Most people know her for her performance as Miranda Tate / Talia al Ghul in “The Dark Knight Rises” (specifically her hilariously sudden death in that film), but Marion Cotillard is truly an actress with an extraordinary range. Since her first leading role in 1996’s “Chloé,” she has been consistent in her involvement with all walks of the world of cinema, from European arthouse films to huge Hollywood blockbusters. She’s a committed artist who always finds authentic ways of embodying the characters she’s assigned. That dedication shows up on screen, which is why she’s one of the most well-known actresses working today (though, of course, her great on-screen beauty certainly helps in that regard).
The Parisian actress has kept one foot in Hollywood and the other in French cinema since the very beginning of her career. Cotillard, the daughter of two theater performers, was acting in plays with her parents from a very young age, and she booked her first role at the age of seven. Prominent roles started coming to her before she even turned 18 (she’d worked with Arnaud Desplechin and Anna Karina by 1996), and it was clear to anyone who saw her perform that she belonged on the screen. That made sense since she’d grown up in a world of performance art – acting came naturally to her.
After one Oscar, one BAFTA, and two César awards, it’s clear that that upbringing came in handy in preparing her for a career in show business. Cotillard has a truly chameleonic presence and is able to adapt herself to whatever a role demands. Whether it’s playing a depressed working-class Belgian or an iconic French singer, she always manages to engage the viewer with the sheer sincerity of her work. So join us as we look back over her career and list ten performances that stand out as some of Marion Cotillard’s best work.
10. Midnight in Paris (2012)
Through the 2000s and 2010s, Woody Allen’s films were always star-studded affairs, and “Midnight in Paris” is no exception. The story of Hollywood screenwriter Gil Pender’s (Owen Wilson) love affair with the eponymous city, this film is an enchanting, light-hearted affair that has a lot of fun with its wild premise. Every night at 12 AM, Gil is able to travel back in time to Paris in the 1920s, meeting with a who’s who of legendary artists from the period.
The cast includes Tom Hiddleston as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway, and Adrien Brody as Salvador Dalí, and they’re all great. However, the most enchanting role in the film might just belong to Marion Cotillard, which is ironic since her character, a woman by the name of Adriana, is one of the film’s few fictional characters from 1920s Paris. We learn that Adriana has had affairs with Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and Georges Braque, and such is the strength of Cotillard’s performance that you can actually believe she’d be the muse of so many great artists.
The film is enamored with Cotillard – her great beauty, sensitivity, and charm. As Owen Wilson declares in a scene from the middle of the movie, “I certainly understand why all these guys want to paint you, ‘cause you have just about one of the best faces ever.” It’s a testament to the strength of Cotillard’s performance that even though she’s a supporting character in the film, her presence is felt enough to make that line land. Adriana is also a part of the film’s emotional climax, which helps seal her as an indelible part of this romantic, hopeful movie about art and one’s place in history.
9. La Vie en Rose (2007)
The placement of this film in this list might surprise you. “La Vie en Rose” is, after all, the movie that won Cotillard an Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of the iconic French singer Edith Piaf. Her win was historic because the Best Actress award had never been given for a non-English speaking role before. That was, and is, the power of Cotillard as an actress; she emotes with such power that you can’t help but be swept away by her. Even if you have to make out what she’s saying through subtitles, her face says it all and then some.
Cotillard plays Piaf through practically every stage of her life and is almost unrecognizable at times under the layers and layers of prosthetics and makeup the filmmakers clad her with. The fact that she overcame that barrier is impressive since this film has a ton of makeup. Overall, the project suffers from an unfortunate desire to cover all facets of Piaf’s life, and the biopic buckles under the pressure of having to cover so many things.
That doesn’t take away anything from Cotillard’s performance, which is transformative and enrapturing even as the film around her curdles into a laborious and unfocused work. The actress modulates her presence with grace, shifting from a young Piaf to a version of the singer on her deathbed with apparent ease. Watching the film, you totally get why Oscar voters decided to give this performance the gold and also why this film marked Cotillard’s entrance into mainstream Hollywood.
8. A Very Long Engagement (2004)
Marion Cotillard has a very small role in “A Very Long Engagement,” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s romantic war drama starring Audrey Tatou (marking a reunion for the pair after their creative partnership in “Amélie”). However, she does so much with her handful of scenes that she won a César Award for Best Supporting Actress in recognition of her work. Watching the film, it’s easy to see why – this is one of the most fun roles she’s ever been given the chance to play, and she makes the most of it by delivering an impactful and intense performance.
The film itself is also an earnest and well-made picture, Jeunet’s follow-up to the iconic “Amélie.” The story follows a young woman named Mathilde (Tatou), who refuses to believe that her husband died during his stint fighting for the French during the First World War. Her conviction leads her on a journey to find the man she loves, and (in typical Jeunet fashion) she encounters a wide variety of strange characters along the way.
