Entertainment
Award-Winning Actress Passes Away At 43 From Rare Disease
The world of cinema was devastated this week by the untimely passing of Émilie Dequenne, the Belgian-born actress who was just 43 when she succumbed to her yearslong battle with a rare form of cancer.
Dequenne, who won a top Cannes Film Festival prize for her starring role in the 1999 film “Rosetta,” died at a Paris hospital on Sunday, according to news agency Agence France-Presse. Representatives for the actress did not respond to a further request for comment from the Associated Press.
In 2023, Dequenne disclosed that she had been diagnosed with adrenocortical carcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer with a five-year survival rate of 50%, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Born August 29th, 1981, in the town of Belœil, Dequenne studied acting at Académie de Musique de Baudour. She was just 18 when she nabbed the starring role in Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s film “Rosetta” about the daughter of a homeless alcoholic who struggles to break free of her surroundings. The coming-of-age drama won numerous accolades and helped shape Dequenne into a young star in French filmmaking.
Her profile rose after appearing opposite Catherine Deneuve in the 2009 French film “The Girl on the Train,” based on the true story of a woman who falsely claims to be the victim of an antisemitic attack. She was singled out again at the 2012 Cannes for her unsettling performance in “Our Children” about a Belgian mother who killed her five children.
“For my part, I went home every weekend and stayed with my family, which is a very safe place. Making a film like that is something that you have to survive,” she told the Guardian in 2013 about working on the difficult project.
In 2020, she won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for her supporting role in the drama film “Love Affair(s).”
She returned to Cannes in 2022 thanks to her co-starring performance in “Close” alongside a young Eden Dabrine. Dequenne drew similarities between her co-star and her early performance in “Rosetta.”
“For me to be here and to come back here after 23 years, it’s very emotional and there is like a reflection between Eden and myself because I remember when I was here the first time with ‘Rosetta,’” she told The Associated Press. “It was like a very powerful movie with this main character, which is in every scene, every, every shot. And that’s the same for him.”
The actress’s final performance occurred last year in the horror film “Survive,” according to the NY Post. She had just returned to the 2024 Cannes Film Festival to celebrate the 25th anniversary of “Rosetta.”
Although she enjoyed working in France, Belgium, and other European film markets, Dequenne said she never felt the itch to take her chances in Hollywood.
“I have been to Hollywood and had meetings, but really they don’t do the kind of films I like to make. And everything is kind of boring, no?” she said in the interview with The Guardian. “Honestly, it’s not a fun place, or at least not my kind of fun.”
NEW VIDEOS SUGGESTED FOR YOU
HUGE INFLATION UPDATE (MARCH 17TH VIDEO)
