Coralie Fargeat

French filmmaker (born 1976) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coralie Fargeat

Coralie Fargeat (/fɑːrʒɑː/ far-ZHAH; French: [kɔʁali faʁʒa]; born 24 November 1976) is a French filmmaker. She gained recognition with her debut feature film, Revenge (2017), for which she received awards from several independent film festivals. Her follow-up feature, The Substance (2024), a satirical body horror film, earned her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay as well as three Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.[1][2]

Quick Facts Born, Occupation ...
Coralie Fargeat
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Fargeat in 2024
Born (1976-11-24) 24 November 1976 (age 48)
Paris, France
OccupationFilmmaker
Years active2003–present
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Early life

Fargeat was born and raised in Paris.[3] She decided to be a filmmaker when she was 16 or 17 years old.[4] Fargeat studied at Sciences Po before beginning work on film sets. In 2010, Fargeat attended La Fémis, a prestigious cinema school in Paris.[3][4][5] She was selected to be in its Atelier Scénario, a year-long screenwriting workshop, where she was told her screenplay would never be made because of how violent and graphic it was.[citation needed]

While attending La Fémis, Fargeat and a group of her director friends created a collective called La Squadra, where they all tried to edit their features together, facing similar difficulties as they each wanted to create genre films. They met twice a week and invited filmmakers and industry professionals to share their success stories with them, which helped them to gain a more realistic understanding of the film world, how it works, and the logistics of how to get their stories told.[4]

Career

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Fargeat in 2018

Fargeat's first short film Le télégramme was released in 2003, a film about two women awaiting a postman's delivery during World War II. The film won 13 awards at several film festivals.[3]

In 2007, Fargeat co-created Les Fées cloches [fr] with Anne-Elisabeth Blateau, a comedy mini-series which she also directed.[6]

Fargeat released her short follow-up Reality+ in 2014. The sci-fi tale received a nomination for the Jury Award at the Tribeca Film Festival.[7]

Fargeat's debut feature film was Revenge (2017), a revenge thriller about a young woman who is raped and left for dead. Inspired by revenge movies like Kill Bill, Rambo, and Mad Max, Fargeat was interested in exploring a character who would seem "weak" to others or the audience, but during the film would undergo a transformation into a "kind of superhero" that would set out to get her revenge.[8] The film had its world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival in the festival's Midnight Madness section,[9] and was selected to be screened at 23 additional film festivals.[10]

In 2022, Fargeat directed an episode of the Netflix series The Sandman.[11]

Fargeat's second feature film was The Substance (2024), a body horror film starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid.[12][13] The film premiered in competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival to a strong critical reception.[14] Fargeat went on to win the festival's Best Screenplay award for the film.[15]

Fargeat is a member and one of the founding signatories of Collectif 50/50, a group established with the purpose of working towards gender equality across the film industry.[16]

Filmmaking style and influences

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Fargeat is fascinated with the suspension of disbelief, and is a fan of using imagery and symbols to express something simple in a powerful way.[8] She is fascinated with films that are able to create their own world and manage to exist outside the realm of reality, citing revenge films like Kill Bill and Rambo as examples of this.[8]

In making graphic or gore-filled movies, Fargeat finds that balancing violent scenes with humor makes the violence more tolerable.[17]

Fargeat believes that films that fill themselves with homages and references can push the viewer away from being able to identify with the film.[4] She describes this separation as "second-degree moments" and chooses to stay away from excessive references. Fargeat finds it crucial to approach film and filmmaking with a genuine and sincere vision, stating she tries to "embrace [her] subject in its choices, its biases, its excesses, in its faults too" to achieve this.[4]

When in pre-production for Revenge, she stated that actress Matilda Lutz was chosen for the part partially because of her extensive trust in Fargeat, something that was important to her for the creation of the film.[4]

Fargeat lists David Cronenberg, John Carpenter, David Lynch, Paul Verhoeven, and Michael Haneke as filmmakers who have influenced her, as well as crediting several South Korean filmmakers as stylistic inspiration.[18][19]

Filmography

Feature film

More information Year, Title ...
Year Title Director Writer Producer Editor
2017 Revenge Yes Yes No Yes
2024 The Substance Yes Yes Yes Yes
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Short film

More information Year, Title ...
Year Title Director Writer
2003 Le télégramme Yes Yes
2014 Reality+ Yes Yes
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Television

More information Year, Title ...
Year Title Notes Ref.
2008–2014 Les Fées Cloches Co-creator and starred as Pata [20][21]
2022 The Sandman Episode: "Collectors"
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Awards and nominations

More information Award, Year ...
Award Year Category Work Result Ref.
Festival International du Film d'Amiens 2004 Prix des enfants de la Licorne Le télégramme Won [22]
Fajr International Film Festival 2005 International Competition – Best Short Narrative Film Won
Corti Da Sogni Antonio Ricci International Short Film Festival 2015 European Sogni Award Reality+ Won [23]
Tribeca Festival 2016 Jury Award for Best Narrative Short Nominated [7]
Sitges Film Festival 2017 Best Director Revenge Won [24]
Citizen Kane Award for Best New Director Won
Monster Fest Best International Feature Won [25]
Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2018 Best of Bucheon Award Won [26]
Calgary Underground Film Festival Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature Won [27]
Cleveland International Film Festival New Direction Competition Nominated [28]
ReelWomenDirect Award for Excellence in Directing by a Woman Nominated
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards 2019 Best Director Nominated [29]
Best Limited Feature Nominated
Cannes Film Festival 2024 Palme d'Or The Substance Nominated [30]
Best Screenplay Won [31]
Toronto International Film Festival 2024 People's Choice Award: Midnight Madness Won [32]
European Film Awards 2024 European Film Nominated [33]
[34]
European Screenwriter Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society 2024 Best Director Nominated [35]
Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Seattle Film Critics Society 2024 Best Picture Nominated [36]
Best Director Nominated
Best Screenplay Nominated
Best Editing Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association 2024 Best Director Nominated [37]
Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Golden Globe Awards 2025 Best Director – Motion Picture Nominated [38]
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture Nominated
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Nominated
Critics' Choice Movie Awards 2025 Best Director Nominated [39]
[40]
Best Original Screenplay Won
London Film Critics' Circle 2025 Director of the Year Nominated [41]
Screenwriter of the Year Nominated
Satellite Awards 2025 Best Original Screenplay Nominated [42]
Independent Spirit Awards 2025 Best Feature Nominated [43]
Dorian Awards 2025 Film of the Year Won [44]
[45]
Director of the Year Won
Genre Film of the Year Won
Campiest Flick Won
Screenplay of the Year Nominated
Wilde Artist Award Nominated
Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2025 Outstanding Director of the Year Honored [46]
César Awards 2025 Best Foreign Film Nominated [47]
British Academy Film Awards 2025 Best Direction Nominated [48]
Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Academy Awards 2025 Best Picture Nominated [2]
[49]
Best Director Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Nominated
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References

Further reading

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