Thirteen years have passed since Cannes, and the whole world, fell in love with the extraordinary talent of Adèle Exarchopoulos. At the time, the young French-Greek actress won the Palme d’Or along with her friend and colleague Léa Seydoux thanks to Adèle’s poignant performance in Abdellatif Kechiche’s Blue Is the Warmest Color, a drama steeped in eroticism and youthful exploration that caused a sensation at the Festival for the realistic love scenes between the two leads.
Exarchopoulos’ performance as a teenager discovering her sexuality captured the screen with every uncertain glance, every nervous gesture, and every bite greedily taken during the film’s many scenes of conviviality. In being unhinged and deeply authentic, the actress signed one of the most intense debuts in recent film history, establishing herself as one of the most magnetic presences on the European scene and beyond.
Since then, Adèle has come a long way, and each performance seems to confirm her off-kilter talent: from indie sentimental comedies like Passages, to the role of a young stewardess in Zero Fucks Given, to the sci-fi thriller Chien 51. A confirmation also came a few days ago at the Cannes Film Festival, where Jeanne Herry’s Garance – in which she is the absolute star – received a ten-minute standing ovation. And striking, once again, was the palpable emotion of the actress, unable to mask or filter herself, on screen as in her private life. Perhaps it is precisely this, in addition to a now unquestionable talent, that continues to make her so beloved.
Appreciated as much by Gen Z as by savvy cinephiles, in a world dominated by stereotypes Exarchopoulos represents a countercultural yet incredibly cool icon. Far from even the clichéd “French girl,” she embodies a relaxed, ironic, slightly insolent attitude fueled by a passion for French hip-hop of which she is a big fan. There is no trace of forced complacency in her. Whether you see her in oversize jeans and bandanas, with ruffled chignons, or on the red carpet in a lace Saint Laurent gown, nothing seems constructed or schematic. It is as if her desire to live the life of a normal 32-year-old should never interfere with her public image. She does not adhere to Hollywood clichés of contrived perfection: her face, gorgeous even in its irregularities, exudes a vibrant energy without resorting to the aesthetic ploys of glass skins or overly sculpted lips. She laughs, she cries, she gets emotional; she doesn’t worry about sweat or melting make-up. And today there is a need for actresses like this: women who can tell something true, beyond the superficiality of looking perfect in front of a lens.
And yet, she doesn’t miss a look. Sophisticated and contemporary in Phoebe Philo, sumptuous in Saint Laurent, it is above all her street style that convinces of her natural coolness. For her arrival in Cannes, she sported a T-shirt with a photo of her friend Seydoux and the words “Léa Forever,” a gesture later reciprocated by the other French actress, testifying to a bond born on that very Croisette thirteen years ago. Courted by the maisons for years, we have seen her casually wearing Balenciaga, Gucci, Alaïa, Jacquemus, Lacoste and Bulgari jewelry, to name a few. The beauty is that she retains the same cool attitude with whatever look she chooses to wear: the beauty of spontaneity, when there is nothing left to prove because the talent, long ago, has already spoken for itself.
[📷BACKGRID/ Snapix]