One of those characters is a woman named Tina Lombardi (Cotillard), another widow from the war who is exacting revenge on the men responsible for her husband’s death. The particulars of Cotillard’s scenes in this film are best left unspoiled but rest assured, they are some of the most creatively staged and flat-out incredible sequences in the entire movie, including an assassination scene where Cotillard looks like she’s stepped off the set of “The Matrix.” It’s fun, unpredictable stuff, allowing Cotillard to stretch her acting chops in ways she rarely gets the opportunity to.
7. Allied (2016)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis, “Allied” feels like a film from another era. It’s so old-fashioned in spirit that you almost wish it were in black and white. Zemeckis was clearly angling for something along the lines of a classic Hollywood romance, and he cast two of the most beautiful actors in the world to bring it to life. This film cast Cotillard alongside Brad Pitt, and the energy this pair gives off on-screen is worth the price of admission alone.
Of course, that’s not the only thing on offer. The story is about a pair of spies (Pitt’s Max Vatan and Cotillard’s Marianne Beauséjour) who fall in love while on a mission in Casablanca. Their romance develops in exciting ways as they begin to wonder if they can really trust each other – is their love just a ruse put on to gather intel on their respective governments? While the film doesn’t quite stick the landing in how it answers that central question, it’s still a fun event film centered around Pitt’s and Cotillard’s terrific performances.
And Cotillard’s performance is most definitely terrific. As the alluring Marianne, she channels a mysterious beauty that makes you question her intentions throughout the film. The question of whether Marianne is in love with Max remains up in the air for a significant portion of the film, thanks to Cotillard’s layered and nuanced performance. Like the best performers, she is able to make you fall in love with her even though you’re unsure what lies beneath the surface. As always, the mystery of it all is part of the appeal.
6. Macbeth (2015)
Look: it’s Shakespeare, and of course, it’s going to be on this list. Justin Kurzel’s adaptation of the bard’s epic tragedy gives Cotillard the opportunity that every actor dreams of the chance to temporarily embody one of Shakespeare’s characters, to be a part of one of the greatest traditions in the acting craft, and offer their own rendition of one of the most iconic roles of all time. Cotillard is more than up for the challenge, and her version of Lady Macbeth is both powerful and flawed in ways that draw from the actress’s formidable screen presence.
It helps that she gets to share the screen with a spectacular ensemble, including Michael Fassbender, Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, David Thewlis, Elizabeth Debicki, and Jack Reynor, each of whom brings their own flair to the mix of personas. Cotillard and Fassbender share some fantastic scenes in this adaptation, especially the sequence where Lady Macbeth forces her husband to carry out his murderous ploy. The danger of that moment is preserved thanks to the vigor of the actors – even though you know what’s going to happen, you feel as if anything could happen.
Kurzel is very mindful of his cast and gives them room to deliver monologues that lesser directors would cut short in order to keep the attention spans of impatient audiences engaged. Cotillard’s delivery of Lady Macbeth’s iconic monologue towards the end of the film is one such example, playing out in a long, beautiful take that puts her face, tense with emotion, center stage. Hers is a solid rendition of a character that has been played by thousands of actresses in the past and will be played by even more in the future.
5. Rust and Bone (2012)
On the surface, “Rust and Bone” might sound like a conventional film, but it’s anything but. The story of a dolphin trainer who loses her legs in an accident and a part-time security guard who pays his bills by fighting in underground wrestling matches, this film is not the kind of drama you think it is. Cotillard plays the dolphin trainer, while Matthias Schoenaerts plays the security guard, and the two eventually develop a romance out of a series of dramatic circumstances. While you might think that this film must be about an amputee learning how to move past her trauma, it’s much more than that, and the amputation is almost a subplot in the grand scheme of the story here, which is about love and finding one’s place in the world.
Part of the reason this film is so affecting is the way in which Cotillard and Schoenaerts play off each other. The latter plays a brutish character, a single father named Ali, who lives a hedonistic lifestyle and doesn’t have time for compassion whatsoever. His careless treatment of Cotillard’s Stéphanie appears unforgivable at the start, but it eventually evolves into something more heartfelt and sincere, building off a scaffolding of intriguing details that director Jacques Audiard sprinkles over every scene.
Take, for example, the tattoos that Stéphanie gets on her legs, labeling them “left” and “right” in French, or the way in which she slides her prosthetic legs underneath a bed before calling Ali to sleep with her. These strange little embellishments make the characters feel like real people, and Cotillard and Shoenaerts are more than up to the task of embodying complicated, flawed, damaged, real people. This film gives them the opportunity to do just that.
4. Annette (2021)
“Annette” is one of the strangest big-budget films you’ll ever see – that is practically guaranteed. A collaboration between director Leos Carax and the musical duo Sparks, this film is a bizarre adventure incorporating so many weird elements that it’s challenging to keep track of them all as you’re watching. It’s a musical that begins with a fourth-wall-breaking sequence where the cast and crew ask for the audience’s permission to start the film. It then reveals itself as a story about the romance between provocative stand-up comedian Henry McHenry (Adam Driver) and soprano Ann Desfranoux (Cotillard).
