Marie-José Nat

Acting

Marie-José Nat

Born 1940-04-20 · Bonifacio, Corse, France

Marie-José Benhalassa (22 April 1940 – 10 October 2019), known professionally as Marie-José Nat, was a French actress. Among her notable works in cinema were the sequel films Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Jean-Marc and Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Françoise (1963), directed by André Cayatte. In 1974, she received a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film Violins at the Ball. Benhalassa was born in Bonifacio, Corse-du-Sud, to a Kabyle Berber father, Abdelkader Benhalassa, and a Corsican mother, Vincentine (Biancarelli). In 1960, she married the actor Roger Dumas and divorced him in 1962. She then married French director Michel Drach with whom she had three sons, David, Julien and Aurélien. They divorced in 1981. She had a relationship of several years with the actor Victor Lanoux. On 30 September 2005 she married the painter, writer and songwriter Serge Rezvani in her third marriage. She died in Paris of cancer at age 79. After secondary studies at the Ajaccio high school, Benhalassa entered the cours Simon in Paris. Benhalassa began her career as a cover-girl and haute-couture model. In 1955, she won a competition from the magazine Femmes d'aujourd'hui which allowed her to become Jean-Claude Pascal's partner in a photo comics entitled L'amour est un songe. Denys de La Patellière offered her her first major role in 1959 in Rue des prairies alongside Jean Gabin, in which she played his daughter. The following year, she performed in a comedy sketch by René Clair alongside Claude Rich and Yves Robert, and obtained a major role in La Vérité by Henri-Georges Clouzot, playing Brigitte Bardot's rival opposite Sami Frey. In 1965, she married filmmaker Michel Drach; they had three children and divorced in 1981. She starred in several of her husband's films: Amelie or The Time to Love (1961), Elise, or Real Life (1970) and Les violons du bal (1974), inspired by his childhood experiences during World War II. She was also known for Train of Life (1998), Litan (1982) and The Dacians (1966) with Jean Sorel, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Victor Lanoux and Bernadette Lafont as acting partners. In 2001, Nat was a member of the jury at the 36th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2001, and at the 24th Cabourg Film Festival in 2010. She was the very first person to appear on the front cover of Télé 7 Jours in its current name on March 26, 1960. Nat was awarded Best Actress at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in Violins at the Ball, and the film was nominated for the Golden Palm award. She was made a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur on 31 December 2004, chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite on 18 November 2002 and promoted to the rank of officer on 14 November 2011, commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres as a member of the conseil de l'ordre of which she was a member from 1 March 2001 until April 2012. Source: Article "Marie-José Nat" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Acting credits

The Truth poster
7.6

As Dominique Marceau is being tried for the murder of Gilbert Tellier, accounts by different witnesses paint a picture of the kind of relationship the two used to share.

The Truth

1960

Love and the Frenchwoman poster
4.9

The seven stages in the life of the modern Frenchwomen are disclosed by seven directors in a witty way: 1 - Childhood, 2 - Adolescence, 3 - Virginity, 4 - Marriage, 5 - Adultery, 6 - Divorce, 7 - The Single Woman.

Love and the Frenchwoman

1960

Train of Life poster
7.3

In 1941, the inhabitants of a small Jewish village in Central Europe organize a fake deportation train so that they can escape the Nazis and flee to Palestine.

Train of Life

1998

The Seven Deadly Sins poster
5.9

Seven directors each dramatize one of the seven deadly sins in a short film. In "Anger," a domestic argument over a fly in the Sunday soup escalates into nuclear war. In "Sloth," a movie star would rather pay someone to tie his shoe than bend over to do it himself, and he can't be bothered to accept a starlet's sexual favors. In "Gluttony," a peasant family on its way to the funeral of a relative who died from indigestion stops regularly to eat and drink en route, arriving in time to eat some more. In "Greed," a high-class prostitute refunds the price of a cadet's lottery ticket. In "Pride," an unfaithful wife finds reason to reform. And so on through lust and envy.

The Seven Deadly Sins

1962

Disobedience poster
4.0

Luca Manzi is a fourteen year old boy when the Northern Italy Republic of Salò is governed by the Fascists. He becomes a partisan but when the war ends he is disappointed because things have not changed as he had hoped they wood, and he decides to let himself die. He is saved by Edith who tries to introduce him to sex. Based on the novel by Alberto Moravia.

Disobedience

1981

6 Calvary Street poster
9.0

Octave Verbrugge, a powerful Belgian building contractor, met Hugo Saint-Laurent, a brilliant French engineer, during a business trip and made friends with him. Now that his bureau of expertise is experiencing difficulties with one of their important projects he has the idea to hire his friend to help resolve the problem. Hugo agrees and stays as a guest at Octave's home in Ghent, where the promoter lives with his two unmarried sisters, Françoise, a beautiful but mysterious woman, and Aurélie, a very strict and withdrawn lady.

6 Calvary Street

1973

6 Calvary Street poster
9.0

Octave Verbrugge, a powerful Belgian building contractor, met Hugo Saint-Laurent, a brilliant French engineer, during a business trip and made friends with him. Now that his bureau of expertise is experiencing difficulties with one of their important projects he has the idea to hire his friend to help resolve the problem. Hugo agrees and stays as a guest at Octave's home in Ghent, where the promoter lives with his two unmarried sisters, Françoise, a beautiful but mysterious woman, and Aurélie, a very strict and withdrawn lady.

6 Calvary Street

1973

The Dacians poster
7.3

The great King of Dacia, Decebal (Decebalus), is disposed to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to keep the integrity of his people. His own son, Cotyso, is given to the god Zamolxis to the dismay of the King and his daughter Meda. Septimius Severus, a young Roman devoted to his adopted country, must make the choice between his blood origins and the culture he was introduced to.

