Sylvie Testud (born 17 January 1971) is a French actress whose film career began in 1991. She won the César Award for Most Promising Actress for Murderous Maids (2000), the César Award for Best Actress for Fear and Trembling (2003), and the European Film Award for Best Actress for Lourdes (2009). Her other film roles include Beyond Silence (1996), La Vie en Rose (2007), and French Women (2014).
Life and career Testud grew up in the La Croix-Rousse quarter of Lyon, France. This was an area with many Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian immigrants. Her mother immigrated from Italy in the 1960s. Her French father left the family when Sylvie was just two years old.Paris Match No. 2834, September 2003
In 1985, when she was 14, she saw Charlotte Gainsbourg in her role of the complex young girl in L'Effrontée, a film directed by Claude Miller, identified with Gainsbourg, and so took drama classes in Lyon with the actor and director Christian Taponard. In 1989, she moved to Paris and spent three years at the Conservatoire (CNSAD). In the early and mid 1990s, she landed her first small roles in films like L'Histoire du garçon qui voulait qu'on l'embrasse, directed by Philippe Harel, and Love, etc., directed by Marion Vernoux. In 1997 she had great success in Germany with Caroline Link's Jenseits der Stille for which she learned German, sign language, and the clarinet. In 1998 she had her first major role in French cinema playing Béa in Thomas Vincent's Karnaval. In 2000 she starred in Chantal Akerman's La Captive, an adaptation of La Prisonière, the fifth part of Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu. In 2001 she won the César Award for Most Promising Actress for her portrayal of Christine Papin, one of the Papin sisters, in Les Blessures assassines (English title: Murderous Maids). The story concerned a young servant woman found guilty of the murder, with her sister's help, of her employer's wife and daughter; it had made sensational headlines in France in 1933.
In 2003, she published the autobiographical book Il n'y a pas beaucoup d'étoiles ce soir, with anecdotes of her day-to-day life as an actress. The French edition featured a cover designed by her sister Ghislaine.
One of her most noted performances was as the star of the film Stupeur et tremblements, adapted from the novel by Amélie Nothomb, for which she was awarded a César and a Lumière Award for Best Actress in 2004. She plays a woman struggling with the difference in culture between the Japanese business world and the western, Belgian world, from which she comes. In 2005 or 2006 she returned to her native Lyon (to the Théâtre de la Croix Rousse), where she played the rôle of Edith in Philippe Faure's adaptation of Stefan Zweig's La Pitié dangereuse. She starred in 2007's two-time Academy Award-winning film La Vie en rose, as Momone, Edith Piaf's best friend. In the 2008 film Sagan, she portrayed the writer Françoise Sagan, earning unanimous praise for her hauntingly accurate portrayal and for which she was again nominated for the César for best actress.
She was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre national du Mérite in March 2009.
She has a son, Ruben, born on 15 February 2005, and a daughter Esther, born in January 2011 with the same partner, whose name she did not make public.
In 2012, she participated in Rendez-vous en terre inconnue.
Filmography Feature films Year Title Role Director Notes 1993 Couples et amants The young girl John Lvoff 1994 The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed Girl at party offering food Philippe Harel Marie's Song Marie Niko von Glasow 1995 Those Were the Days Sylvie Didier Haudepin1996 Beyond Silence Lara Caroline LinkGerman Film Awards – Best Actress 1997 Esther Markus Imhoof 1998 Sentimental Education Julia C. S. Leigh The Misadventures of Margaret Young Nun Brian Skeet Petit Point & Antoine Laurence Caroline Link Karnaval Béa Thomas Vincent Nomination César Award Most Promising Actress 1999 Annaluise & Anton Laurence Caroline Link In Heaven Valeska Michael Bindlechner 2000 La Captive Ariane Chantal Akerman Sade Renée de Sade Benoît Jacquot Murderous Maids Christine Papin Jean-Pierre Denis César Award-Most Promising Actress La Chambre obscure Azalaïs Marie-Christine Questerbert 2001 The Chateau Isabelle Jesse Peretz Julies Geist Julia Bettina Wilhelm I'm Going Home Ariel Manoel de Oliveira 2002 Everyman's Feast Sophie Fritz Lehner A Moment of Happiness The teacher Antoine Santana Les Femmes... ou les enfants d'abord... Virginie Manuel Poirier Tangos volés