tMF | The Movie-Fanatic

French actress Isild le Besco can be considered as ambitious and as talented as Natalie Portman, if not more. I guess, that's for the big-name critics to debate upon and their fans, of course. However, I'm not going to compare Portman and Le Besco to create controversy, but simply because they have made some very interesting career moves of late. Both have explored career paths outside acting - both ladies have directed movies, even wrote the script (New York, I Love You for Natalie, Charly and Demi-tarif, among others for Isild), and both have been nominated by their peers in their respective national award giving bodies (the Oscars and César Awards, respectively). Both are also definitely in the running for the top ranking in the updated tMF Top 50 Hottest Young Actresses.

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But let's concentrate more on Ms. le Besco. Reports the New York Times:

The gifted and singular actress Isild Le Besco can already claim an extensive career in French cinema. At 14, she starred in "La Puce," Emmanuelle Bercot's short film about a girl's first sexual experience. A couple of years later, she was playing the love interest in Benoît Jacquot's "Sade" and Cédric Kahn's "Robert Succo." And by 18, Ms. Le Besco, was writing and directing "Demi-Tarif," shot with a digital camera mostly in the apartment where she grew up, in a working-class Paris neighborhood. [ read more ]

And says the actress-filmmaker herself:

"...acting has always seemed more natural to me than anything else."

More of Le Besco and her two high-profile films, including You Will Be Mine, right after the jump!

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You Will Be Mine (Je te mangerais): An Evil Seductress named Isild le Besco!

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Part of the review from Variety follows:

An aspiring pianist suffers at the hands of a seductive roommate from hell in "You Will Be Mine," a sensually appealing but fairly generic psychosexual two-hander from freshman helmer Sophie Laloy. Gallic femme fatale Isild Le Besco (who manages full-scale eroticism without ever actually undressing) stars as a deranged college student who invites her friend to share an apartment, and then harasses her with draconian house rules and a fatal lesbian crush. Though we've seen this scenario before, well-tempered acting and a gorgeous classical score make it watchable enough. Extremely Frenchified blend of sex and high art could entice foreign distribs.

When country bumpkin Marie (Judith Davis) moves to Lyon to study music and live with distant childhood friend Emma (Le Besco), the two get off to a reasonably pleasant start. But Emma soon begins snooping on, and salivating over, her naive roomie, while Marie eggs her on by wearing skimpy sleepwear and even masturbating once while practicing piano.

By the 30-minute mark, the two eventually hook up, and things between them then go downhill as Marie tries to free herself from Emma's far-reaching clutches. Even the presence of a fellow pianist-cum-lover (Johan Liberau) -- who prances naked around the apartment -- isn't enough to stop Emma from trying to get Marie into bed a second time.

Oscillating between the cutthroat world of conservatory musicians and a housemate horror story, Laloy's semi-autobiographical script (written with Jean-Luc Gaget, who co-scripted Icelandic stoner comedy "Back Soon") plays out rather unimaginatively like "Single White Female" meets recent Gallic hit "The Page Turner." But a few nuances, especially in Marie's varying attitude toward Emma, keep one guessing until the dramatic closing sequence. [ read more ]

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She'll also appear in The Good Heart, with Paul Dano and Brian Cox, reports cineuropa:

The multi-talented French actress Isild Le Besco has joined Paul Dano and Brian Cox on the set of Dagur Kari's The Good Heart, currently shooting in New York. The 26 year-old actress has been nominated twice for César Awards (in 2000 for Sade and in 2001 for Roberto Succo), and won the Venice Film Festival's Marcello Mastroianni Award for Most Promising Young Actress in 2006 for The Untouchable.