the discreet but emblematic presence of the artist in the cinema

Spontaneously adopted by the public in 1962 from her first appearance on television, Françoise Hardy was sought after by the cinema the following year and appeared in a dozen films.

If Françoise Hardy’s cinema career is small, and she appears in films mainly made in the 1960s, it reflects her aura, not only among the public, but also among directors like Roger Vadim, Woody Allen or Jean- Luc Godard. The French artist, died at the age of 80 on Tuesday June 11, was a presence. Her films are practically forgotten for the most part, and if she never has the leading role and turns out to be a discreet but notable appearance, and she is systematically identified with the state of mind that the characters go through at a moment in the film.

It was Jean Gabin who nicknamed Françoise Hardy “the discreet one”, a term which will remain with her and which will be verified in the way in which she conducted her career as a singer, but also as an actress. The explosion of “yéyé” fashion at the beginning of the 1960s brought its leaders like Sheila, Johnny Hallyday and Françoise Hardy into the cinema spotlight.

Revealed in 1962 during a fleeting appearance on television where she sang her hit All the boys and girlsshe appeared in 1963 in the adaptation by Roger Vadim ofA castle in Sweden by Françoise Sagan in the role of Ophélie. A role in reference to Hamlet’s fiancée in Shakespeare’s play, it immediately reflects the artist’s identification with the melancholy distilled in his songs, but also his natural elegance and a slightly sulky pout.

After two minor appearances in a Danish production (Snip, snap, snude – en omvendt historie1964), then Italian (Altissima pressed1965), Françoise Hardy is uncredited in the anecdotal role of a town hall secretary in What’s up, Pussycat? by Clive Donner on a screenplay by Woody Allen in 1966. We see her again the same year in Grand Prixfilm by John Frankenheimer, still in a secondary role where she gravitates in the world of Formula 1 alongside James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, and Yves Montand.

It will be noted that until now Françoise Hardy has played full roles and is not used, or cited as a singer, in the films in which she appears. She thus plays, alongside Sami Frey, the supporting role in A bullet to the heart by Jean-Daniel Pollet, a thriller from 1966, now forgotten. Also Françoise Hardy does not seem particularly attracted to cinema, although cinema is still interested in her, appearing in four films in the year 1966 alone. The last of this series is Male Female by Jean-Luc Godard who does not miss the “phenomenon” Françoise Hardy. She plays the companion of an American officer, alongside Jean-Pierre Léaud, Chantal Goya and Marlène Jobert.

After a musical minicomedy, The man who came from Cherwith Eddy Mitchell and Antoine, broadcast on television, Françoise Hardy makes an appearance as a singer in if we had to redo it by Claude Lelouch in 1976. Françoise Hardy’s acting career practically ended there and never really evolved, because she never really wanted it. She appears one last time in Top girlsa documentary by François Armanet devoted to French rock and pop, where Françoise Hardy obviously has her place.