Favourite European Female Actress

Echetlaeus

Echetlaeus

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There are many that I like, but among them I truly admire Juliette Binoche.
 
I think it would be better if you allowed for choosing a favorite actress for several different time periods. There are some modern ones I quite like, including Juliette Binoche but in their own time actresses like Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Ingrid Bergman and Bridget Bardot were quite incomparable. If you've seen enough old movies, you'll know what I mean. And, when it comes to modern European actresses, nobody captures my imagination quite like Bjork, even though some people would question whether she should even be considered a professional actress, despite the award's she's won. Partly because she's mostly a musician. So I think the answer to your question is not quite as simple as it may appear.
 
Anita Ekberg was a favorite though not for her acting. My favorites were Audrey Hepburn, Gina Lollobrigida and Ingrid Bergman
 
I hope you didn't mean only those still among us. Anna Magnani above them all, then, in no particular order, Simone Signoret, Jeanne Moreau, Irene Papas, Sophia Loren (only in Italian films), Ingrid Bergman.

Of actresses who are no longer really working, Isabelle Adjani, Isabelle Huppert. If you include English actresses, I would add Vanessa Redgrave.

Of the more modern ones, Juliette Binoche would be in there, Marion Cotillard, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Laura Morante, Penelope Cruz (only in Spanish films), Helen Mirren.
 
Angela said:
I hope you didn't mean only those still among us. Anna Magnani above them all, then, in no particular order, Simone Signoret, Jeanne Moreau, Irene Papas, Sophia Loren (only in Italian films), Ingrid Bergman.

Of actresses who are no longer really working, Isabelle Adjani, Isabelle Huppert. If you include English actresses, I would add Vanessa Redgrave.

Of the more modern ones, Juliette Binoche would be in there, Marion Cotillard, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Laura Morante, Penelope Cruz (only in Spanish films), Helen Mirren.
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Angela, yes I mean in general.

I know Irene Papas of course, I liked her role as Electra. Sophia Loren is a big name, but I have never seen a film of hers.

For Jeanne Moreau, well, I have only seen her in the French series called: Les Rois Maudits (The Cursed Kings).

As you can see my understanding of the past is quite limited.

I like Penelope in "Volver".

I gotta check the other Italians that you mention though ...
 
I should also mention Irène Jacob. I like her performance in The Double Life of Véronique, and "Three Colours: Red".

Yes, I like French cinema, I cannot hide it :p
 
Echetlaeus said:
Angela, yes I mean in general.

I know Irene Papas of course, I liked her role as Electra. Sophia Loren is a big name, but I have never seen a film of hers.

For Jeanne Moreau, well, I have only seen her in the French series called: Les Rois Maudits (The Cursed Kings).

As you can see my understanding of the past is quite limited.

I like Penelope in "Volver".

I gotta check the other Italians that you mention though ...
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I liked Volver very much as well.


A number of Giovanna Mezzogiorno's films are available with English subtitles through Netflix. The most well known here is Vincere, about the alleged first wife of Mussolini. I think she's fabulous in it. There's also L'Ultimo Baccio (The Last Kiss), Facing Windows with Raoul Bova, and Don't Tell with Luigi Lo Cascio, another one of my favorites. I think she's wasted in the English language treatment of Love in the Time of Cholera, with Javier Bardem.

For Sophia Loren, these are all available on Netflix and very worthwhile: Two Women, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Marriage Italian Style, Sunflower, A Special Day. The last four are with Marcello Mastroianni, and are all excellent. She's heart-breaking in Two Women and in the last two listed. I don't like her English language films very much, although It Happened in Naples with Clark Gable is amusing, and Houseboat with Cary Grant rings true, perhaps because they had a relationship in real life. I don't think that Hollywood knew what to do with her other than to use her as a sex symbol or as some stereotypical cartoon.

