---
name: "Denis Lavant"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/denis-lavant"
fi1m_id: "denis-lavant"
imdb_id: "nm0491777"
tmdb_id: 27978
wikidata_id: "Q1187498"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "17 June 1961"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 85
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-26T20:30:04.603587+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Denis Lavant

## Identity

Denis Lavant

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/denis-lavant
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** denis-lavant
- **IMDb ID:** nm0491777
- **TMDB ID:** 27978
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1187498
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Lavant, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1187498, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0491777/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/27978

Actor. Born 17 June 1961 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 17 June 1961, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France
- **Active:** 2000–2012
- **Also known as:** Дени Лаван, 드니 라방
- **Average Fi1m score:** 85, as actor, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 86 (1), 2010s 84 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Lavant, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1187498, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0491777/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/27978

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Beau Travail*](https://film.one/film/beau-travail.md) (86)
- **Pluto TV:** [*Holy Motors*](https://film.one/film/holy-motors.md) (84)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Denis Lavant

> Denis Lavant makes changing character look like hard physical work, and the effort is part of the pleasure. We find him funny and unexpectedly moving when he lets the strain of performing show.

In *Holy Motors* (2012), we keep looking at Denis Lavant's posture as he moves between playing a banker, a beggar and a father. Each asks something different of his body, and he makes the exertion visible without making the characters seem like demonstrations of the same trick. We felt worn out for him, because even the comedy carries the effort of becoming somebody else again. That fatigue is familiar: having another role to fulfil when we would prefer to stop for the day.

Lavant's breakthrough came as Alex in Leos Carax's *Boy Meets Girl* (1984). The partnership continued with *Mauvais Sang* (1986) and *The Lovers on the Bridge* (1991), in both of which he played Alex. He also worked with Claire Denis, playing Galoup in *Beau Travail* (1999), another role notable for dance and physical expression. With *Holy Motors*, Carax made the business of changing roles central, giving Lavant a new physical task in each episode.

Caroline Champetier and Yves Cape's cinematography lets us read the labour in his posture and the way he occupies the frame. Florian Sanson's production design gives the roles distinct surroundings, so Lavant is not left to establish each new character on his own. Those places have enough presence for leaving them to feel like a disruption. The film is funniest and saddest when it allows us to notice how much the next change asks of him.

Carax's fascination with him does have a cost. Some episodes linger, while Édith Scob, Eva Mendes and Kylie Minogue get less freedom to change and less room to express the sadness of performing. Lavant remains absorbing, but the writing makes it harder to care about the people he encounters beyond their effect on him. Start with *Holy Motors*, allowing for a few stretches when Carax is slower to move on than we are.

## Biography

Denis Lavant is a French actor. He was born on 17 June 1961 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He trained in pantomime and circus skills and studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Jacques Lassalle before beginning his professional career in theatre in 1982.

Lavant made his film breakthrough in 1984 as Alex in Leos Carax's *Boy Meets Girl*. He has collaborated repeatedly with Carax, appearing in *Mauvais Sang* (1986), *Les Amants du Pont-Neuf* (1991) and *Holy Motors* (2012), in which he plays multiple roles including Mr. Oscar. He has also appeared in Claire Denis's *Beau Travail* (1999) as Galoup and Harmony Korine's *Mister Lonely* (2007).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, francetoday.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Holy Motors* (2012), Fi1m 84, as Mr. Oscar / Banker / Beggar / Father / Accordionist / Killer — [page](https://film.one/film/holy-motors.md)
- *Beau Travail* (2000), Fi1m 86, as Galoup — [page](https://film.one/film/beau-travail.md)

