Mona Achache

Mona Achache (born 18 March 1981) is a French-Moroccan film director, screenwriter, and actress. She wrote and directed the feature films The Hedgehog (2009), Les Gazelles (2014), Valiant Hearts (2021), and Little Girl Blue (2023). She also directed the Netflix documentary The Women and the Murderer (2021). In 2024, she was nominated for the César Award for Best Documentary Film for Little Girl Blue.

Early life
Achache was born in Paris, France on 18 March 1981. Her mother was French writer and photographer Carole Achache, and her father is French director and screenwriter Jean Achache. She has a brother. Her maternal grandparents were French writer Monique Lange, and French science historian Jean-Jacques Salomon. Her maternal grandmother was born Jewish and later converted to Catholicism. Her maternal great-grandfather, Robert Lange, was a French journalist and politician. Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo was her maternal step-grandfather. Her paternal grandmother, Suzanne Achache–Wiznitzer, was an Austrian-Jewish psychoanalyst who survived the Holocaust as a child while hidden in the Château de Chambord in France during World War II.

Achache received a literary and theatrical education.

Career


Achache worked as an assistant director for Michel Boujenah in his 2003 film Father and Sons, and later began screenwriting for fictional and documentary films. She became a mother at the age of 20 and directed a documentary film about childbirth, Alma et les autres, released in 2004, which became a reference in more than 500 maternity wards in France during birth preparation sessions.

In 2005, she wrote and directed the short film Suzanne, based on the story of her grandmother, who witnessed her father being arrested by the nazis when she was 13 years old.

In 2009, Achache wrote and directed her first feature film, The Hedgehog, based on the novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. That same year, she had a small part in the French-Greek drama film Eden Is West, directed by Costa-Gavras. In 2013, she co-wrote the screenplay of the comedy film Les gamins, directed by Anthony Marciano.

In 2014, Achache wrote and directed her second feature film, the comedy Les Gazelles.

In 2021, she wrote and directed her third feature film, the World War II drama Valiant Hearts, starring Camille Cottin, based on the real-life story of her grandmother, Suzanne Achache–Wiznitzer, who was a Jewish child placed in foster care to escape the Holocaust. That same year, she also directed the Netflix documentary The Women and the Murderer, about French serial killer Guy Georges.

In 2023, Achache wrote, directed, and played herself in the French docudrama Little Girl Blue. The film tells the story of her mother, Carole Achache, who was portrayed by Marion Cotillard. The film made its world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in the Special Screenings section and was nominated for the L'Œil d'or award, and for the César Award for Best Documentary Film.

Personal life
In the early 2000s, Achache was in a relationship with director Christophe Ruggia. She later revealed that their relationship ended after he confessed to her that he had fallen in love with and inappropriately touched actress Adèle Haenel, who was at that time underage. This confession corroborated Haenel's account of sexual abuse at the hands of Ruggia.

Achache is married to French cinematographer Patrick Blossier. She has three children, two daughters and one son.

Achache is a member of the French gender equality group Collectif 50/50.