Juliette Binoche, daughter of an actress and a sculptor, was only 23 when she first attracted the attention of international film critics with The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988). Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times film critic with an international following of his books on film and TV reviews, wrote that she was "almost ethereal in her beauty and innocence". That innocence was gone by the time Binoche completed Louis Malle's Fatale (1992). In an interview after the film was released, Binoche said: "Malle was trying to change my image! He considered it too direct and wanted something more sophisticated". A year later Krzysztof Kieslowski's Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993) was added to her film credits and Ebert had this to say: "Binoche has a face that is well-suited to this kind of role. Because she can convince you that she is thinking and feeling, she doesn't need to 'do' things in an obvious way". 

After a sabbatical from film-making to become a mother in 1994, Binoche was selected as the heroine of France's most expensive ($35 million) movie ever: Hussard sur let toit, Le (1995). In his review of that film, Stephen Holden, New York Times film critic, wrote: "Binoche... conveys a mercurially eruptive spirit that makes Pauline mysterious and utterly captivating". Barbara Shulgasser, San Francisco Examiner film critic, liked Binoche a lot better than the film itself or the leading man, Olivier Martinez, whom she found "a bit dull here. Offscreen he's probably more exciting as he and Binoche are an item. Binoche, on the other hand, is a joy to behold. With that simple beauty, eyes that always look to be near tears and a sultry, swollen upper lip, she does most of her acting just by manipulating that wonderful face."

Credit: spacesurfer.com