Yolande Moreau gives comic characters a life beyond the joke through precise physical and vocal detail. We rate her highly, though the repeated casting as quirky supporting women can leave too much of her ability unused.
Fi1m perspective
Yolande Moreau can make a face funny without erasing the worry in it. Her distinctive voice and expressive features help, but we value the precision with which she uses them to make an ordinary woman worth attending to. There is care in these physical and vocal details, and little need to insist that we find the character endearing. The danger comes with the casting: another concierge, shopkeeper or mother can mean another invitation to be peculiar, when she has considerably more to offer.
Her early screen work includes Agnès Varda’s Vagabond (1985), in which she plays Yolande. We were deeply moved by the film because Varda lets Sandrine Bonnaire’s Mona remain difficult and unexplained. We should allow Moreau’s comic characters some of that awkwardness too, rather than treating every eccentric woman as someone we are meant to adore. Her work with Jérôme Deschamps and Macha Makeïeff, including the television programme Les Deschiens (1993–2002), gave her comedy a more sustained home.
Amélie (2001) brought wider attention to Moreau as Madeleine Wallace, under Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s direction. We recommend its tender, funny romance, with a caveat about how hard it sometimes works to charm. Moreau’s grounded manner is useful in cinema this busy, giving us a person to attend to amid the visual business. Her voice and face already provide plenty to watch; we do not need the film to work quite so hard around them.
The move into directing with When the Sea Rises (2004), which she co-wrote and starred in as Irène, matters more than another distinctive supporting credit. Her experience of touring and performance supplies the material, giving her work away from the camera a purpose on screen. Playing the painter Séraphine Louis in Séraphine (2008) also gave her the space of a leading role. For a fuller evening with Moreau, follow Amélie with When the Sea Rises.
Biography
Yolande Moreau is a Belgian actress, comedian, screenwriter and film director. Born on 27 February 1953 in Brussels, she began her career on stage, writing and performing the one-woman show Sale affaire, du sexe et du crime in 1982. She trained at the École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq and was discovered by Agnès Varda, who gave her early film roles including in Vagabond (1985).
Moreau is known for supporting roles in Amélie (2001) as Madeleine Wallace, Germinal (1993), The Three Brothers (1995), Micmacs (2009) and The Brand New Testament (2015). She co-wrote and co-directed When the Sea Rises (2004), winning César Awards for Best Actress and Best First Film, and received a further César for Best Actress for Séraphine (2008). She has also appeared in Paris, Je T'aime (2006) and 9 Month Stretch (2013).
