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Seven of the best film roles of French actor Gaspard Ulliel

The French actor - who has died, aged 37, following a skiing accident - had a successful film and TV career dating back to his childhood. Here is a reminder of some of his best performances in film.

Seven of the best film roles of French actor Gaspard Ulliel
French actor Gaspard Ulliel, who has died following a skiing accident. Photo: Valery Hache / AFP

Tributes have been flooding in for the popular and talented French actor, who has died at the age of just 37 following a skiing accident.

READ ALSO French actor Gaspard Ulliel dies aged 37 in skiing accident

Although his acting career was cut tragically short, he has still starred in some classics of French cinema.

Here are some of his best-known roles.

Les Égarés (Strayed) – 2003

Ulliel was named Best Male Newcomer for his performance as a wild teenager who helps Emmanuel Beart and her young son as they flee Nazi-occupied Paris in this adaptation of Gilles Perrault’s novel Le Garçon aux yeux gris (The Boy with the Grey Eyes)

Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement) – 2004

The following year, he won a César for Most Promising Actor for his role in director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s drama telling the story of a young woman’s search for her fiancé, who disappeared from the trenches of the Somme during World War I.

He had been nominated for the same award in each of the two previous years – including for Les Égarés.

Hannibal Rising – 2007

His first English-language role is perhaps his best-known among anglophones. Based on the Thomas Harris novel, it reveals Hannibal Lecter’s evolution from vengeful Nazi hunter to cannibalistic serial killer.

Saint Laurent – 2014

Ulliel took the lead role in this 2014 biopic of the fashion designer’s life between 1967 and 1976 – when he was at the peak of his influence on haute couture.

He was nominated for a César – losing out to his opposite number in a rival biopic – and won a Lumières Award for Best Actor.

Juste la fin du monde (It’s Only the End of the World) – 2016

Two years after he was nominated for a Best Actor César for the first time for his role in Saint Laurent, the actor won the award for his performance in Xavier Dolan’s gut-wrenching-yet-tender drama as a terminally ill writer who returns home to tell his family his days are numbered. The film also won the Grand Prix at Cannes.

Les confins du monde (To the Ends of the World) – 2018

In this drama set during the First Indochina War, Ulliel plays the only survivor of a massacre in which his brother has perished. Blinded by revenge, he rejoins the forces in search of the assassins – but a chance encounter changes everything. 

La vengeance au triple galop – 2021

His most recent performance, as Docteur Danley in this TV movie spoof of the 1980s Australian drama Return to Eden is a bit of a change from his usual fare.

It also stars Audrey Lamy, Marion Cotillard and Alex Lutz – best known as Catherine from the comedy shorts Catherine et Liliane.

He will also feature in the new Marvel series Moon Knight, which is due on the Disney Plus streaming site in March, while director Emily Atef’s life-affirming drama Plus Que Jamais (More Than Ever) is in post-production.

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CRIME

French cinema boss on trial for sexual assault

The head of France's top cinema institution Dominique Boutonnat denied sexually assaulting his godson as he went on trial Friday in a case that has led to calls for him to step down.

French cinema boss on trial for sexual assault

The trial comes as French cinema reels from a renewed #MeToo reckoning that has seen several big names, including acting legend Gerard Depardieu, accused of sexual abuse.

READ ALSO: French actor Gérard Depardieu to be tried for sexual assault in October

Activists have denounced Boutonnat’s continued leadership of the National Centre of Cinema (CNC), whose role includes overseeing measures to curb sexual violence in the industry.

His godson accuses him of trying to masturbate him during a holiday in Greece in 2020 when he was 19.

“I looked at him to find my godfather and that’s when I saw someone completely different… It was someone using me to masturbate,” the godson, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court.

Boutonnat responded in court that it was his godson who had initiated the situation and kissed him.

“I feel bad about leaving an ambiguous situation, but to say there was a sexual assault is false,” he told the court.

He was placed under investigation in February 2021 but still reappointed by the government as head of the CNC in July 2022.

Training to prevent abuse has in recent months become obligatory for films seeking public funding via the CNC.

The CNC told AFP that the case against Boutonnat came from “the private sphere” and had no relation to its activities.

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