It is one of the revelations of French cinema. Rebecca Marder is since Wednesday, October 12 on the poster of Simone, the journey of the century directed by Olivier Dahan. A biopic retracing the fate of former minister Simone Veil who disappeared in 2017, in which she shares the leading role with actress Elsa Zylberstein.
Embodying the life of this feminist figure during her young years (from 16 to 37 years old), Rebecca Marder inherits a strong role here. “I wanted to live up to this woman, who seems to have descended from heaven. Everything she has accomplished is almost divine,” she confides to Vogue. In order to play Simone Veil correctly, the actress drew inspiration from her life for a long time. “To approach her, I spent nights on the INA site listening to her speak, watching her. I scrutinized her gaze, which constantly swings between the living and the dead. And I read everything that could be written about her. A work that could well bear fruit with the public and critics.
Born on April 10, 1995, Rebecca Marder is the daughter of an American musician and a French journalist who officiated between Le Monde and Liberation. Bathed in this double culture, she had an early start to her career. She made her first appearance at the cinema in 2001 in This is my body by Rodolphe Marconi. Then, she played the leading role in 2006 in the comedy Ask permission for children, by Éric Civanyan, mischievously playing the daughter of Pascal Légitimus and Sandrine Bonnaire. She distinguished herself in 2010 in La Rafle, the historical drama by Roselyne Bosch, with Jean Reno and Gad Elmaleh.
Trained at the Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, Rebecca Marder attended the benches of Paris Diderot University to study literature and cinema in 2013. But she chose to interrupt her studies to join the Theater School national de Strasbourg, in September 2014. The following year, she experienced consecration at the age of 20 by becoming a resident at the Comédie-Française. “It was the happiest day of my life,” she rejoiced in Le Monde.
The youngest member of the troupe made her debut in Les Rustres, by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Jean-Louis Benoît at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier. After ten plays, she left the institution to devote herself to her acting career. A “dizzying decision”, for the star. “I want to know who Rebecca is without the prestigious particle. At 27, I feel like I’m at a turning point in my life and in my career. I want to live from cinema, and multiply the beautiful meetings”, in front of our colleagues. Among them, we find her with Fabrice Lucchini in A Man in a Hurry (2018), Isabelle Huppert in La Daronne (2020), and Suzanne Lindon in Sixteen Spring (2021).
The year 2022 seems to smile on Rebecca Marder. Starring in several films, she plays Une fille qui va bien, by Sandrine Kiberlain. A role that earned her the Swann d’or for female revelation at the Cabourg Festival. Then, she gives voice in Des goûts et des couleurs, by Michel Leclerc. She will soon return in Great Expectations alongside her partner, actor Benjamin Lavernhe, member of the Comédie-Française. Back in pictures on the brilliant career of the actress in our slideshow.