That is Jaderane her little chihuahua (I think that`s how you spell it) who went everywhere with her. She even smuggled him into England when she went to film CulDeSac.
Sadly he died with her in the car crash.
She also had a little poodle called Jupiter. I think this is him.
Sisters of 'Rochefort' - Catherine Deneuve remembers her late sibling and carefree days of 'Young Girls'
From: The Boston Herald | Date: September 30, 1998 | Author: Schaefer, Stephen |
In the '60s, when Catherine Deneuve was beginning to make her mark in such international hits as "Repulsion" and "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," she wasn't alone in thinking her older sister Francoise Dorleac would become the family's biggest star.
And it was an unabashedly joyous occasion when in 1966 the sisters were teamed in "The Young Girls of Rochefort," a wide-screen musical follow-up to "Umbrellas" that reunited composer Michel LeGrand with writer-director Jacques Demy and leading lady Deneuve.
But the joy of the time was soon followed by tragedy. Dorleac was killed in a car crash shortly after "Rochefort" finished filming - and as the dream of sister stars was shattered, a devastated Deneuve withdrew from public life as she continued to work and she never discussed the tragedy.
Until now.
With "Rochefort" restored and rereleased through the efforts of Demy's widow, the filmmaker Agnes Varda, Deneuve has had a chance to once again look at the film and come to terms with the loss from three decades ago. The film opens Friday.
"People who worked with her felt Francoise was very special, like a mixture of Kate Hepburn and Kay Kendall (the late British comedienne)," Deneuve said.
"Rochefort," which hoped to be as bubbly as champagne after the operatic melancholy of "Umbrellas," boasts musical numbers done by Deneuve and Dorleac patterned after Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in "Gentleman Prefer Blondes."
It was filmed on the streets and open squares of Rochefort, a modest French town by the sea. Demy even had the buildings painted in pastels to suit his film's Technicolor tones as a salute to MGM musicals. (The townspeople have never changed the colors.) He also cast Gene Kelly and George Chakiris ("West Side Story").
"I remember the tremendous atmosphere of filming, because we were right in the town," said Deneuve. "There was the incredible heat! And every Saturday night we would each host not a cocktail party but a party, 'Saturday Night Fever.' "
Neither sister was a singer and while Dorleac had danced for 10 years, neither had danced professionally. "She coped better than me because she had the discipline from ballet I didn't have. We went to London to train with a choreographer, and for French actresses to sing and dance was not the kind of habit we had. It was very challenging."
Deneuve, 54, is now a proud grandmother. Her grandson is the child of daughter Chiara (whose father is the late Marcello Mastroianni).
"Last year I did a special for French television on my sister and that helped me see things that I hadn't seen for a long time," Deneuve said. "It was a very painful, silent thing in my family for a very long time, yes. It's something a lot of people go through. In very close families, it is a subject that is never raised. Nobody's going to talk about it because you think nobody understands."
Dorleac, Deneuve's older sister by 18 months, was first to become an actress.
"We were never rivals," Deneuve said, "because we were so different, she was much more the extrovert, the redhead. Like she said in an interview I saw in my research for the TV special, 'We were so complementary in our differences, the two of us together would have made the perfect woman.' "
Deneuve's first appearance on film was in a 1960 French film that had Dorleac as the lead. She suggested to the director I might play her sister, but when I finished this small part I wasn't sure I would continue acting."
In the years after Dorleac's death, Deneuve said she felt guilty about her success.
"That is a point that is very dark and painful," she said. "I was lacking something and it was never the same. I'd say, 'I would have liked to share this with her.' She would have understood. Also, my friends in the film industry, some of them are directors, technicians, but I'm not close with actressess - you have no time and we're not close to each other, to where we live, to have a relationship. But my sister was my sister. Sisters when you get along together, no matter where you are, you always talk to each other. And I will always miss that, yes."
For Deneuve today, watching "The Young Girls of Rochefort" is no longer a melancholy experience. "It's a mixture of everything, but that fact that it's a film and we're there laughing and happy, when you see it, it's like a perfume - something comes back. There is something cheerful about it still.
"You know, it's very strange," Deneuve added, "the people who knew her, they still talk about her."
At last, someone created a thread about Francoise...
I've been a big fan of her for 10 years after seeing 'The Man From Rio' where she is absolutely stunning (but sadly the DVD version is not very good from what I heard).
For anyone interested, Catherine Deneuve has written a book about her called 'Elle s'appelait Francoise' which is the only and most wonderful tribute to her and her short life. I guess you can only get it in France, here's the cover (CREDITS AMAZON.FR)
The book was published after a documentary was shown on TV. Unfortunately it was on a pay channel so I never got a chance to see it and no DVD release has ever been made to my knowledge.
thanks for the interview 60swildchild.. it's a very moving article.. I didnt even know catherine was the younger one.. she always looks more protective in the photos with françoise.
Karina and Lucy ... I just moved your posts about crediting sources here, to the Member Support Forum and answered your questions there ... and I'll ask a mod to take some time to review this thread for proper credits.
Thanks Betty. It was my fault and I felt so embarrased . But now, I know the posting rules very well and I always put the credits of the photos. Excuse me again, Karina and Betty.
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