Dominique Sanda
Official Website of french actress Dominique Sanda
Official Website of french actress Dominique Sanda
Role: Nena.
Synopsis: On a winter's day, Nena gathers the family to celebrate her birthday. Everyone is there: her husband Umberto, the children Vito and Caterina with their cousin Isabella, the daughter-in-law Adelina and the ex-son-in-law Manfredi with his new girlfriend Joana, his grand-daughter Alma, the maid Lucia with her daughter Grazia. And then there is Paco, Alma's peacock. While waiting for a lunch that will never arrive, Paco falls in love with a dove painted in a picture. An impossible love that questions the whole family, called to reflect on the truth of their feelings and on the profound sense of what remains and what disappears forever.
Director's notes: There are films that you chase for years and others that suddenly enter in your life and surprise you. The Peacock's paradise is a small journey into the intimacy and authenticity of human beings: a film about an extended family in which everyone talks to each other but no one really listens. Until an unexpected event forces the protagonists to look into each other's eyes and reveal themselves for what they are. And it is as if their life suddenly became ours, in a mirror of feelings that makes us reflect on the complexity of human relationships, on the mystery of loss, on the thousand voices that speak to us from within, on the importance of silence, on our constant search for love.
Selection Orrizzonti 78th Venise International Film Festival.
Role: Maria Muzio, Pertini’s mother.
Synopsis: A biographic and evocative film, it portrays Sandro Pertini as newly elected president of the Italian Republic, going back to the early years of his youth. It addresses his political career and his brave anti-fascist resistance. The story is based on the correspondence with his mother and his girlfriend –compiled in a book with the same title as the film by Professors Stefano Caretti and Mauricio Degl’Innocenti—and deals with Pertini’s prison sentence under extremely harsh conditions.
Press review
“On September 25, on the occasion of the 123rd anniversary of the birth of Sandro Pertini, the presentation ceremony and national premiere of the film The Young Pertini, the Freedom Fighter” was held at the Chapter Hall of the Library of the Senate in Rome. Present at this event were the extraordinary protagonist Gabriele Greco, several team and cast members, including talented Salvatore Misticone, also known as “Scapece”. Female protagonist Dominique Sanda, who gives a brilliant performance as Pertini’s mother, was abroad and was thus unable to aqend.” https://www.annuariodelcinema.it/annuario/news-2/4358-il-giovane-pertinicomba qente-per-la-liberta - 26/9/2019.
Role: Mercedes.
Synopsis: The husband, the father, has recently died. The family home once again becomes the meeting place where the now-adult children gather around their mother, Mercedes (my part), so as not to leave her alone. Throughout her life, Mercedes has managed to achieve a certain kind of inner peace while her children and even her sister-in-law struggle with conflicts which they try to solve in their own way. But the audience learns, through Clara’s –Mercedes’ daughter—inquiries, that the mother’s quiet life is based on a false certainty.
Role: Liliane Cambière.
A merciless class struggle during a Pentecost Sunday. Nicole Garcías’s films do not oVen deal with these themes. One story, three perspectives: those of Baptiste, Sandra and Mathias. The family conflict lingers very closely, threatening to explode as the veneer of sorrow and social conventions finally cracks. Going Away is a moving film, so much so that it marks the return to the big screen of one the greatest French actresses, Dominque Sanda. Even before she appears, supreme and mysterious, you hear her voice on the phone: a simple “¿Allo?” A unique tone of voice that drove Robert Bresson to choose her to play A Gentle Woman (Une femme douce). Forty five years have gone by and “La Sanda” continues to display a powerful charisma. Louise Bourgoin proves her indisputable talent. Pierre Rochefort, torn between two worlds, manages to chart his own course. Resolutely. Gently and convincingly. (Frank Nouchi – “Le Monde” newspaper – Published on February 4, 2014).
Press reviews
“She has lived in Argentina for years. We had to track her down; we contacted her via the Internet. In the film, the mother combines two contradictory data: she is at the same time a wounded woman and a tough person. Dominque’s face expresses both in the same surge of emotion. She already possesses within herself an emotion easily triggered by the theme. I wasn’t expecting her to suddenly burst into tears in that scene, but on second thought, it’s quite natural.” (Nicole García – “Nouvel Obs”, - By PASCAL MERIGEA, published on February 6, 2014.)
“And then the mother of the dynasty, Liliane --the dazzling Dominique Sanda-- appears and the movie’s atmosphere acquires tones reminiscent of Tchèkhov or Bergman.” (JEAN CLAUDE ARROUGHE – www.avoir.alire.com, 4/2/2014).
