Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. C 23, 1961. Jeanne Valérie in Siega verde/Green Harvest (Rafael Gil, 1961).
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. 7440. Photo: Este Films/Selecciones Capitolio. Jeanne Valérie in El último verano/The Last Summer (Juan Bosch, 1962).
Belgian collectors card by Music-Fan, no. 26.
One of the most anticipated French films of the year
Jeanne Valérie was born in Paris in 1941 under the full name of Micheline Yvette Bellec and was adopted eight years later by her mother's husband, Christian Voituriez.
In 1959 she made her film debut as Cécile de Volanges opposite Jeanne Moreau and Gérard Philipe in Roger Vadim's Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1959), one of the most anticipated French films of the year.
Valérie had previously only made two extra appearances because "it just happened", in films starring Dario Moreno or Annie Cordy.
As Céline Colassin writes on Cine-Artistes: "Her awkwardness as a novice in the acting profession adds to her touching and youthful grace. With her very particular phrasing and her eternally sulky face, Jeanne Valérie is a magnificent Cécile de Volanges. And those who find her exasperating forget that this is the characteristic of all young girls of her age, and of Mademoiselle de Volanges in particular!
But moreover, Jeanne Valérie corresponds to the young girl of 1960, still imbued with good manners, very 'old France' and with a patina of a rigid education, but eager for freedom, consumed by a thirst for life and for finally being a woman. She wants to wear pretty dresses, to dance, to sunbathe, to drink scotch, to get to know boys, and to finally say 'screw it' to Mum and Dad."
In the same year, Jeanne Valérie had a major part in À double tour/Web of Passion (Claude Chabrol, 1959) with Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. 7201. Photo: Pirene Films / Warner Bros. Jeanne Valérie in Siega verde/Green Harvest (Rafael Gil, 1961).
Spanish postcard by Ediciones Raker, no. 172. Jeanne Valérie in El último verano/The Last Summer (Juan Bosch, 1962).
Spanish postcard.
Present on-screen, absent in the tabloids
In 1960 Jeanne Valérie became the title character in the Italian Peplum Salammbô/The Loves of Salammbo (Sergio Grieco, 1960) opposite two handsome stars, Jacques Sernas as Matho, and Edmund Purdom as Narr Havas.
In Iraly, she also appeared in the prostitution film I piaceri del sabato notte (Daniele D'Anza, 1960) with Andreina Pagnani as madam, Labbra rosse (Giuseppe Bennati, 1960) with Gabriele Ferzetti, and the proto-Viagra comedy Le pillole di Ercole (Luciano Salce, 1960).
Then she acted opposite Jean Sorel in Una giornata balorda/From a Roman Balcony (Mauro Bolognini, 1960) scripted by Pier Paolo Pasolini and based on a book by Alberto Moravia.
She then did two films in Spain, Siega verde/Green Harvest (Rafael Gil, 1961) and El último verano (Julian Bosch, 1962), alternated with more work in Italy, with director Alberto Lattuada, and in France with Robert Hossein.
Valérie then slipped to the set of the Franco-Austrian film Julia, du bist zauberhaft/Adorable Julia (Alfred Weidenmann, 1962), luring the handsome Jean Sorel away from star Lilli Palmer's bed.
The pretty Jeanne continued a strong and interesting career in film and television. It was Italy that most often called on her services. Throughout the 1960s, she was an actress who was as present on the screen as she was absent from the columns of the tabloids.
She worked with such director as Jean-Paul Le Chanois, Jacqueline Audry, and Ettore Scola, and played opposite famous actors such as Vittorio Gassman, Anouk Aimée, Fernando Rey, Eddie Constantine, Franco Nero, Philippe Noiret, and Jean Rochefort.
Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. 7194. Photo: Pirene Films/Warner Bros. Jeanne Valérie in the Spanish Eastmancolor film Siega verde/Green Harvest (Rafael Gil, 1961).
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1123. Photo: Production Francis Lopez. Jeanne Valérie in Le Jeu de la Vérité/The Game of Truth (Robert Hossein, 1961).
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. FK 108. Photo: Ufa.
An Erotico-intello film that took forever to find a distributor
Céline Colassin at Cine-Artistes: "In 1969, Jeanne Valérie was part of the sad adventure of "Joe Caligula" - Joë Caligula - Du suif chez les dabes (José Bénazéraf, 1969) with Gérard Blain and Ginette Leclerc, who was making her comeback and was counting on the film to get back on track.
A film that unfortunately took forever to find a distributor. Described as an "Erotico-intello" film, it had a very confidential career before becoming a success of curiosity if not of esteem.
This was the moment that Jeanne Valérie chose to literally disappear from the public scene. She was only seen twice or three times in... forty years. It's almost impossible to believe, and yet, at the age of 27, she gave up everything!"
Though Valérie's main career indeed halted in 1969, Colassin is not entirely complete, as Valérie still played two occasional supporting parts in Liliana Cavani's La pelle/The Skin (1981) and in Bolognini's La villa del venerdì/Husband and Lovers (Mauro Bolognini, 1991).
Her last acting was in four episodes of the TV series La famiglia Ricordi (1995). Yet, while would remain to be remembered as the screen twin from the sixties, Valérie married and became the mother of four children.
While others kept hoping for a comeback, Jeanne Valérie became a painter, until cancer killed her. Surrounded by her children, Valérie died in 2020. She was 79.
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Starfoto. Jeanne Valérie in Julia, du bist zauberhaft/The Seduction of Julia/Adorable Julia (Alfred Weidenmann, 1962).
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2306, 1965. Jeanne Valérie in Mandrin (Jean-Paul Le Chanois, 1962).
East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2307, 1965. Jeanne Valérie and Georges Rivière in the French Swashbuckler Mandrin (Jean-Paul Le Chanois, 1962).
Source: Céline Colassin (Cineartistes - French), Wikipedia (French and English), and IMDb.
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