Marie Rivière

Marie Rivière is a French actress and multifaceted filmmaker born on 22 December 1956 in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. Raised in a working‑class household on a housing estate, she initially pursued a career as a schoolteacher before working as a shop assistant, experiences that later informed the authenticity of her on‑screen characters. At the age of twenty‑one, after being moved by Éric Rohmer’s L’Amour l’après‑midi, she wrote to the director, sending a photograph and a heartfelt note; Rohmer, impressed by her earnestness, invited her to a meeting at Les Films du Losange where she met Arielle Dombasle and Thierry Lhermitte and was offered a small part in the medieval adventure Perceval le Gallois. Two years later, Rohmer cast her in The Aviator’s Wife (1979), the inaugural film of his celebrated Comédies et Proverbes series, marking the beginning of a long‑standing artistic partnership. Rivière’s breakout role arrived with the delicate and introspective Delphine in Rohmer’s The Green Ray (1986), a performance that earned critical acclaim, contributed to the film’s Golden Lion victory at Venice, and solidified her status as a muse of French New Wave cinema. She later reunited with Rohmer in Conte d’automne (1998), sharing the screen with fellow Rohmer favorite Béatrice Romand. Beyond acting, Rivière expanded her creative horizons by co‑directing La règle du silence (1993) with Marc Rivière, showcasing her talents as a director, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and producer. Over the decades, she has remained an active presence in French cinema, continuously exploring new roles behind the camera while preserving the nuanced, humanistic style that defined her early collaborations. Her career, spanning from 1978 to the present, exemplifies a dedication to artistic integrity and an enduring influence on contemporary French filmmaking.