User:Phantom891/Diane Kurys

Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at

Early Life
She is a daughter of Russian and Polish Jewish immigrants, Lena and Michel, Diane Kurys and her older sister spent their early years in Lyon. Their parents met, who and got married at Rivesaltes camp in 1942, separated in 1954. This divorce deeply marked/affected Diane, and would become a real source of inspiration for several of her films. Stating that she made films about them because she “wanted to see them back together again.” It was after this event that her mom decided to move with her two daughters to Paris where she ran a woman’s fashion boutique while her dad stayed in Lyon where he ran a men's clothing store. In 1964, Diane Kurys met Alexandre Arcady, with whom, in 1966, she went to live in Israel in a kibbutz near the Lebanese border. In 1990, she had a son, Yacha, who became a writer under the name of Sacha Sperling.

Acting
As a student at the Jules Ferry high school, she studied modern literature at the Sorbonne before become a teacher and then a theater actress in the 1970s, joining the Madeleine Renaud-Jean-Louis Barraukt company with Antoine Bourseiller, Ariane Mnouchkine at La Cartoucherie or Cafe de la Gare. For eight years, her small figure and her looks confined her to  the roles of “little laughing girls” which she got tired of.

After the student revolt in May 1967, Kurys left University and her and Arcady went to theater. Initially, with Kurys as an actor and Alexandre as both an actor and director. For eight years, her small figure and her looks confined her to  the roles of “little laughing girls” which she got tired of. Kury mentions how she loved the environment of acting but she was not happy doing it as she couldn’t express herself and was often seen as rebellious. After a few adaptations for the theater she turned her career towards a vocation that will never leave her, writing screenplays and directing.

Directing/Filming
In 1975, she worked with Philippe Adrien to adapt Lanford Wilson's Hôtel Baltimore, which she performed at the Espace Cardin. Phillipe Adrien had taught Diane all the basics of  filming within half an hour and she decided to film things in the way she sees them. The following year, she began writing an autobiographical novel which in 1977 became the screenplay for the film Diabolo Menthe (Peppermint Soda), whose story takes place in 1963, following a girl named Anne losing her childhood innocence. Diane Kurys' talent for portraying her characters' feelings accurately and realistically made the film a great critical and public success.

Cocktail Molotov came out in 1980 and featured François Cluzet, Élise Caron and Philippe Lebas, highlighting the Paris student movement in May 1968 through the point of view of three children: Anne, Frank, and Bruno.

In 1983, Coup de Foudre (Entre Nous) Diane Kurys third film starring Miou-Miou, Isabelle Huppert, Guy Marchand, and Jean-Pierre Bacri was released. In this film, inspired by Diane Kurys' family memories, she makes a point of honoring the emotional manners of the 1940s and 1950s. The film is well known, winning numerous awards in festivals and was nominated in 1984 for a Cesar for best foreign film and best original screenplay. Coup de Foudre focuses on her mother leaving her father and goes to Paris with her friend and children.

For the opening of the 40th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Diane Kurys features Peter Coyote, Greta Scacchi, Claudia Cardinale, Jamie Lee Curtis and Vincent Lindon in A Man in Love (1987 film) (Un Homme Amoureux). This was Diane’s first english-language production as well as the first movie that was more present to its time period in the 1950 as it focused on the events leading up to the suicide of Italian writer, Cesare Pavese.

The year 1989 marked a turning point in Diane Kurys' career with the film La Baule-les-Pins, also known as C'est la vie which featured Nathalie Baye, Richard Berry, Vincent Lindon, Zabou, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Valéria Bruni Tedeschi and Emmanuelle Boidron.

Two years later, she made Après l'amour (Love after Love) starring Isabelle Huppert, Bernard Giraudeau, Lio and Hippolyte Girardot, followed by À la folie starring Anne Parillaud, Béatrice Dalle and Patrick Aurignac.

In 1998, she produced a film in period costumes with Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel: Les Enfants du siècle (Children of the Century), which tells the story of the meeting between George Sand and Alfred de Musset. An exhibition on the film was held at the Museum of Romantic Life in 1999.

Her ninth film was released in 2003: Je reste! with Sophie Marceau, Charles Berling and Vincent Pérez.

The anniversary was released in 2005. It features Lambert Wilso n, Pierre Palmade, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Antoine Duléry, Michèle Laroque, Zoé Félix, Philippe Bas.

Four years later, in 2008, she directed the biographical film Sagan, starring Sylvie Testud. It features Denis Podalydè s, Pierre Palmade, Jeanne Balibar, Guillaume Gallienn e, and Arielle Dombasle.

In 2013, the film Pour une femme (For a Woman) was released, which was shot in Lyon during the summer of 2012. It features Mélanie Thierry, Benoît Magimel, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Clotilde Hesme, Julie Ferrier, Sylvie Testud and Denis Podalydès. The film is her take on an affair as a result of her parent’s messy marriage and divorce. In this case focusing on her fathers point of view while Entre Nous, otherwise known as, Coup de foude, is her mother’s take on the subject. The film won in CoLCoA French Film Festival in 2014.

In 2016, she produced and directed her thirteenth film, adapted from Sylvie Testud's book C'est le métier qui rentre (Arrete ton cinema) (published by Fayard), a comedy that tells the story of the setbacks of a famous actress to whom two extravagant producers offer to make a film. The cast includes Josiane Balasko, Zabou Breitman, Sylvie Testud, Fred Testot, François Xavier Demaison, Claire Keim, Virginie Hocq, Hélène de Fougerolles and Florence Thomassin.

In 2018, it is the release of the film My mother is crazy, with Fanny Ardant, Vianney, Patrick Chesnais and Arielle Dombasle. Written by Sacha Sperling and Pietro Caracciolo, the film tells the story of a slightly crazy mother's reunion with her slightly too wise son during a trip to Rotterdam.