INTERVIEW TO NICOLE GARCIA, BY ANNE DIAKTINE At the center of the family, Dominique Sanda. We can’t help feeling we are seeing her again in The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, at the gorgeous mansion with its tennis with its tennis courts and swimming pool. ¿What made you contact her aVer such a long absence? Dominque lives far away, on the border between Argentina and Uruguay. Her impressive filmography accompanies her wherever she goes. Dominique had told me that Bresson had chosen her even before meeting her, for her voice over the phone in A Gentle Woman (Une femme douce). In fact, in her role as Liliane, Sanda offers a continuous contrast between her melodic voice and the roughness of her character. She makes an amazing contribution to the film. She gives herself up wholeheartedly to her character’s emotions. I was a frequent witness to this. Her eyes fill with tears in the first scene with her son. Later, she tells Sandra: “One day, I said to myself: he’s dead. Many parents have lost a child, right?” Maybe she was particularly sensitive to that love interrupted by disappearance.
Role: Lucienne Saint Laurent.
Synopsis: 1967 - 1976. As one of history’s greatest fashion designers entered a decade of freedom, neither came out of it in one piece. .
Press review
A “Viscontian creature” appears, the unforgettable Dominique Sanda in the role of Saint Laurent’s mother. (“Assuming Visconti’s Legacy”) – https://www.critique-film.fr/ saint-laurent-beaucoup-pour, 19/5/2104.
Finley Descotes (Natasha Little) trades in antique maps. She meets the map dealer Bernard Ivens (Roland Gift) when she travels to Amsterdam in hopes of acquiring two rare maps that have just come on the market. Bernard takes her to the home of Marta Kadar (Dominique Sanda) to show her a third map he’s about to buy for himself. Findley notices a detail in the map that makes it more valuable than anything else she’s seen, and she wants it for herself. She engages Bernard in a fierce, no holds barred negotiation that draws her beyond the map shop, into a world of political intrigue where everything is up for grabs.
I have often been asked why I had accepted this very brief part, that of a nun who has remained cloistered in her cell for over 20 years and had taken a vow of silence. After such a long time in a dark place, she has even lost her sight. I precisely thought that accepting this role was like a veiled reference to a situation that reflected a sort of contempt I had been feeling for years from the French cinema. Anyway, nobody is a prophet in his own country. (Dominique Sanda, interview in 2000).
If art does not seek truth, not even its likelihood, Marco Bechis' film is not art. And I say so crudely simply because I've heard opinions that share this point of view, such as "it is short of poetry, enchantment, magic, aesthetic refinement", qualities so often found in the best Italian cinema. I answer that in this film Bechis has proved honest as far as he lucidly refused any touch of fantasy (just as old Plato intended when he forbade poets to stay in his utopian Republic). Although in the present case, we should not forget there was not one single formulation that would not relate to already well-known facts. This movie is not about a possible story, but "the story" of what took place during the tragic period that hit Argentina during its last military dictatorship. Garage Olimpo therefore appears as a document, a film only based on real facts and scenes, which are documented in detail according to evidences to be found in voluminous archives of the Federal Justice and those of the general press. It has been my own choice to live in Argentina for several years, once again a free country. I love it deeply for infinite reasons, none of which appear in Bechis' film. But he showed solidarity with the thousands of assassinated individuals who will never be able to repay him. We are alive, we can thank him on their behalf... (Dominique Sanda's speech at the Cinema Lumière during the Festival Internazionale di Litteratura e Cinema of Bologna, before the film projection, 6/28/2006).
How wonderful it is when someone talks about you with so much tenderness, so much clarity once you’ve departed… It is rather uncommon. There is usually a nostalgic side. But thanks to Agnès, Jacques demy is really alive. (Jeanne Moreau, Telerama , october 1995)
Since I have been acting in two of Jacques Demy’s movies, I believe that, in Agnès Varda’s movie about Jacques, her viewpoint shows a great ability to see what is really worth seeing of a man’s great talent. When a person has such a gift - quite rightly considered as « uncommon » by Jeanne Moreau -, this person is a genuine artist. (Dominique Sanda)
The biblical story of the life of Joseph, Jacob's and Rachel's favourite son. Sold by his half-brothers, he was a slave in Egypt and thanks to his loyalty and wisdom, became a counsellor to the pharaoh.
