Yesterday, French actress and singer Marie La ForĂȘt died at the age of 80. She was beautiful: sultry, sensual, passionate, intelligent, witty andâŠcomplicated. A woman of substance. A woman of style. Une femme de caractĂšre.
Born MaĂŻtena Marie Brigitte Doumenach in South West France to parents with Armenian roots, she played in 35 films, sold more than 35 million albums, starred in several stage productions, ran an art gallery and wroteâŠand she found time for 5 marriages and divorces and 3 children too. âI got married, I got divorced, I suffered, I cried, I threw myself into a nervous breakdown. Oh, it was marvellousâ, she said. Dark humour and self-depreciation were her trademarks.
They called her âThe Girl with the Golden Eyesâ after one of her best-loved films (they were actually heavenly hazel). She didnât mind, she told the Figaro: âif theyâd called me âThe Girl with the Big Bottomâ, then I would have been really upsetâ. Top of my list to see, or see again, are Plein Soleil (Purple Noon), A Cause, A Cause dâune Femme (Because, Because of a Woman ) Les Morfalous (The Vultures), Marie-Chantal Contre le Docteur Kha (The Blue Panther), Fucking Ferdinand (no translation necessary) and Les Bureaux de Dieu (Godâs Offices) - the titles alone make me want to slip into a cosy French cinema and stay with her all day.
Iâm not sure many people outside France have even heard of Marie La ForĂȘt. The English tend to shun French films unless theyâre diehard cinefiles, and theyâre quick to rubbish anything that resembles French Pop. But so was she: while European and American folk truly inspired her, she was embarrassed about her sha la la la covers of âThe House of the Rising Sunâ and âGo Tell it to the Mountainâ and classics by Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan and the Stones. But just imagine youâre living France in the 60s and youâll understand why they were so huge. She gave French Chanson a new edge. âI donât have a singing voice, I have a timbreâ she said. And it was an irresistible one too. Her tunes pull on my heartstrings, I sing them in the shower: âManchester & Liverpoolâ, âIvan Boris & Moiâ and âIl a neigĂ© sur Yesterdayâ, a ballad about the Beatles breaking upâŠ
Marie La ForĂȘt settled in Geneva in Switzerland where she found her âinterior convent", and she travelled, often alone, to Turkey, Latin America, IsraelâŠShe was always chasing freedom, artistic freedom, or just the freedom to be herself. In later life, she revealed sheâd been raped at the age of three by a neighbour, a trauma sheâd stifled and channelled through her screen persona for years. The good news is that she died as she wished, as a femme libre. MaĂŻtena Marie Brigitte Doumenach - RIP.
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