Alice/Paula Eduardo de Gregorio A Loving Father Virginia Jacob Berger Vivre me tue Myriam Jean-Pierre Sinapi 2003 Fear and Trembling Amélie Alain Corneau César Awards-Best ActressLumière Awards-Best Actress Sole Sisters Tina Pierre Jolivet Dédales Claude René Manzor 2004 Tomorrow We Move Charlotte Chantal Akerman Tout pour l'oseille Prune Bertrand Van Effenterre Cause toujours ! Léa Jeanne Labrune Victoire Victoire Stéphanie Murat Words in Blue Clara Alain Corneau 2005 It's Our Life! Louise Delhomme Gérard Krawczyk 2006 L'Héritage Patricia Temur Babluani 2007 La Vie en rose Mômone (Simone Berteaut) Olivier Dahan Nomination César Award Best Supporting Actress La France Camille Serge Bozon Ce que mes yeux ont vu Lucie Laurent de Bartillat Nomination Lumière Award for Best Actress2008 Sagan Françoise Sagan Diane Kurys Globes de Cristal Awards- Best Actress Nomination César Award Best Actress Nomination Lumière Award for Best Actress Mange, ceci est mon corps Madame Michelange Quay 2009 L'Idiot Daria Alexeïevna Pierre Léon Je ne dis pas non Adèle Iliana Lolic Lucky Luke Calamity Jane James Huth Vengeance Irène Thompson Johnnie To A Happy Man (Le Bonheur de Pierre) Catherine Martin Robert Ménard Gamines Sibylle Éléonore Faucher Lourdes Christine Jessica Hausner European Film Awards-Best Actress 2010 The Round Up Bella Zygler Roselyne Bosch Mumu Mumu Joël Séria Avant l'aube Sylvie Poncet Raphaël Jacoulot 2011 Rebellion Chantal Legorjus Mathieu Kassovitz 2012 The Scapegoat Bela Charles Sturridge À votre bon cœur, mesdames Lolita Jean-Pierre Mocky Les Mains de Roxana Roxana Orlac Philippe Setbon 2013 Max Nina Stéphanie Murat Une chanson pour ma mère Sylvie Joël Franka For a Woman Anne Diane Kurys Je m'appelle Hmmm... Céline's mother agnès b. 2014 96 hours Marion Reynaud Frédéric Schoendoerffer 24 Days Brigitte Farell Alexandre Arcady French Women Sam Audrey Dana Papa Was Not a Rolling Stone Nadège Sylvie Ohayon Géographie du cœur malchanceux Sophie David AllainAlexandra Billington 2015 Le Talent de mes amis Stéphane Brunge Alex Lutz Au plus près du Soleil Sophie Picard Yves Angelo Deux femmes Elisaveta Bogdanovna Vera Glagoleva 2016 Arrête ton cinéma Sybille Teyssier Diane Kurys The Visitors: Bastille Day Charlotte de Robespierre Jean-Marie Poiré Le Correspondant Eloïse (Malo's mother) Jean-Michel Ben Soussan Tamara Amandine (Tamara's mother) Alexandre Castagnetti 2017 Jour J Clarisse Reem Kherici Final Portrait Annette Arm Stanley Tucci 2018 Suspiria Miss Griffith Luca Guadagnino Comme des rois Val Xabi Molia Tamara Vol. 2 Amandine (Tamara's mother) Alexandre Castagnetti 2021 Flashback Olympe de Gouges Caroline Vigneaux 2025 Where Souls Go (Où vont les âmes?) Mother Brigitte Poupart
Television
Year Title Role Director 1995 Lettre ouverte à Lili Virginie Jean-Luc Trotignon Le Nid tombé de l'oiseau Laurence Alain Schwartzstein2009 L'une chante, l'autre aussi Herself Olivier Nicklaus2010 Louise Michel Louise Michel Sólveig Anspach2011 Le Grand Restaurant A Client Gérard Pullicino2012 Rendez-vous en terre inconnue Herself 2013 Les Déferlantes Louise Éleonore Faucher2014 Ceux qui dansent sur la tête Catherine Magaly Richard-Serrano Fais pas ci, fais pas ça Sylviane Chinsky, the marriage therapist Pascal Chaumeil2017 Maximilian Charlotte de Savoie Andreas Prochaska 2018 Germanized Odile Denis Dercourt
Director Year Title Notes1998 Je veux descendre Short 2012Another Woman's Life
Decorations Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters (2016)
Awards and nominations
Deutscher Filmpreis YearNominated workCategoryResult 1997 Beyond SilenceBest Actress
César Awards YearNominated workCategoryResult 2000 KarnavalMost Promising Actress 2001 Murderous MaidsMost Promising Actress 2004 Fear and TremblingBest Actress 2008 La Vie en roseBest Supporting Actress 2009 SaganBest Actress
Lumière Awards YearNominated workCategoryResult 2004 Fear and TremblingBest Actress 2008 Ce que mes yeux ont vuBest Actress 2009 SaganBest Actress
Globes de Cristal Awards YearNominated workCategoryResult 2009 SaganBest Actress
European Film Awards YearNominated workCategoryResult 2010 LourdesBest Actress
References
External links
Sylvie Testud at Actricesdefrance.org CSOJ – Alain Badiou Sylvie Testud appears on French television's program Ce Soir (En direct, channel 3) in conversation with militant philosopher Alain Badiou. The topic of this episode is "Faut-il réinventer l'amour?". Ms. Testud appears 46:18 minutes into the program and is in conversation with Badiou and the program host for about 24 minutes (no commercials, this show is in French).