But that’s only the tip of the iceberg as far as this film’s surprises go. Eventually, Henry and Ann’s daughter Annette is born, and it turns out that she’s a marionette puppet who can sing. The film ultimately settles into being a statement on the effect that fame and poor parenting can have on a child, but that, of course, is up to interpretation (as you would expect from arthouse fare like this). What “Annette” is, above all, is entertaining, and if you can stomach its many pretensions, it’s a great ride.
It also features Cotillard in an unconventional musical that’s full of lavish style and formal ingenuity. It is most certainly one of the most unique films in her filmography. She gives a histrionic performance in this that is ideally suited to the kind of film that Carax and Sparks are seeking to make. In other words, she and Driver understood the assignment, and it would be difficult to imagine a film for which “understanding the assignment” would be more difficult. The role of a great actor is to understand and execute what is required of them, and Cotillard’s ability to do that here is astounding – she’s brilliant.
3. Inception (2010)
After “The Dark Knight Rises,” this is perhaps the film for which Cotillard is most well-known, and the reasons for her being so are actually good this time. Christopher Nolan’s high-concept heist film is one of the greatest original films of the 21st century, and Cotillard’s performance is at the heart of it. Anyone reading this list will likely have seen “Inception” (if you haven’t, you must), but what is often overlooked is the strength of Cotillard’s performance here. Without it, the film wouldn’t nearly have the kind of impact it does on those who watch it.
The story follows a team of “extractors” – criminals who can infiltrate people’s subconscious and extract information – led by Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), who are tasked with planting information in the mind of a billionaire heir. Things are complicated by Cobb’s complicated past with his wife Mal (Cotillard), a woman who killed herself. As the team plans the heist and we peel back on the layers of Cobb’s trauma, Cotillard becomes more and more the center of the film.
Mal is a tragic, terrifying figure. She is part of some of the film’s most iconic sequences, including a blockbuster finale where the world of the dream literally falls around the characters. Without her, “Inception” would be an empty genre exercise with ideas but no impact. With her, it becomes a philosophical work that’s just as profound as it is thrilling. This film really has it all, and Cotillard’s intense performance is a big part of why it’s so great.
2. The Immigrant (2013)
Directed by James Gray, “The Immigrant” is a powerful film about the American Dream. It’s about a young Polish woman named Ewa (Cotillard) who travels to New York in 1921 to escape the effects of the war in Poland. Once there, she finds herself constantly in danger of deportation, struggling to care for her sister Magda and being taken advantage of by a local hustler named Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix). She eventually has to resort to a life of sex work, and the film chronicles her attempts to overcome the tremendous odds placed before her.
It’s a lavish, beautiful production, shot by Darius Khondji and directed with great care by Gray. It also features a supporting turn by Jeremey Renner, which is some of the best work that the actor has ever done, while Phoenix and Cotillard are, as usual, spectacular in their respective roles. In fact, Cotillard learned how to speak Polish in order to properly embody the character of Ewa, which speaks to the incredible lengths she goes to invest herself in her roles and lend them the authenticity they require. As is clear to anyone reading this list, her commitment to her craft is staggering.
While discussing his work on the film, Gray declared that “Marion is the best actor I’ve ever worked with,” and watching this film, you completely understand why. “The Immigrant” is a very heavy picture, and it’s difficult to watch because Ewa is such a believable character. Each new misfortune that befalls her feels like a stab to the heart because Cotillard receives it with the sincerity and authenticity that the role demands. The film is a very personal project, as Gray drew on his family’s experiences while writing the screenplay – the result is a film that requires a committed performance from a talented actress to land. With Cotillard at the helm, it really does.
1. Two Days, One Night (2014)
Thanks to their involvement as producers on “Rust and Bone,” the Dardenne brothers were introduced to Marion Cotillard, and thank God they were because it resulted in one of the best films the Belgian directing duo has ever produced (which is saying something, as the pair are masters of their craft). “Two Days, One Night” earned Cotillard her second Oscar nomination, and it is a film that never fails to make this writer cry multiple times over its 95-minute runtime.
The film follows Sandra (Cotillard), a working-class Belgian woman who has to take a break from work to deal with her depression. When she receives a call from work telling her she’s been laid off, she pleads with her manager to reconsider. Sandra learns that her co-workers were given the choice between a bonus or keeping her on, and they chose the bonus. Sandra is given the weekend to speak to each of her colleagues and convince them to change their vote so she can keep her job.
That synopsis might make the film sound like a dramatic exercise in misery, but it’s anything but. The Dardennes are humanist artists, and “Two Days, One Night” is a tear-jerker for all the right reasons. This is a profoundly hopeful film about the resilience of the human spirit and the need for a belief in goodness. In the lead role, Marion Cotillard embodies all of Sandra’s anxieties and sadness until you can barely recognize her – she becomes someone else entirely. If any film on this list proves the actress’s enormous talent as a performer, it’s this one.