The Dacians

1967

Diamond Safari poster
5.0

Raphaël, a former paratrooper, is unable to adapt to the constraints of social life. One day, he becomes the unwilling accomplice of jewel thieves and falls in love with Electre, the mistress of Alaphène, their boss. Electre gives herself to Raphäel and incites him to run away with her. The couple tries to reach Monte-Carlo, where the diamonds are hidden, but they are chased by Federico, one of the gangsters who craves the loot as well...

Diamond Safari

1966

The Marriage of Figaro poster
6.3

Comedy in five acts by Beaumarchais, filmed by Marcel Bluwal in studio and on location. The cast, in accordance with Marcel Bluwal's wishes, is in keeping with the age and character of the characters, to give it rhythm. At once "a comic baroque play, a bourgeois drama, a chansonnier's number, a social satire, a farce and a very pretty love story" according to Marcel Bluwal, it can also be summed up, according to Beaumarchais, as "the most bantering of intrigues".

The Marriage of Figaro

1961

Long Live the Duke! poster
8.0

A Belgian village is struck by repeated flooding, all this because they lack a new sewer. But the Ministry delays in providing the funding needed to build it. To alert public opinion, the villagers decide to do something. This "something" will be a play describing the life of their saint patron. Trouble follows, partly fueled by the short-tempered mayor.

Long Live the Duke!

1960

Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Françoise poster
5.9

The story of the couple from the very first meeting to break up told from a view of a woman, Francoise. The film shares the same plot with "Jean-Marc ou La vie conjugale", that tells the same story from another perspective.

Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Françoise

1964

The Bardot mystery poster
10.0

Who hides behind Brigitte Bardot? Extraordinarily photogenic, a tumultuous love life, the ultimate sex symbol for the 1950s and 1960s, the actress, singer and animal rights activist left an indelible mark on her era. Despite over 30,000 photos published in the press, her true personality has long-remained in the shadows.

The Bardot mystery

2012

Litan poster
6.0

Married couple Jock & Nora are visiting the town of Litan during Litan's Day, with its carnivalesque atmosphere. When Nora wakes that morning from dreaming the bizarre death of her husband, she sets out across town to find him and warn him. But as she does, she encounters stranger and stranger people and events erupting into a frenzy in front of her. Now, she and Jock must elude all of the impediments in their way of reaching safety on the outskirts of town.

Litan

1982

Diamond Rush poster
5.3

Traumatized by the War of Algeria and by the accidental death of his wife and his son, Manu left the right road. His last caper was the attack of the Antwerp-Tangiers Express, carrying a precious cargo of industrial diamonds. But the whole affair was bungled and all of his accomplices got shot. The only survivor of this disaster, Manu now finds refuge in the mountain house of Lucia, the widow of a smuggler who lives alone there with her little boy.

Diamond Rush

1969

Rue de Paris poster
6.6

While Henri was a POW during the war, his wife passed away, and he returned to face the challenges of bringing up three children alone. Henri may get drunk and angry at times, but he also has a better side that will not stay buried.

Rue de Paris

1959

Happy Arenas poster
7.0

A watchman with a sensitive heart, Fernand falls in love with Violette and Pervenche, two of the daughters of his boss, Maître Arno. At a bullfight starring three attractive Spaniards, the girls and their sister Marguerite - with whom Fernand's companion Rémy is in love - compete in charm, to the despair of both suitors. Followed by Marina, a pretty girl who seems to take a keen interest in Fernand, the two friends decide to retire to Les Martigues, far from their belles. But soon annoyed by Marina's insistence, Fernand returns to Maître Arno's manade, while Rémy decides to become a bullfighter to win back Marguerite.

Happy Arenas

1958

Replay poster
6.9

When François' wife Cecile was leaving him because of his affairs with other women, she had an auto accident. In this drama, he makes uses of her amnesia to try to win her back and misleads her at every turn in her quest to recover her memories.

Replay

1977

Give Me My Chance poster
6.5

17 year-old small-town girl Nicole Noblet comes to Paris dreaming of becoming a world-famous actress.

Give Me My Chance

1957

You Have Nothing to Declare? poster
6.0

Married against her will to the Comte de Trivelin, Paulette Dupont shares her anxieties with her childhood friend Labaule. Warned too late to prevent the ceremony from taking place, Labaule follows the couple on their honeymoon and prevents the consummation of the marriage by repeatedly intruding on the couple's privacy. Put on notice by Paulette's parents to consummate the marriage, Trivelin - who believes himself to be at fault - consults a psychiatrist. The latter advises him to visit a lady of lesser virtue: Gloria. But Gloria's clientele includes Dupont himself - Paulette's father - and Labaule!

You Have Nothing to Declare?

1959

Un coup dans l'aile poster
5.5

No synopsis available yet.

Un coup dans l'aile

1963

A Woman in White poster
5.3

Claude Sauvage, a tenacious young gynecologist takes a months long internship in a Paris hospital. Between her private life and medical career, she set her doubts and desires in a society where the square and the plight of women remain at that time a secondary issue. The film follows Claude and the staff through the case of some patients while the crucial debate on women's professional ambition, contraception and abortion rights.

A Woman in White

1965

No artwork available
2.0

Officially declared missing in 1945, Gaston Boissac suddenly comes back at 70 years old in his home village.

My Russian Uncle

2006

Crime and Punishment poster
7.0

Former student Raskolnikov is pushed to murder when struggling to pay the rent on his apartment. When the murder is being investigated by the police, Raskolnikov struggles between trying to hide his guilt and the pressure to confess.

Crime and Punishment

1956