## Complete filmography (134)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Erratics* (2026), as Lucien Le Saint
- *Inquisitions* (2026), as L'inquisiteur
- *In All My Journeys I Am Returning* (2026), Actor
- *The End* (2026), as (voice)
- *Redoubt* (2026), as Karl-Göran Persson
- *In the Land of Arto* (2025), as Rob
- *L’OSSERVATORE DELL’EST* (2025), Actor
- *The Stranger* (2025), as Salamano
- *Sibyl* (2025), as (Archive footage)
- *Hyacinthe* (2025), as Reda
- *Bacon-Freud, face à face* (2025), as Voix-off
- *Demons to Diamonds* (2025), as The prisoner
- *Hotel Fantasma* (2025), Actor
- *In the Name of Blood* (2025), as Jacques
- *Fracas* (2024), Writer
- *Two Night Owls in Paris* (2024), as Le bouquiniste
- *It's Not Me* (2024), as Monsieur Merde
- *The Boy Who Owns the World* (2024), as Kasimir
- *Petit Papa Noël va mourir aujourd'hui* (2023), Actor
- *Thunder Voice* (2023), as Prophet
- *Body of Crime* (2023), Actor
- *Hood Witch* (2023), as Jules
- *Poisson rouge* (2023), as Père de Guillaume
- *Miserable Miracle* (2023), as Narrator (French)
- *The Green Eyes* (2023), Actor
- *Human Flowers of Flesh* (2023), as Galoup
- *All Effort of Men* (2022), as Narrator (voice)
- *Aymeline* (2022), as Franco Fontane
- *X14* (2022), Actor
- *Le discours* (2022), as Le politicien
- *South Sentinel* (2022), as Commandant de Royer
- *Tralala* (2021), as Climby
- *The Nipple Whisperer* (2021), as Maurice Sanders
- *Night of the Kings* (2021), as Silence
- *Silver Skates* (2020), as Fourier
- *Gagarine* (2020), as Gérard
- *The Blue Star* (2020), as Le Narrateur
- *The Escapade* (2019), as Jacques
- *Figurant* (2019), Actor
- *Who the Fuck Are You* (2019), as Psychiatrist
- *Vous êtes jeunes, vous êtes beaux* (2019), as Monsieur Loyal
- *Girls with Balls* (2019), as Barman
- *The Mountain* (2019), as Jack
- *The Traveller* (2019), series, as Alberto
- *Silent Streams* (2019), Actor
- *The Bra* (2019), as Kamal
- *The Emperor of Paris* (2018), as Maillard
- *Scaramouche Scaramouche* (2018), as Scaramouche
- *One Nation, One King* (2018), as Marat
- *Fan Club* (2018), as Damien
- *Cornelius, the Howling Miller* (2018), as Doctor de Chomo
- *3 Days in Quiberon* (2018), as Fisherman Poet
- *The Night Eats the World* (2018), as Alfred
- *My Intelligent Comedy* (2018), as Allen
- *Kazarken: As We Dig* (2016), as Chiron, le centaure
- *Midnight Sun* (2016), series, as Pierre Carnot
- *Louis-Ferdinand Céline* (2016), as Louis-Ferdinand Céline
- *Boris Without Beatrice* (2016), as L'Inconnu
- *History's Future* (2016), as Lottery Ticket Seller
- *21 Nights with Pattie* (2015), as André
- *Eva Doesn't Sleep* (2015), as Koenig
- *Me and Kaminski* (2015), as Karl-Ludwig
- *Graziella* (2015), as Antoine
- *Austerlitz* (2015), as Jacques Austerlitz
- *Dark Forests* (2015), as Voice
- *Pitchipoï* (2015), as Pierre Schulmann
- *Le mystère des jonquilles* (2014), as Sam
- *The Iron Ivan* (2014), as Eugene de Paris
- *Journey to the West* (2014), as Dragon
- *Ogaden* (2014), Actor
- *Jiminy* (2013), as Otto Hoffmann
- *Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas* (2013), as The Theologist
- *Les Grandes Marées* (2013), as Marc
- *Marussia* (2013), as Clochard
- *Tired of Being Handsome* (2013), Actor
- *Marcel Dassault, l'homme au pardessus* (2013), as Marcel Dassault
- *Morning Star* (2012), as Elliot
- *Holy Motors* (2012), as Mr. Oscar / Banker / Beggar / Father / Accordionist / Killer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/holy-motors.md)
- *Eye of the Astronomer* (2012), as Jean Kepler
- *Hop-o'-My-Thumb* (2011), as The ogre
- *My Little Princess* (2011), as Ernst
- *Hitler in Hollywood* (2011), as Denis Lavant
- *Atlantika* (2011), Actor
- *Je, François Villon, voleur, assassin, poète* (2010), as Bezon
- *The Temptation of St. Tony* (2009), as Count Korzybski
- *Hymn to Merde* (2009), as Merde
- *The Lonely* (2009), Actor
- *Les Williams* (2009), Actor
- *Les Cowboys n'ont pas peur de mourir* (2009), as (voice)
- *The Little Murders of Agatha Christie* (2009), series, as André Custe
- *Tokyo!* (2008), as Merde' (segment "Merde")
- *Captain Ahab* (2008), as Capitaine Achab
- *Mister Lonely* (2008), as Charlie Chaplin
- *Happy New Year London* (2007), as Gerrard Ames
- *Wild Camp* (2005), as Blaise
- *Language Does Not Lie* (2004), as Narrator (voice)
- *A Very Long Engagement* (2004), as Six-Soux
- *Luminal* (2004), as Ryu
- *Correspondances: Dostoïevski* (2003), as reader
- *La merveilleuse odyssée de l'idiot Toboggan* (2002), as (voice)
- *Married/Unmarried* (2001), as Love
- *Şoför* (2001), as The Driver
- *La Squale* (2000), as Le joker
- *Deep in the Woods* (2000), as Stephane
- *Beau Travail* (2000), as Galoup — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/beau-travail.md)
- *Tuvalu* (1999), as Anton
- *Melody for a Hustler* (1998), as L'auto-stoppeur
- *Le monde à l'envers* (1998), as Yann Kerebel
- *Don Juan* (1998), as Pierrot
- *Wild Animals* (1997), as Emil
- *Visiblement je vous aime* (1995), as Denis
- *The Chess Game* (1994), as Max
- *De force avec d'autres* (1993), as Denis
- *The Lovers on the Bridge* (1991), as Alex
- *Mona and I* (1990), as Pierre
- *Once Around the Park* (1989), as Berville
- *Mauvais Sang* (1986), as Alex
- *Going and Coming Back* (1985), as Simon Lerner's patient
- *Boy Meets Girl* (1984), as Alex
- *Long Live Life* (1984), as Caviar delivery man
- *After Midnight* (1983), as (voice)
- *The Wounded Man* (1983), as Wanderer
- *Entre Nous* (1983), as Un militaire
- *Les Misérables* (1982), as Montparnasse
- *L'Ombre sur la plage* (1982), Actor
- *Paris Ficelle* (1982), as Joe
- *The Rope*, Actor
- *La nuit du vivant, voyage au cœur de la pourriture*, as Narrateur
- *Dante's Divine Comedy*, as Narrator / Virgil / Dante
- *The Countess of Monte Cristo*, series, Actor
- *Makunaíma XXI*, Actor
- *Que demande le peuple*, Actor
- *Waster*, as Waster
- *7 jours 4000 ans*, as (Voix)

