Anne France Sophie Wiazemsky
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Books
6
Awards
At age 18, Anne Wiazemsky made her acting debut as the lead in Robert Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar 1966, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. She married director Jean-Luc Godard and starred in several of his films before transitioning to writing, winning the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens and other literary awards. Wiazemsky also directed documentaries and co-wrote the film U.S. Go Home. She died of breast cancer in Paris in 2017.
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Anne Wiazemsky — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
On May 14, 1947, Anne Wiazemsky was born in Berlin to Ivan Vyazemsky, a Russian prince and diplomat, and Claire Mauriac, whose father François Mauriac won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Following her father’s diplomatic postings, she spent her childhood in Geneva and Caracas before returning to Paris in 1962. She graduated from the high school Ecole Sainte Marie de Passy and later enrolled at Paris Nanterre University.
Her film debut came in 1966 as Marie in Robert Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar, which won awards at the Venice Film Festival. In 1967, she starred as Véronique in Jean-Luc Godard’s La Chinoise and married Godard. She appeared in other Godard films including Weekend 1967 and Tout Va Bien 1972, and worked with Pier Paolo Pasolini on Theorem 1968 and Pigsty 1969. In the 1980s, she turned to writing and directing, co-writing U.S. Go Home 1994 with Claire Denis and directing television documentaries. Her novel Canines won the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, and Une poignée de gens won the Grand Prix du roman de l’Académie française.
In 1967, Wiazemsky married director Jean-Luc Godard, starring in several of his films. The couple separated by 1970 and divorced in 1979. She later wrote two books about her life with Godard, including Un An Après, which chronicles her experience filming La Chinoise. In 1971, she signed the Manifesto of the 343, publicly declaring she had an abortion to advocate for reproductive rights while it was illegal in France. She had a brother, Wiaz, who became a cartoonist.
Starring in Robert Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar and Jean-Luc Godard’s La Chinoise, Anne Wiazemsky later transitioned to writing, where she earned the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens and the Grand Prix du roman de l’Académie française. Her novel Un An Après was adapted into the film Le Redoutable 2017 by Michel Hazanavicius. She was also named a Knight of the Legion of Honour.
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She wrote several books, including a novel Canines, which won the Goncourt prize voted by high school students. Another novel, Une poignée de gens, based on the history of her Russian aristocratic family, won the grand prize of the French Academy. She also wrote two books about her life with Godard.
Friend from school of Blandine Jeanson and of Florence Delay.
She graduated from the high school Ecole Sainte Marie de Passy in Paris.
In 1971, Wiazemsky signed the Manifesto of the 343, which publicly declared she had an abortion as a way to advocate for reproductive rights; the procedure was illegal in France at the time.
Wiazemsky spent her early years abroad following her father’s postings around the world, including Geneva and Caracas; she returned to Paris in 1962.
Her father, Yvan Wiazemsky, a French diplomat, was a Russian prince who had emigrated to France following the Russian Revolution. Her mother, Claire Mauriac, was the daughter of François Mauriac, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
In 2015, she wrote the novel Un An Après, which chronicled her time shooting Godard’s film La Chinoise to when their relationship soured. It was developed into the feature film Le Redoutable by Michel Hazanavicius.
Wiazemsky made her on-screen acting debut at age 18, playing Marie, the lead character in Robert Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar 1966 after being introduced to the director by the actress Florence Delay. The film premiered at the 1966 Venice Film Festival where it won the OCIC Award, the San Giorgio Prize, and the New Cinema Award. Her novel Jeune Fille 2007 was based on her experience of starring in Au hasard Balthazar.
In the 1980s she began to write and direct. In 1994 she co-wrote the script for U.S. Go Home, directed by Claire Denis, set in 1960s France. She also began to direct television documentaries.
During the 1966 filming of Au hasard Balthazar, director Robert Bresson proposed to her several times, but she refused. In 1967, she married Jean-Luc Godard and starred in several of his films; the couple separated as early as 1970, though the marriage officially ended in divorce in 1979.
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