The Montreal World Film Festival will pay tribute to the celebrated French actress Nathalie Baye, who will be in Montreal to present a selection of her films. One of the most well-respected and versatile French actresses of her generation, Nathalie Baye has enjoyed a lengthy career that has included multiple César awards and a wide variety of roles. She has been the muse of many of the great directors of the French screen, such as Alain Cavalier, Nicole Garcia, Jean-Luc Godard, Tonie Marshall, Maurice Pialat, Claude Chabrol, Bertrand Tavernier and François Truffaut, and also has distinguished herself in international films by such directors as Marco Ferreri, Steven Spielberg, Robert Wise and Tsai Ming-liang.

Thanks to her sensuality and skillful comic timing, Baye has been used to great effect in everything from serious psychological dramas to light romantic comedies. Baye developed a love of dance at an early age. Her passion took her to New York at the age of 17, where she trained as a ballerina for two years. Upon her return to France, she became interested in acting, and studied drama at the Paris Conservatoire. Over the course of her studies she gained a reputation as a talented comedienne, and made her screen debut opposite Isabelle Adjani in the 1971 comedy Faustine. Two years later, Truffaut cast her in a supporting part in Day for Night, and Baye subsequently landed her first starring role in Maurice Pialat's La Gueule Ouverte (1974).

Rising quickly through the acting ranks during the 1970s and 1980s, she was increasingly sought after by such directors as Godard, for his 1979 romantic drama Sauve Qui Peut (la Vie), Pierre Granier-Deferre for his comedy Strange Affair (1981) and Bob Swaim for his crime drama La Balance (1982), winning Césars in each.

Unlike many actresses whose careers wane as they edge toward middle age, Baye continued to portray vibrant, attractive women in thrillers, dramas, and comedies alike. Two of her more celebrated films were An Affair of Love (Frédéric Fonteyne, 1999), which cast Baye as a woman who discovers that having an exclusively sexual affair is not as easy as she had imagined, and Vénus Beauté (Institut) (2000), a romantic comedy in which Baye played a beautician in search of love without commitment. She earned a Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival for the former film and her fourth César nomination for the latter, further proof that the passing of years had only strengthened her appeal. An appeal and versatility which continues to be on display, as in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002) and Xavier Beauvais' The Young Lieutenant (2005), for whose portrayal of a life-hardened police detective she earned a fourth César.

Ms. Baye will receive the Grand Prize of the Americas in tribute to her extraordinary body of work. The 34th edition of the Montreal World Film Festival will take place August 26 to September 6, 2010. For more information, visit: www.ffm-montreal.org

Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor