# Valérie Donzelli

Valérie Donzelli (born 2 March 1973) is a French actress, filmmaker and screenwriter. She has directed six feature films and two short films since 2008, including the film Declaration of War (2011).

## Early life

Valérie Donzelli was born in Épinal (France). She grew up in Créteil, near Paris. She moved to Lille with her family when she was 14 years old before going back to Paris at the age of 19. Before starting to work in the cinema, Donzelli first studied architecture, but abandoned it quickly. She started playing theatre at the municipal conservatory of the 10th arrondissement of Paris, but always kept a bad memory of this period. For a living, she worked at a bakery in Paris. She met Jérémie Elkaïm at that time, who became her partner, both in life and at work, and who encouraged her to quit the conservatory and her job at the bakery to become an actress. They now have two kids; the oldest one, Gabriel, inspired the movie Declaration of War. They are now separated, but still have a close relationship.

## Career

In 2001, Valérie Donzelli was the leading actress in Martha Martha, by Sandrine Veysset, which was presented at Directors' Fortnight, Le Plus Beau Jour de ma vie, and also Entre ses mains. She achieved great success among French public thanks to the French TV show Clara Sheller (2005), in which she plays Jeanne, best friend of the main character. Donzelli's first film, The Queen of Hearts (La Reine des Pommes), in which she was the leading actress, was more successful than expected. Jérémie Elkaïm is also co-writer. The film was presented at Locarno International Film Festival. Despite its low budget, the film can be considered a success because of its 30,000 spectators.
In 2011, with the help of her now ex-partner Jérémie Elkaïm, Valérie Donzelli directed her second full-length feature film, Declaration of War. This movie, presented during the 2011 Cannes Festival, achieved great success, both with the public and critics, in France. It is directly inspired by their private life, relating how their couple fought against their son's cancer when he was 18 months. As Tim Palmer notes, "Declaration of War serves as an emblematic, even quintessential, contemporary French production: a barometer to gauge film industry standards and prevailing French cultural taste, a standard-bearer of ostensibly progressive materials, an ambassador text for French screen values." The movie was selected for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012, but was not part of the final list.
Donzelli directed once again Jérémie Elkaïm in Hand in Hand (2012), with also Valérie Lemercier in the leading role.
Donzelli considers that this is always a politic and engaged gesture to make films as women, and admires Agnès Varda for her work and her status of first women filmmaker into French Cinema.
Valérie Donzelli is part of the jury during Locarno International Film Festival in 2013. She presents Que d'Amour!, a TV adaptation from the play The Game of Love and Chance (Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard), by Marivaux, with Comédie-Française' sociétaires.
Her 2015 film Marguerite & Julien was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. She was named as the president of the jury of the Critics' Week section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

## Filmography
### Actress
#### Features

| Year | Title | Role | Director |
| 2001 | Martha Martha | Martha | Sandrine Veysset |
| 2001 | Les Âmes câlines | Émilie | Thomas Bardinet |
| 2003 | Who Killed Bambi? | Nathalie | Gilles Marchand |
| 2003 | That Woman | Claire Atken | Guillaume Nicloux |
| 2005 | Le Plus Beau Jour de ma vie | Éléonore | Julie Lipinski |
| 2005 | Mystification ou l'histoire des portraits | Emilie | Sandrine Rinaldi |
| 2005 | Voici venu le temps | Soniéra Noubi-Datch | Alain Guiraudie |
| 2005 | Entre ses mains | Valérie | Anne Fontaine |
| 2006 | The Untouchable | theatre actress | Benoît Jacquot |
| 2006 | L'Homme qui rêvait d'un enfant | Suzanne | Delphine Gleize |
| 2007 | 7 ans | Maïté | Jean-Pascal Hattu |
| 2009 | The Queen of Hearts | Adèle | Valérie Donzelli |
| 2010 | Ivory Tower | Baker | Adam Traynor |
| 2011 | Declaration of War | Juliette | Valérie Donzelli |
| 2011 | Belleville Tokyo | Marie Tourelle | Élise Girard |
| 2011 | Iris in Bloom | Monika | Valérie Mréjen and Bertrand Schefer |
| 2011 | Pourquoi tu pleures? | Anna | Katia Lewkowicz |
| 2011 | L'Art de séduire | Estelle | Guy Mazarguil |
| 2012 | Hand in Hand | Véro | Valérie Donzelli |
| 2013 | Opium | Valentine Hugo | Arielle Dombasle |
| 2013 | The Big Bad Wolf | Nathalie Delcroix | Nicolas Charlet and Bruno Lavaine |
| 2013 | Les Grandes Ondes (à l'ouest) | Julie | Lionel Baier |
| 2014 | Saint Laurent | Renée | Bertrand Bonello |
| 2015 | The White Knights | Françoise Dubois | Joachim Lafosse |
| 2015 | Orage | Louise | Fabrice Camoin |
| 2019 | Mais vous êtes fous | Maître Mangin | Audrey Diwan |
| 2019 | Notre dame | Maud Crayon | Valérie Donzelli |
| 2020 | Trop d'amour | La réalisatrice dans le rêve | Frankie Wallach |
| 2021 | On est fait pour s'entendre | Léna | Pascal Elbé |
| 2021 | Madeleine Collins | Madeleine Reynal | Antoine Barraud |
| 2022 | Azuro | Sara | Matthieu Rozé |

