Belgian actress Emilie Dequenne, known for her breakout role in Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Palme d’Or winning Rosetta, has died aged 43.
Her agent announced that she had died of a rare cancer at a hospital just outside of Paris on Sunday evening.
Dequenne, who starred in more than 50 films during her long career, won the best actress prize in Cannes for Rosetta in 1999 and has been nominated for five Cesar awards, including a win in 2021 for Emmanuel Mouret’s Love Affair(s).
She balanced commercial films with more auteur fare and worked with acclaimed filmmakers including Claude Berri, Catherine Corsini, Philippe Lioret, Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe, Éric Rochant and André Téchiné.
Notable credits include Christophe Gans’ The Brotherhood of the Wolf, Joachim Lafosse’s Our Children, and Mary McGuckian’s English-language The Bridge of San Luis Rey with Gabriel Byrne, Robert de Niro and Cathy Bates.
Recent films include Lukas Dhont’s Cannes competition title Close, Gilles Legardinier’s Mr Blake At Your Service! Opposite John Malkovich and Fanny Ardant, and Frederic Jardin’s French thriller Survive.
Dequenne first disclosed her illness in October of 2023 and was in Cannes last May walking the red carpet to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Rosetta and promote Survive.
There has been an outpouring of tribute to Dequenne from the French film industry. Actor-director Alex Lutz cited her “talent and kindness”, actress Leila Bekhti called her “a great lady, a great soul, a great actress, a queen,” actress-producer Elsa Zylberstein described Dequenne as “a queen, a wonder, a very generous person, a precious friend, a rare soul and so kind.”
French minister of culture Rachida Dati wrote on social media: “Her moving performances in powerful roles left a lasting impression on us all. French cinema has lost, too soon, a talented actress who still had so much to offer.”
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