The same fate didn't befall Anna Magnani because despite her plainness the great American playwright Tennessee Williams was in love with her acting and tailored two films for her: The Fugitive Kind with Marlon Brando and The Rose Tattoo with Burt Lancaster, for which she received an Academy Award. Mamma Roma, where she plays a prostitute, is also available, as is Jean Renoir's The Golden Coach. What isn't available, but is wonderful is the English language film Wild as The Wind with Anthony Quinn. (It used to be on youtube, however.) I also can't believe that Netflix doesn't show Rome, Open City, the Rossellini masterpiece that ushered in post war Neorealism in Italian cinema. It was shot within months of Rome's fall, with scavenged fragments of film. The Criterion Collection has brilliantly remastered it.
 
I think one thing we can agree on is that, compared to European movies, American movies are generally rather inane. Although the Americans do have a huge output. There's very little real Canadian cinema, and most of it fits into either the Cinema Noire or the Cinema Tres Weird school of cinema. The English don't seem to produce much, either.
 
I didn't mean to imply that there haven't been wonderful American movies, because there have been lots of them, in my opinion, too many to list. Nor that there haven't been inane European movies, because there have been, Italian sex farces being just one example.

It's just that while certain people fit seamlessly into their own cultural milieu, and make sense within it, they don't fit very well in foreign cultures. Women like Sophia Loren and Anna Magnani are two of those people, in my opinion, particularly because along with the way that they portray other aspects of a woman's life, they embody a certain type of sexuality that's very foreign to American culture.
 
Aberdeen said:
I think one thing we can agree on is that, compared to European movies, American movies are generally rather inane. Although the Americans do have a huge output. There's very little real Canadian cinema, and most of it fits into either the Cinema Noire or the Cinema Tres Weird school of cinema. The English don't seem to produce much, either.
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I want a wife like Rachel McAdams.

Canada strong with Rachel !

P.S. I learned a new word today, inane = μάταιος, κενός. Thanks bros.
 
Angela said:
I didn't mean to imply that there haven't been wonderful American movies, because there have been lots of them, in my opinion, too many to list. Nor that there haven't been inane European movies, because there have been, Italian sex farces being just one example.

It's just that while certain people fit seamlessly into their own cultural milieu, and make sense within it, they don't fit very well in foreign cultures. Women like Sophia Loren and Anna Magnani are two of those people, in my opinion, particularly because along with the way that they portray other aspects of a woman's life, they embody a certain type of sexuality that's very foreign to American culture.
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Yes European cinema is based on strong sentiments and reality.
American cinema (most of it) is based on the "show = visual effects". Apart from that, Americans being very puritan, do not show specific aspects of life.

However, there are good American movies as well. Usually they do not do well in box office, and you have to search for them. Luckily there are good periodicals out there that can help us with this.

Take for example Lars' "Nymphomaniac" or "Antichrist", and try to see what people believe. You will see that Europeans and Americans have very different opinions. This happens due to the fact that Americans are trying to be politically correct, but sometimes you lose reality if you do that.

Not to even mention Pasolini's: "Salo or the 120 days of Sodom," which I personally did not like.
 
Angela said:
Women like Sophia Loren and Anna Magnani are two of those people, in my opinion, particularly because along with the way that they portray other aspects of a woman's life, they embody a certain type of sexuality that's very foreign to American culture.
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Maybe that type of sexuality is foreign to the media there. Plus the man has to be receptive to it or he is not going to see it if he is too busy working and being stressed-out.
The other thing is "being a puritan", those guys were so conservative that England kicked them out, and England is a nunnery...
Then again, does anyone really have a choice as to what they like to watch?! taste is build in childhood by outside influences and rarely changes in adulthood.
 
Engel said:
She may be pretty, but who cares what you like? certainly not her or her lookalikes. Lol
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OP no good!
You hurt my feelings now breh. When I said 'bout Rachel, I had in mind Aberdeen's comment.

All in all, McAdams is not a bad actor. Surely there are better, like the ones mentioned above.
 
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