## Gallery

- ![Denis Lavant](https://film.one/media/person/120165/gallery-fe783f6dd982.jpg) Denis Lavant — Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Denis_Lavant_Deauville_2010.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Candy junto con Denis lavant (2017)](https://film.one/media/person/120165/gallery-ab4d5f534c77.jpg) Candy junto con Denis lavant (2017) — Candynieto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Candy_Nieto_con_Denis_lavant.jpg/1280px-Candy_Nieto_con_Denis_lavant.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Tamara Stepanyan, Denis Lavant and Zar Amir Ebrahimi attend the "Le Pays d'Arto" red carpet during the 78th Locarno Film Festival on August 06, 2025 in Locarno, (2000)](https://film.one/media/person/120165/gallery-65bd8e491f84.jpg) Tamara Stepanyan, Denis Lavant and Zar Amir Ebrahimi attend the "Le Pays d'Arto" red carpet during the 78th Locarno Film Festival on August 06, 2025 in Locarno, (2000) — Walid Farouk, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Denis_Lavant%2C_Tamara_Stepanyan_and_Zar_Amir_Ebrahimi_at_the_2025_Locarno_Film_Festival_2.jpg/1280px-Denis_Lavant%2C_Tamara_Stepanyan_and_Zar_Amir_Ebrahimi_at_the_2025_Locarno_Film_Festival_2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Denis Lavant au Théâtre de l'Atelier en avril 2023 après une représentation de "Fin de partie".](https://film.one/media/person/120165/gallery-1661ee2a0971.jpg) Denis Lavant au Théâtre de l'Atelier en avril 2023 après une représentation de "Fin de partie". — ManoSolo13241324, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Denis_Lavant_2023.jpg/1280px-Denis_Lavant_2023.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Denis Lavant](https://film.one/media/person/120165/gallery-881da760b302.jpg) Denis Lavant — Image via TMDB
- ![Denis Lavant](https://film.one/media/person/120165/gallery-22a05b3561f2.jpg) Denis Lavant — Image via TMDB
- ![Denis Lavant](https://film.one/media/person/120165/gallery-ca51ddd17339.jpg) Denis Lavant — Image via TMDB
- ![Denis Lavant sur la scène du Théâtre 14 pour le seul-en-scène "Cap au pire", d'après Samuel Beckett, le 15 octobre 2024.](https://film.one/media/person/120165/gallery-96a4ede0ee3f.jpg) Denis Lavant sur la scène du Théâtre 14 pour le seul-en-scène "Cap au pire", d'après Samuel Beckett, le 15 octobre 2024. — ManoSolo13241324, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Denis_Lavant_2024.jpg/1280px-Denis_Lavant_2024.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Denis Lavant lors d'une rencontre à la Librairie des Abbesses, le 21 janvier 2026.](https://film.one/media/person/120165/gallery-1c4290663f77.jpg) Denis Lavant lors d'une rencontre à la Librairie des Abbesses, le 21 janvier 2026. — ManoSolo13241324, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Denis_Lavant_2026.jpg/1280px-Denis_Lavant_2026.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Other awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- European Film Award for Best Actor 1992: European Film Award for Best Actor (nominated), for *Les Amants du Pont-Neuf*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/denis-lavant