Shattering taboos with her unflinching, often shocking explorations of female sexuality and pleasure, Catherine Breillat emerged as one of the major voices of the New French Extremity, a movement defined by its transgressive focus on the corporeal realms of eroticism and violence. The two are inextricably linked in her daring body of work, which encompasses the controversial exploration of female desire ROMANCE, the provocative coming-of-age portrait FAT GIRL, revisionist fairy tales such as BLUEBEARD and SLEEPING BEAUTY, and overtly autobiographical works like ABUSE OF WEAKNESS. In all, Breillat fearlessly delves into the intricacies of eroticism, power, and sexual politics, forcing viewers to confront that which makes them most uncomfortable and radically redefining the depiction of the female body on-screen.
Directed by Catherine Breillat • 1999 • France
Starring Caroline Ducey, Sagamore Stévenin, François Berléand
Catherine Breillat explores the limits of pleasure in this boundary-pushing look at one woman’s search for sexual fulfillment. Frustrated by the lack of intimacy in her relationship with ...
Directed by Catherine Breillat • 2001 • France, Italy
Starring Anaïs Reboux, Roxane Mesquida, Libero de Rienzo
Twelve-year-old Anaïs is fat. Her sister, fifteen-year-old Elena, is a beauty. While the girls are on vacation with their parents, Anaïs tags along as Elena explores the dreary seaside ...
Directed by Catherine Breillat • 2009 • France
Starring Dominique Thomas, Lola Créton, Daphné Baiwir
The first installment in Catherine Breillat’s planned trilogy of films reworking classic fairy tales, this subversive take on Charles Perrault’s BLUEBEARD gives the famous story a sly feminist tw...
Directed by Catherine Breillat • 2010 • France
Starring Carla Besnaïnou, Julia Artamonov, Kerian Mayan
Having already put her own distinctive spin on the Bluebeard legend, iconoclastic auteur Catherine Breillat continued her deconstruction of classic fairy tales with this visually ravishing, pla...
Directed by Catherine Breillat • 2013 • France
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Kool Shen, Laurence Ursino
Inspired by director Catherine Breillat’s real-life experiences, ABUSE OF WEAKNESS is a daring exploration of power and sex from a director fearlessly confronting her own demons. Isabelle Huppert...
