Success stories and extraordinary destinies have always fueled Hollywood stories.
On screen and behind the scenes, through the journeys of actors who, despite the obstacles, have obtained a second chance or a new space for expression.
When she received her Golden Globe for the series The White Lotus in January, the irresistible Jennifer Coolidge thus evoked twenty years of small roles, sufficient to hold on, however too thin to reach the higher stage.
But the social satire of Mike White shuffled the cards, propelling her, at 60, the new darling of Hollywood.
For actresses, age is critical, however, as evoked by the ghost Michelle Yeoh, crowned during this same ceremony for the unclassifiable Everything Everywhere All at Once.
“All the women present understand this: as the days, months and years increase, the opportunities tend to decrease.
»
In video, the incredible Jennifer Coolidge in
White Lotus
season 2, on OCS
Rare roles
According to Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, who also made a remarkable comeback by playing the irreverent businesswomen in the series Emily in Paris, France is no exception: "Despite some authors capable of great freedom, there are still many female stereotypes, whatever the age of the character: the cocotte, the uptight Catholic, the haughty and humorless bourgeoise... It is all the more complicated to fall in love with roles than from 45 or 50 years, you are only the mother of the hero or heroine.
The interesting scores are won by the actresses who work a lot, and for all the others the proactive characters are rare.
I was punctually crossed by the idea of stopping the cinema, but I am stubborn and passionate.
I
just waiting for someone to believe it.
»
Read alsoThe 2023 Oscars ceremony, under fire from critics for its nominations deemed sexist
In her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, Michelle Yeoh, also nominated for the Oscar for best actress, underlined that she had accepted her fate, before Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert offered her their superhero film not like others.
She plays a laundromat boss traveling in parallel universes.
Historically, it is on the side of American auteur cinema – and not blockbusters – that the resurrection is played out.
Quentin Tarantino drafted John Travolta for
Pulp Fiction
, the handsome romantic comedy Matthew McConaughey established himself as a performance actor thanks to auteur films (
Lincoln Defense, Dallas Buyers Club
...), the former black sheep Robert Downey Jr was resurrected with
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
… As for Ke Huy Quan, the Half-Moon and child star of
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
, he received the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor this year, before being nominated, he too won the Oscar for
Everything Everywhere All at Once.
“All the women present understand this: as the days, months and years increase, the opportunities tend to decrease.
»
Michelle Yeoh
The resurrected
“Telling the story of those who have been rejected by the system is part of the DNA of independent cinema, analyzes Antoine Sire, author of
Hollywood, the city of women
(Éd. Actes Sud).
To accentuate the effect, these films employ actors who truly embody this abandonment and find a form of splendor through their resilience.
In the shadow of the spotlight following a divorce, marked by physical injuries and trauma (he claims to have been sexually assaulted by a Hollywood pundit), Brendan Fraser makes an Oscar-winning return to declining obese in The Whale,
by
Darren Aronofsky, a film that shatters the image of a handsome adventurer that stuck with him since
The Mummy
.
Accentuated by the industry's awareness of the need to diversify stories and profiles, this phenomenon of resurgence is not new, however.
In video, Brendan Fraser moved to tears by the 6-minute standing ovation he received in Venice
Box office success and an Oscar at stake?
Antoine Sire thus evokes Joan Crawford, star “made” by MGM in the 1930s, who, while her star was fading, was let go by the studio.
Warner, a rival studio betting on more realistic incarnations – like the independents of today to a certain extent – then offered him
Mildred Pierce
, a film noir about a sacrificial, divorced, penniless woman, taking her destiny into her own hands to climb the social scale.
Result: success at the box office, Oscar and return to the fore.
In Hollywood as in France, money is the sinews of war: the accumulation of bides can have a major impact on a career.
After many bad choices, Kevin Costner, ex-star of the 1990s, largely lost his luster.
His lifeline?
The Yellowstone
series ,
which not only won him a Golden Globe but also allowed him to direct for the big screen
Horizon
, an ambitious four-part western saga he had dreamed of for seven years.
Before him, others had conjured fate.
“A rising actress in the early 1930s, Katharine Hepburn was considered a box office poison at the end of the decade and could no longer find roles, recalls Antoine Sire.
She turned to the theater, where she played
Indiscretions
, a huge success for which she had the intelligence to acquire the rights for the cinema.
MGM followed and made her, later on, an in-house actress.
»
“When you are no longer part of the field of vision of people in the cinema, they think that you no longer exist.
»
Anouk Grinberg
Second chance: French actresses too
For lack of good proposals on the big screen, Anouk Grinberg has also found her fulfillment elsewhere, in the theater, the writing of novels and painting.
“When you are no longer part of the field of vision of people in the cinema, they think that you no longer exist.
When, sometimes, I happened to fantasize about a possible return to the cinema, I said to myself that the ideal would be to work with someone who would not care about who I had been, to see who I had become. .
I was very marked by my roles as a woman-child at Bertrand Blier;
it took me years to get rid of it.
But what's beautiful is that some directors and I were ready at the same time.
»
After
Tromperie,
by Arnaud Desplechin, and
La Nuit du 12,
by Dominik Moll, Grinberg impressed in
L'Innocent,
by Louis Garrel, as a loving, free and whimsical mother.
The key: a nomination for the César for best supporting role and new projects, including the first feature by actress Lætitia Dosch.
“When you are an actor, there is a risk of boring the public, concludes Antoine Sire.
But there is also the possibility of a rebound linked to immediate empathy, to great memories in the room.
Why wouldn't we like to see those we loved so much again?
»