#### Short films

| Year | Title | Role | Director |
| 1998 | Herbert C. Berliner | | Marc Gibaja |
| 1999 | Le Spectateur | Cynthia | Marc Gibaja |
| 2000 | Demoiselle | Adèle | Valérie Donzelli |
| 2001 | Confessions dans un bain | Sophie | Marc Gibaja |
| 2001 | Le Chien, le chat et le cibachrome | La candidate peintre | Didier Blasco |
| 2003 | Ni vue, ni connue | Alice | Dorothée Sebbagh |
| 2003 | Le Lion volatil | La cliente en pleurs | Agnès Varda |
| 2004 | Frédérique amoureuse | Frédérique | Pierre Lacan |
| 2004 | Le Nécrophile | La prostituée | Philippe Barassat |
| 2005 | On est mort un million de fois | Valentine | Dorothée Sebbagh |
| 2006 | Odile... | Odile | Bénédicte Delgéhier |
| 2007 | Abattoir | Judith | Didier Blasco |
| 2007 | Il fait beau dans la plus belle ville du monde | Adèle | Valérie Donzelli |
| 2008 | C'est pour quand? | La jeune fille | Katia Lewkowicz |
| 2009 | Juliette | Juliette | Sylvie Ballyot |
| 2010 | Madeleine et le facteur | Madeleine | Valérie Donzelli |
| 2010 | Manu | Julie | Jérémie Elkaïm |
| 2012 | Révolution | Nadia Jandeau | |
| 2017 | Quand la ville dort | La prof (voice) | Simon Helloco |

#### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1999 | Dossier: disparus épisode Amanda | Amanda/Muriel | Frédéric Demont et Philippe Lefebvre | |
| 1999 | Les Terres froides | Isabelle | Sébastien Lifshitz | |
| 2002 | Sous mes yeux | Alison | Virginie Wagon | |
| 2003 | Motus | La stagiaire d'Antoine | Laurence Ferreira Barbosa | |
| 2005 | Le Cocon, débuts à l'hôpital | Nathalie | Pascale Dallet | |
| 2005 | Clara Sheller | Jeanne | Renaud Bertrand | |
| 2006 | Mentir un peu | Blandine | Agnès Obadia | |
| 2006 | Passés troubles | Sophie Valatier | Serge Meynard | |
| 2007 | Les Camarades | Julie | François Luciani | Miniseries |
| 2008 | Sa raison d'être | Nathalie | Renaud Bertrand | |
| 2008 | Mafiosa, le clan Saison 2 | L'avocate | Eric Rochant | |
| 2009 | La Belle vie by Virginie Wagon | Béa | | |
| 2018 | Nox | Emma Delage | Mabrouk El Mechri | |
| 2021 | Nona et ses filles | George | Valérie Donzelli | 9 episodes |

### Filmmaker
#### Feature films

| Year | Title | Director | Screenwriter |
| 2009 | The Queen of Hearts | Yes | Yes |
| 2011 | Declaration of War | Yes | Yes |
| 2012 | Hand in Hand | Yes | Yes |
| 2015 | Marguerite & Julien | Yes | Yes |
| 2019 | Notre Dame | Yes | Yes |
| 2023 | Just the Two of Us | Yes | Yes |

#### Short films

| Year | Title | Director | Screenwriter | Notes |
| 2000 | Demoiselle | Yes | Yes | |
| 2007 | Il fait beau dans la plus belle ville du monde | Yes | Yes | |
| 2010 | Madeleine et le facteur | Yes | Yes | |
| 2012 | La Vie parisienne | No | Yes | Original idea |
| 2018 | Le cinéma de maman | Yes | Yes | |

#### Television

| Year | Title | Director | Screenwriter | Notes |
| 2013 | Que d'amour! | Yes | Yes | TV movie Adaptation from The Game of Love and Chance, by Marivaux |
| 2021 | Nona et ses filles | Yes | Yes | 9 episodes |

## Awards and nominations

* 2010: Public Prize at the Angers European First Film Festival for The Queen of Hearts
* 2011: Valois d’Or at Festival du film francophone d’Angoulême for Declaration of War
* 2012: Grand Prix at Cabourg Film Festival for Declaration of War
* 2012: Jury Prize, Public Prize, and Bloggers Prix at the Festival Paris Cinéma for Declaration of War
* 2012: Étoile d'or du meilleur scénario for Declaration of War
* Nomination for Best film for Declaration of War, Cesar Awards 2012
* Nomination for Best Director for Declaration of War, Cesar Awards 2012
* Nomination for Best Actress for Declaration of War, Cesar Awards 2012
* Nomination for Best Original Writing for Declaration of War, Cesar Awards 2012