Denis Lavant

Acting

Denis Lavant

Born 1961-06-17 · Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Denis Lavant (born June 17, 1961) is a French film actor known for his distinctive face and the physically demanding aspects of the roles he plays, which often involve slapstick, acrobatics or dance, as well as for his long-standing association with director Leos Carax. Lavant has played the lead role in all but one of Carax's films. Lavant is also known for his starring roles in Claire Denis' Beau Travail and Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely, which features Carax in a supporting role.

Acting credits

Holy Motors poster
7.0

We follow 24 hours in the life of a being moving from life to life like a cold and solitary assassin moving from hit to hit. In each of these interwoven lives, the being possesses an entirely distinct identity: sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes youthful, sometimes old. By turns murderer, beggar, company chairman, monstrous creature, worker, family man.

Holy Motors

2012

The Emperor of Paris poster
6.3

Paris, France, early 19th century. The legendary convict François Vidocq lives in disguise trying to escape from a tragic past that torments him. When, after an unfortunate event, he crosses paths with the police chief, he makes a bold decision that will turn the ruthless mastermind of the Parisian underworld against him.

The Emperor of Paris

2018

The Stranger poster
6.8

Algiers, 1938. Meursault, a quiet and unassuming employee in his early thirties, attends his mother's funeral without shedding a tear. The next day, he begins a casual affair with Marie, a work colleague. He quickly slips back into his usual routine.

The Stranger

2025

A Very Long Engagement poster
7.3

Young Frenchwoman Mathilde searches for the truth about her missing fiancé, lost during World War I, and learns many unexpected things along the way. The love of her life is gone. But she refuses to believe he's gone forever — and she needs to know for sure.

A Very Long Engagement

2004

The Night Eats the World poster
6.0

After waking up to find himself all alone in an apartment where a massive party was being held the night before, Sam is immediately forced to face a terrifying reality: the living dead have invaded the streets of Paris.

The Night Eats the World

2018

The Lovers on the Bridge poster
7.4

Set against Paris' oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf, while it was closed for repairs, this film is a love story between two young vagrants: Alex, a would be circus performer addicted to alcohol and sedatives and Michele, a painter driven to a life on the streets because of a failed relationship and an affliction which is slowly turning her blind.

The Lovers on the Bridge

1991

Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas poster
5.9

In the 16th century in the Cévennes, a horse dealer by the name of Michael Kohlhaas leads a happy and prosperous family life. When a lord treats him unjustly, this pious, upstanding man raises an army and puts the country to fire and sword in order to have his rights restored.

Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas

2013

Pitchipoï poster
5.0

Julien Schulmann is a comedian. He has just lost his father, a Polish Jew and extermination camp survivor. Before he died, his father left a "will" in which he requested that his other son, Pierre, who hasn't been heard from for two years, spread his ashes in Poland. His father's preference comes as a rude shock for Julien, and it opens a chasm inside him, slowly bringing to light an unspeakable secret.

Pitchipoï

2015

Tokyo! poster
6.9

Three distinct tales unfold in the bustling city of Tokyo. Merde, a bizarre sewer-dweller, emerges from a manhole and begins terrorizing pedestrians. After his arrest, he stands trial and lashes out at a hostile courtroom. A man who has resigned himself to a life of solitude reconsiders after meeting a charming pizza delivery woman. And finally, a happy young couple find themselves undergoing a series of frightening metamorphoses.

Tokyo!

2008

Silent Streams poster
5.0

Women and men are lost in their thoughts at random hours of the day and streets of the city. From this sudden intimacy, the murmurs of their little inner voice let us hear the anxieties of love.

Silent Streams

2019

Beau Travail poster
7.2

Foreign Legion officer Galoup recalls his once glorious life, training troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, until the arrival of a promising young recruit, Sentain, plants the seeds of jealousy in Galoup's mind.

Beau Travail

2000

Hitler in Hollywood poster
6.2

A bio-doc about Micheline Presle changes into a thrilling investigation of the long hidden truth about European cinema. This mockumentary thriller uncovers Hollywood's unsuspected plot against the European motion picture industry. Numerous directors and stars appear in the film, making it a choice morsel for all film lovers.

