Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne, recognized for her remarkable performance in the film “Rosetta,” has sadly passed away at the age of 43. Reports indicate that Dequenne died on Sunday in a hospital near Paris after battling a rare form of cancer. She had publicly disclosed her diagnosis of adrenocortical carcinoma earlier in 2023.
Dequenne’s career took off when she was just 18, securing the best actress award at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival for her role in “Rosetta.” Directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, the film follows a young girl’s struggle to break away from her challenging life with an alcoholic mother, and it won the prestigious Palme d’Or that same year.
Born in Belœil, Belgium, in 1981, Dequenne showed an early passion for drama, studying at the Académie de Musique de Baudour. She became a household name in France after co-starring with Catherine Deneuve in the 2009 film “The Girl on the Train,” which is based on a true story about a woman who falsely alleged being an antisemitic attack victim. Her television work includes portraying police officer Laurence Renauld in the French series “The Missing.”
In 2012, Dequenne earned the Un Certain Regard best actress award at Cannes for “Our Children,” a haunting psychological drama based on a tragic real-life story of a Belgian woman who murdered her five children. Over her career, she received numerous César Award nominations, eventually capturing the award for best supporting actress in 2021 for her role in the romantic comedy “Love Affair(s).” Reflecting on the traumatic role in “Our Children,” she mentioned in a 2013 Guardian interview, “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.”
More recently, Dequenne appeared in “Close,” a touching coming-of-age drama by Lukas Dhont, which brought her back to Cannes in 2022. She noted parallels between her young co-star and her own experience starring in “Rosetta,” stating, “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 (Dambrine) and myself because I remember when I was here the first time with ‘Rosetta,’” she reflected. “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.”
Dequenne returned to Cannes in 2024 to mark the 25th anniversary of “Rosetta.” Her final cinematic appearance was in Frédéric Jardin’s “Survive,” a post-apocalyptic thriller released earlier this year. Although she embraced roles in England, France, and Belgium, she was not drawn to 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 expressed in her Guardian interview. “Honestly, it’s not a fun place, or at least not my kind of fun.”
Dequenne is survived by her husband, director and producer Michel Ferracci, and their daughter, Milla Savarese.
