Ludivine Sagnier (born 3 July 1979) is a French actress, known to international audiences for the films Swimming Pool and Peter Pan (both 2003), and the Netflix series Lupin (2021–present). She has also appeared in the English-language series The Young Pope (2016) and The Serpent Queen (2022–2024).
Sagnier has been nominated for the César Award for Best Supporting Actress three times, for her performances in 8 Women (2002), Swimming Pool (2003), and A Secret (2007).
Early life Sagnier was born on 3 July 1979 in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, in the département of Yvelines, France, and grew up in Sèvres. Her mother is a retired secretary and her father is a professor of English at the University of Paris. She has one sister, Delphine. As a child, Sagnier underwent abdominal surgery to remove a benign tumor from her intestine, resulting in a surgical scar on her abdomen. Following this surgery, she also fell ill with meningitis, from which she recovered.
Sagnier studied piano at a young age but disliked performing music, and instead opted to take acting classes with her parents' permission. Commenting on this, she said: "My only desire was to escape classical music. In my family, everyone is a musician. I took piano lessons and I hated this instrument. To escape it and music theory, I asked to take acting classes. It was during one of them that I was noticed for a casting. And I was accepted. It then took me years to understand that this was the profession I wanted to pursue."
Career
1989–2003 She made her film debut at the age of nine in Les Maris, les Femmes, les Amants (1989), directed by Pascal Thomas, and had other minor roles in the early 1990s, including an appearance in Cyrano de Bergerac with Gerard Depardieu.
Sagnier's career began in earnest in adulthood, as she gained commercial and critical success for her performances in three films directed by François Ozon: Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000), 8 Women (2002), and Swimming Pool (2003). 8 Women was awarded acting prizes for Sagnier and her seven co-stars collectively.
In Swimming Pool, a psychological thriller, she starred alongside Charlotte Rampling. Sagnier received significant international media attention for performing several nude scenes in the film, having previously also done so in Water Drops on Burning Rocks; she would later express disappointment that this led directors in the United States to attempt to typecast her in sexually explicit roles. Nonetheless her work in Swimming Pool earned her several accolades, including a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the César Awards. Also in 2003, Sagnier played Tinker Bell in P.J. Hogan's live-action adaptation of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Initially, she had been brought in to provide inspiration to the film's visual effects department for a CGI model that was being created for the character, but she impressed the production team with her performance and was cast in the role.
2004–2020
Despite being primed for a lucrative international career in the wake of Swimming Pool and Peter Pan, Sagnier chose to focus primarily on French cinema, stating that she felt uncomfortable with the competitive nature of the Hollywood film industry. She subsequently appeared in French films including Love Songs (2007), A Secret (2007), which garnered her another César nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and Mesrine (2008). 2011 saw her return to international work with a role in the biographical drama The Devil's Double. In 2016, she appeared alongside Jude Law in the Paolo Sorrentino-directed miniseries The Young Pope, later reprising her role in the follow-up series The New Pope (2020).
2021–present Since 2021 Sagnier has starred in the Netflix-produced crime thriller series Lupin as Claire Laurent, the estranged wife of protagonist Assane Diop (Omar Sy) and the mother to their son Raoul, whom she is raising alone. Loosely based on the Arsène Lupin stories written by Maurice Leblanc, the show became an international hit, and has been regarded as one of Netflix' most successful series in a language other than English. Sagnier's performance as Claire has received praise from critics, with Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times writing that "like Sy, [she] brings a lot of soul to her part ... and the two actors have great chemistry."
Following the success of Lupin, Sagnier was cast in several English-language historical dramas. In the STARZ series The Serpent Queen (2022–2024), about the life and rise to power of Catherine de' Medici, she portrayed Catherine's rival Diane de Poitiers. Sagnier said that she was drawn to the role of Diane because she was interested in playing an antagonist, something she had seldom done in her career prior to then. She also made an appearance as Thérésa Tallien in Ridley Scott's biopic Napoleon (2023), though her performance was cut from the theatrical version of the film, and played composer Anne Louise Brillon de Jouy in the Apple TV+ miniseries Franklin (2024), about Benjamin Franklin's expedition to France during the time of the American Revolutionary War.
In 2024, Sagnier featured in the film adaptation of Nicolas Mathieu's novel And Their Children After Them, and reunited with François Ozon after a two-decade hiatus in their creative relationship for When Fall Is Coming. That same year she was nominated for a Molière Award for her performance in Le Consentement, a one-woman play based on the memoir of the same name by Vanessa Springora.
Personal life Sagnier gave birth to a daughter in 2005, with her then boyfriend, actor Nicolas Duvauchelle. She is in a relationship with her partner, director Kim Chapiron, with whom she has two daughters.
In a 2019 podcast interview with journalist Frédéric Taddeï, Sagnier stated that the politician she admired most was left-wing former Minister of Justice of France Christiane Taubira. In 2024, she was one of 230 artists who signed a petition calling on president Emmanuel Macron to officially recognize the state of Palestine.
Since 2020, Sagnier has developed and taught an acting course at the École Kourtrajmé. The school, founded in 2018 by director Ladj Ly in his native Montfermeil, provides training to students from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds who are interested in pursuing careers in the dramatic arts and the film industry.