Hitler in Hollywood

2011

Gagarine poster
6.6

Yuri, 16, has lived all his life in Gagarin Towers, a vast red-brick housing project on the outskirts of Paris. He dreams of becoming an astronaut. When plans to demolish Gagarin Towers leak out, Yuri joins the resistance. With his friends Diana and Houssam, he embarks on a mission to save their home, which has become his “starship.”

Gagarine

2020

My Intelligent Comedy poster
6.8

Damien Nadeau-Daneau, a young filmaker, is unable to finish a movie he started with french actor Denis Lavant. Indebted, he’s working at a post-production company, far from his artistic ideals. On the eve of his 33rd birthday, he is self-centered, unsatisfied, and lost in his own life. With no drama of his own, he is confronted with that of others who he meets over the course of his life. He will discover that reality is way more interesting than fiction.

My Intelligent Comedy

2018

My Little Princess poster
6.5

Young Violetta and her mother Hannah are a peculiar couple. Ten-year-old Violetta lives a quiet life with her grandmother, while her mother Hannah is an unpredictable photographer who lives off of the generosity of others. When Hannah forces her daughter to pose as a model, Violetta finds her life with her loving grandmother turned upside down.The resulting pictures quickly become a sensation for the trendy 70's Paris art scene, and Violetta finds herself caught in between her new stature as an art muse and her dull childhood.

My Little Princess

2011

Mauvais Sang poster
7.1

Two aging crooks are given two weeks to repay a debt to a woman named The American. They recruit their recently deceased partner's son to help them break into a laboratory and steal the vaccine against STBO, a sexually transmitted disease that is sweeping the country. It's spread by having sex without emotional involvement, and most of its victims are teenagers who make love out of curiosity rather than commitment.

Mauvais Sang

1986

Silver Skates poster
7.5

1899, the Christmas-time St.Petersburg. Ice-covered rivers and canals of the capital seethe with festive activities. On the eve of the new century those who should not be destined to meet, come together. They are people from different worlds: Matvey, the son of a lamplighter, whose only treasure is his silver-plated skates; Alice is the daughter of a high-ranking official dreaming of science. Each of them has his own difficult life-story, but having accidentally met they rush forward together in pursuit of their dreams.

Silver Skates

2020

Going and Coming Back poster
6.5

Salomé Lerner just finished writing an autobiography. She goes to a TV show called "Apostrophes", hosted by French TV showman Bernard Pivot. Pivot then imagines a film that could be created from her gripping story. A film entirely made of music because after seeing the young pianist Erik Berchot, Salomé believes seeing her long lost brother, who was a musician as well. A brother she had lost along with her parents in 1943. However, the Lerners did in fact escape the gestapo and might have based themselves in Paris...

Going and Coming Back

1985

Tralala poster
5.6

A 48-year-old homeless singer and composer receive a cryptic message that makes him believe he has been visited by the Virgin Mary.

Tralala

2021

The Mountain poster
5.1

1950s America. Since his mother‘s confinement to an institution, Andy has lived in the shadow of his stoic father. A family acquaintance, Dr. Wallace Fiennes, employs the introverted young man as a photographer to document an asylum tour advocating for his increasingly controversial lobotomy procedure.

The Mountain

2019

The End poster
NR

A stop-motion doomsday comedy, in which airport-bound creatures wait out the impending apocalypse.

The End

2026

Louis-Ferdinand Céline poster
5.8

1948 - Louis-Ferdinand Céline in Denmark, in exile, accused of collaboration with the Nazis during the occupation of the France. He is accompanied by Lucette, his wife and his cat Bebert.

Louis-Ferdinand Céline

2016

Hotel Fantasma poster
NR

The life of whimsical Amélie, a reserved chambermaid, is upended by the arrival of Madame Raoul, a mysterious guest with an air of playful intrigue.

Hotel Fantasma

2025

Aymeline poster
NR

Experience heartbreak, horror and mayhem with Aymeline Valade Once one of the most beloved film stars in the world, Aymeline now avoids the spotlight; recovering from the trauma of an abusive relationship and spending her time locked in a mansion in the hills of the Côte d'Azur with her cat. When her obsessive agent, Franco, abruptly shows up, he warns her of her impending irrelevance-- resulting in heartbreak, horror and mayhem.

Aymeline

2022

Behind the camera