Dawn French is a generous character comedian, willing to look foolish and capable of writing the joke herself. We value her partnership with Jennifer Saunders highly; supporting parts can leave her with too little to do.
Fi1m perspective
Dawn French puts her own physical presence into the joke, particularly in the film and television parodies she performs with Jennifer Saunders. She is willing to look ridiculous, and the self-mockery helps keep the comedy from feeling superior to its targets. We rate her most highly when that willingness is backed by character writing, rather than a part which merely asks her to be eccentric. Her work with Saunders lets her help decide what the joke is.
In French and Saunders (1987), she is co-writer as well as co-star, with the sketch format giving her a succession of characters to play. The solo work takes two different directions: darker comic roles in Murder Most Horrid (1991), then Geraldine Granger in The Vicar of Dibley (1994), written for her by Richard Curtis. That sitcom gives her the sustained central role that a supporting appearance cannot. The danger in that gentler sitcom is blandness, however welcome the company.
French is credited with the original idea for Absolutely Fabulous (1992), and later contributed scripts and occasional appearances as Kathy. It is an important part of her work as a writer, though the performances we chiefly value belong to Saunders and Joanna Lumley. They make selfish, exhausting people funny enough to spend half an hour with. Celebrity appearances sometimes interrupt the better jokes, but the regular cast keeps the programme worth returning to. We recommend it for those performances, rather than as a guide to French's acting.
The smaller acting part in Henry Selick's Coraline (2009) is more revealing about what can get in her way. We enjoyed hearing French's Miss Forcible alongside Saunders's Miss Spink, but their scenes can feel busy beside the direct appeal of the child's predicament. Selick does not give these supporting characters enough to do. It is a limited weakness in a frightening, carefully made film we warmly recommend. For French's writing as well as her performing, start with French and Saunders.
Biography
Dawn French is a British actress, comedian and writer. Born in Holyhead, Wales, she trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, where she met Jennifer Saunders.
She is best known for creating and starring in the BBC sketch series French and Saunders (1987–2007) with Saunders, and for playing Geraldine Granger in the sitcom The Vicar of Dibley (1994–2007). She created Absolutely Fabulous and appeared in it as Kathy. French has been nominated for seven BAFTA TV Awards and received a BAFTA Fellowship with Saunders in 2009.
Her film roles include the Fat Lady in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Mrs Beaver in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), and Miss Miriam Forcible in Coraline (2009). She later appeared in Death on the Nile (2022).
