complex situation. When Lucie secures a music contract but cannot sing, Marie steps in unbeknownst to others, sparking unforeseen and perilous consequences in the glamorous world of fashion and music.
Pretty Thingsis a French drama by Gilles Paquet-Brenner, based on the 1998 novelLes Jolies Chosesby Virginie Despentes. The film stars Marion Cotillard in dual roles, as Marie and Lucie, twin sisters with a love-hate relationship. While Marie is quiet and reserved, Lucie is a pin-up model who chases fame in Paris, placing herself into the dangerous world of late-night France. Cotillard was not far into her career when she appeared in this role, and yet she pulls off a stunning and veteran performance as two characters who she makes different but still close enough to credibly be twins.
Nine
Nine, directed by Rob Marshall, is a musical drama inspired by Federico Fellini’s film 8½. The story revolves around Guido Contini, portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis, a renowned Italian film director grappling with a creative block. The film features a star-studded cast including Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, and Nicole Kidman, and explores Guido’s tumultuous relationships with the women in his life as he attempts to find artistic inspiration.
Nineis notable as being one of the few flops that Daniel Day-Lewis has ever been a part of, but that doesn’t mean the film is a failure. Plenty works about the romantic musical drama by Rob Marshall, including Marion Cotillard’s performance as Luisa Acari Contini, who is based on Giulietta Masina, Federico Fellini’s wife. The Federico stand-in, Guido Contini, is played by Day-Lewis. Cotillard earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role, and she is far and away the best part of their film. Whether she’s acting, singing, or sighing, she’s mesmerizing.
It’s Only the End of the World
It’s Only the End of the World is a drama film directed by Xavier Dolan, featuring a terminally ill writer named Louis who returns to his estranged family after a long absence to disclose his impending death. The film explores themes of familial tension and communication amidst the backdrop of Louis’s revelation.
InIt’s Only the End of the World, a playwright named Louis (Gaspard Ulliel) returns to his family home after a 12-year absence to tell them he is suffering from terminal cancer. There, he reunites with his brother, Antoine (Vincent Cassel); his mother, Martine (Nathalie Baye); his younger sister, Suzanne (Léa Seydoux); and Antoine’s wife, Catherine (Marion Cotillard). It’s a tragic and beautiful film, filled with gripping and tense performances, particularly from the suspicious but love-filled Catherine. The whole is less than the sum of the parts, but it’s still a moving film.
