ISABELLE HUPPERT: Transformations of a star

In one of the most significant years of her career, in which she plays the lead roles in two French films (Christophe Honoré's Ma Mere and Alexandra Leclere's Les Soeurs Fâchées) and in one of the most arguable American comedies (Ι love Huckabees by David O' Russel), the Thessaloniki Film Festival honors the great actress for the sum of her work in cinema, and will be screening her two latest movies, one of which will be a world wide premiere.

Premiering, is Alexandra Leclère's Les Soeurs Fâchées, a psychological comedy just completed, launching in French theaters in December 22. Isabelle Huppert co-stars with Catherine Frot, accenting her acting skills and playing the villainess in the film. The screening of the movie in the framework of the honorary tribute is Huppert's own selection. The honorary presentation and screening of the movie will take place on Sunday, November 21st at the Olympion Theatre.

Besides Les Soeurs Fâchées, in the framework of the honorary tribute, Christophe Honoré's Ma Mère will be screened, a film that aroused the audience in the Cannes Festival with its provoking theme and Huppert's acting as a mother with an almost incestuous relation with her son.

Honored with the award for best actress for the film Piano Teacher in the Cannes Festival of 2002, Isabelle Huppert has also earned two more awards in the Venice Festival (in 1998 for A Matter of Women, and in 1995 for The Ceremony) and an abundance of other distinctions. Her charming persona and undoubted acting abilities have transformed her into a true star of European cinema, and led her in a series of co-operations with major directors of international cinema, such as the Taviani brothers (Selective Affinities), Michael Cimino (The Gate of the West), Curtis Hanson (Bedroom Window), Andrzej Wajda (The Possessed), and Hal Hartley (Amateur). Her most recent international collaboration, playing as Caterine Vauban in David O' Russel's existential comedy Ι love Huckabees, has excited American critics and is already being considered as a favorite for this year's Oscar awards.

Isabelle Huppert's strength lies in the fact that she gives herself entirely to her roles, while, at the same time, keeping a unnerving distance from them, thus making her acting bewitching and enigmatic.

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