The French actress had already made an impression in international film when she appeared in Claude Lelouch’s 1966 romance, a role that earned her an Oscar nomination.
Anouk Aimée, the French film actress who became an international sex symbol as the aloof, enigmatic and sensual star of Claude Lelouch’s 1966 romance “A Man and a Woman,” died on Tuesday at 92.
Her death was announced on social media by her daughter, Manuela Papatakis, who said her mother died at home in Paris.
Ms. Aimée had already made a considerable impression in international film, particularly in Federico Fellini’s movies “La Dolce Vita” (1960), in which she played a sex-hungry Italian socialite, and “8 1/2” (1963), in which she portrayed the lead character’s jealous but patient wife.
But it was with “A Man and a Woman,” a 28-year-old director’s low-budget project that went on to win the Oscar for best foreign film, that she created the image that endured throughout her career. As an emotionally reluctant young widow and movie-industry script girl, she falls in love with a racecar driver and widower played by Jean-Louis Trintignant. Their long, long-awaited kiss, enhanced by a circling camera and Francis Lai’s hit theme, became one of the era’s most revered and recognizable movie images. Ms. Aimée was nominated for a best actress Oscar for the role. It also brought her the BAFTA film award for best foreign actress and the Golden Globe for best motion picture actress.
In 2002 she received an honorary César, the French equivalent of the Academy Award, for career achievement. She was named best actress at the 1980 Cannes International Film Festival for a darkly comic role, that of a mentally disturbed woman whose brother hopes she will commit suicide, in the Italian film “Salto nel Vuoto,” released in the United States as “Leap Into the Void.”
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Ms. Aimée’s film career was predominantly European, and her relatively few American films were less than great successes. She was part of the all-star cast of “Ready to Wear” (1994), Robert Altman’s poorly received satire about the fashion industry. A quarter-century earlier she had played the title character of the 1969 drama “Justine,” directed by George Cukor. In a 2000 interview with The Palm Beach Post, she recalled her unsatisfactory working relationship with Cukor. “I kept talking about Fellini,” she said, “and he kept talking about Garbo.”
Nicole Françoise Sorya Dreyfus was born on April 27, 1932, in Paris, the daughter of Henri Dreyfus, who had acted in films under the name Henry Murray, and Geneviève Sorya, who also had a film acting career.
At 13, Françoise was approached by Henri Calef, a director who cast her in “La Maison Sous la Mer,” released in 1947. She was billed simply as Anouk, her character’s name. The surname Aimée, the French word for “loved,” was added later.