Who knows Gustav Regler? Only a few initiates. This German communist writer, born in 1898, fought with Spanish Republicans. He was confined in the camps of the Vichy regime before he could escape and go to Mexico. Back to Germany for a short period of time, he then escaped to India where he died in1963.
A north-american couple who had attempted to adopt a child for a long time, gets to know through the TV news that in Rumania, after the Ceaucescus' execution, adoption has become possible, so they decide to go to Bucarest. There, a true descent into hell begins. They discover that reality surpasses any imaginable horror: thousands of undernourished children are found in orphanages in a calamitous state of abandonment. As they continue, they realize they are trapped by official bureaucracy interested only in money and thus never delivering the promised authorization. This film, that uses extracts that have been secretly shot by foreign doctors, was based on real facts.
Rosalie de Watterville hears about Albert Savarus during a dinner at her parents' house. This romantic and passionate 19-years old young woman immediately falls in love with the stranger, a mysterious man she has never met, although she can watch him through the window as he lives in the house across the street. An Italian princess (Dominique Sanda) and this man correspond regularly but their love letters are systematically diverted by young jealous Rosalie.
In Munich, the carnival is at its height: Henri le Vert (Thibault de Montalembert), a young swiss art student, watches this exuberance with as much fascination as reserve. In the very middle of the carnival brouhaha, he meets his best friend Lys, a dutch painter (Arnaud Chevrier). Amidst the confusion of the masked paraders, this "bon vivant" artist cheats on his fiancee Agnes with Rosalie who also wants to have a lot of fun during carnival. Henri intends to protect Agnes, who is devastated by her fiance's irresponsible treason. Henri gets so incomprehensibly excited that he challenges his friend to a duel... which must take place at dawn. Before the duel, Henri le Vert has visions of his childhood and youth in Zurich. He mentally relives his father's premature death during a hunting excursion, after which he feels overwhelmed by his mother's melancholy (Dominique Sanda). In his childish innocence, he speaks to his little cousin Anna about love; during one of these conversations at school, she stealthily gives him the first kiss. But due to Anna's health, his uncle (Matias Gnädinger) takes his family to their countryside house. The duel takes place, Henri is mortally wounded by his clearly superior rival. An expression of joy and peace appears on his face: Henri le Vert is finally reunited with Anna in death.
Because he had offered her a rose on their meeting day, Lissy nicknamed him as “Emile des Roses”. Their story is romantic, funny and sad, in bustling Berlin of the 1900's.
Victor (Jean-François Stévenin) is a painter who does not feel like painting any more. He does not feel like doing anything at all. He has lost the taste for life. For some time he has obsessively been painting guns, which he will end up using... against himself. He wants to leave a last message to his ex-wife and children on a dictaphone which is out of battery... Destiny interferes: a woman (Dominique Sanda), who had been held hostage by a young delinquent, is pushed into his car. She is beautiful, with a frenzied taste for living, specially since an incurable cancer is threatening her life, something he'll never get to know. She makes him recapture the taste for life as she lives what may be her last love story.
This is the true story of a woman who lived in Mexico in the XVIIth century, Sister Juana Inès de la Cruz (Assumpta Serna), considered as one the finest poetesses in the Spanish language. To be able to dedicate herself to writing, her devouring passion, Juana finds no other solution than to enter a convent. Thanks to her thirst for knowledge, broad-mindedness and great beauty, she earned the vicequeen’s (Dominique Sanda) protection. But this situation led her to a conflict with the Church and the State, in the times of the Inquisition...
Augusto (Vittorio Gassman) is over sixty when he comes out of the psychiatric hospital to join Carla (Dominique Sanda), his stepdaughter and Rosa, his 9-years old grand-daughter. The child and the old man, who is slightly nuts, love each other with a pure love and friendship, until the day the girl fall in love with her cousin and tells her secret to Grand-father. Then symphonies start playing in Augusto's head again.
Born at the beginning of the 20th century in a traditional family of jewish bankers, Siegmund Warburg, just like his greatest ancestors, starts his career in Germany as a banker and counselor to the Prince. In the middle of Weimar hustle and bustle that ruins his father, he participates in the German tortuous economy as a government's financier. When the sinking economy gives way to the war economy, Hitler's arrival sends him to London, with his name as his only capital. He creates a small finance company and plans the financing for the Allies at war. When Hitler, with his followers, destroys the bank his own family had been constructing for over two centuries, he contributes to smash the financing of the German army. (Jacques Attali).