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Director Notes1989 Les Maris, les Femmes, les Amants Élodie Pascal Thomas I Want to Go Home La petite fille de la place du village Alain Resnais1990 Le pont du silence La petite fille Martine Bureau short film Cyrano de Bergerac The little sister Jean-Paul Rappeneau1999 Mon frère Sophie Matthias Fégyvères short film Le ciel, les oiseaux,... et ta mère! dance girl #1 Djamel Bensalah Rembrandt Cornelia van Rijn Charles Matton Children of the Century Hermine de Musset Diane Kurys Acide animé Anna Guillaume Bréaud short film2000 Water Drops on Burning Rocks Anna François Ozon Bon plan Clémentine Jérôme Lévy2001 Un jeu d'enfants Daphnée Laurent Tuel My Wife Is an Actress Géraldine Yvan Attal2002 8 Women Catherine François Ozon Les frères Hélias Victoire Frédy Busso short film2003 Petites coupures Nathalie Pascal Bonitzer La légende de Parva Lula Jean Cubaud voice role Swimming Pool Julie François Ozon La Petite Lili Lili Claude Miller Peter Pan Tinker Bell P. J. Hogan2005 Une aventure Gabrielle Xavier Giannoli Foon La reine du bal de l'an dernier Les Quiches2006 Paris, je t'aime Claire Alfonso Cuarón segment: "Parc Monceau" French California Helène Jacques Fieschi Toothache Anna Ian Simpson Coup de sang La serveuse Jean Marbœuf2007 Molière Célimène Laurent Tirard Love Songs Julie Pommeraye Christophe Honoré A Girl Cut in Two Gabrielle Aurore Deneige Claude Chabrol A Secret Hannah Golda Stirn/Grinberg Claude Miller 2008 Mesrine Sylvia Jeanjacquot Jean-François Richet2010 Lily Sometimes Lily Dreyer Fabienne Berthaud Love Crime Isabelle Guérin Alain Corneau2011 The Devil's Double Sarrab Lee Tamahori Beloved young Madeleine Christophe Honoré A Monster in Paris Maud Bibo Bergeron voice role 2013 Love Is in the Air Julie Alexandre Castagnetti2014 Lou! Journal infime the mother Julien Neel Tristesse Club Chloé Vincent Mariette 2015 Through the Air Delphine Cavelle Fred Grivois2018 Lola & Her Brothers Lola Esnard Jean-Paul Rouve Rémi sans famille Madame Barberin Antoine Blossier 2019 Fourmi Chloé Julien Rappeneau Un monde plus grand Louise Fabienne Berthaud The Truth Anna Hirokazu Kore-eda La Forêt de mon père Carole Vero Cratzborn 2021 Les Méchants Virginie Arioule Mouloud Achour, Dominique Baumard The Hive Alice Christophe Hermans Adieu Paris Michael's daughter Édouard Baer2023 Napoleon Theresa Cabarrus Ridley Scott director's cut only 2024 And Their Children After Them Hélène Casati Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma When Fall Is Coming Valérie Tessier François Ozon Her fourth film with Ozon2025 Mika ex Machina herself Deborah Saïag, Mika Tard Après Kirill Serebrennikov
Television Year Title Role Notes1992 La famille Fontaine Anne-Sophie Vacances au purgatoire Sophie TV movie 1996 Le secret d'Iris Mylène TV movie1998 Meurtres sans risque Virginie Gallais TV movie À nous deux la vie Charlotte TV movie Passion interdite Estelle TV movie 1999 Mission protection rapprochée Melinda Moores2000 La banquise Anna Kowalski TV movie Des monstres a l'état pur Ginnie TV short2002 Marie Marmaille Marie TV movie Napoléon Hortense de Beauharnais miniseries Navarro Vanessa Berger 2016 The Young PopeEsther Aubry miniseries2020 The New Pope miniseries2021–present Lupin Claire Laurent Netflix series 2022–2024The Serpent Queen Diane de Poitiers Starz series 2024 Franklin Anne Louise Brillon de Jouy Apple TV+ miniseries
Theatre Year Title Role Author Director Notes 2022; 2024 Le Consentement multiple Vanessa Springora Sébastien Davis
Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Work Result 1999 Acteurs à l'Écran awards Best actress Acide animé 2002 Berlin International Film Festival Outstanding artistic achievement (shared with ensemble cast) 8 Women European Film Awards Best Actress (shared with ensemble cast) Trophée Chopard 2003 Prix Romy Schneider César Awards Most Promising Actress 8 Women Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Best Supporting Actress Swimming Pool Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actress Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actress European Film Awards Best Actress Hugo Awards Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress Little Lili 2004 César Awards Best Supporting Actress Swimming Pool Chlotrudis Awards Best Supporting Actress Visual Effects Society Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male or Female Actor in an Effects Film Peter Pan 2008 Globes de Cristal Awards Best Actress Love Songs César Awards Best Supporting Actress A Secret Lumière Awards Best Actress A Girl Cut in Two 2022 Kinéo Awards Best Actress Lupin 2024 Molière Awards Best solo show Le Consentement
References
External links