Who is Margaret Qualley, the troubling heroine of Claire Denis’s next film?

Advertisements filmed for perfumes often show a pretty girl running through the fields or lying in the satin bed of a luxury hotel, waiting for a mysterious man . If the beauty of the images is captivating, we also appreciate when directors step out of this comfort zone to innovate. This was the case of Spike Jonze who imagined in 2016 a nonconformist video for the essence of Kenzo World. A young woman in an emerald green dress was performing a series of jerky dance steps, entering a kind of exhilarating trance, far from the evaporated muse. Between tribal choreography, breakdance and ballet, this magnetic performance left no one indifferent. It must be said that the unbridled ballerina with piercing blue eyes has a lot to pull on. Margaret Qualley, 28, is the daughter of American actress Andie MacDowell and Paul Qualley, a model and musician. Proud of her heritage, the artist has never ceased, during her young career, to honor her illustrious pedigree.

A dangerous hippie in Quentin Tarantino’s work

But it is above all the role of Pussycat that she plays in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)by Quentin Tarantino,  which will attract all eyes. Alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt – with whom she flirts on screen – and Margot Robbie, the debutant actress plays a sexy and dangerous hippie in a crochet top and micro shorts who belongs to Charles Manson’s cult. In real life, Margaret Qualley seems to possess a share of this madness and a temperament that is as independent as it is fierce and determined. After dating American actor and comedian Pete Davidson, she dated actor Shia LaBeouf. But upon learning that FKA Twigs, his former girlfriend, had filed a complaint against him in December 2020 for sexual assault, she ended their relationship. The Chanel ambassador and muse, in a relationship with musician Jack Antonoff – a close collaborator of Lana Del Rey who dedicated a song to the actress on her latest album – has also chosen to convey messages about inappropriate behavior towards women on screen.

The heroine of Stars at Noon, the next disturbing film by Claire Denis

In 2021, in Maid, a series produced by Margot Robbie and currently airing on Netflix, Margaret Qualley played Alex, a young woman abused by the father of her daughter. However, this executioner seems, at the beginning, to be good in all respects, which shows how much we should not trust appearances when it comes to violence. Alex becomes a cleaning lady in opulent houses to provide for her child while dreaming of the life of the owners of the place or that of a successful author . Faced with the disillusionment of the American Dream,  she never lets herself be defeated, finding poetry in the observation of her daughter’s pop and kitsch toys or in a Tinder date based on lies. Full of humanity, this arthouse melodrama highlights his intense gaze, which in a single shot, the very first of the opening episode, must have given ideas to many directors on the small and big screen. And not only in his country of origin.

We will see the actress in the next film by French director Claire Denis, Stars at Noon, which will be released on June 14, 2023 in theaters. A passionate and sweaty story between a mysterious English businessman and an American journalist without a passport, who is a prostitute, in present-day Nicaragua. For Claire Denis, Margaret Qualley has something wild, joyful and whimsical, in the tradition of the sparkling Paulette Goddard in Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times .

After that, the actress will follow up with many other exciting projects, including the first solo fiction film by Ethan Coen (one of the Coen brothers), a wacky lesbian road movie called Drive-Away Dolls, scheduled for a theatrical release on October 4, 2023. A new sulphurous adventure, alongside Pedro Pascal and Matt Damon, off the beaten track, which fits like a glove to this very free star.

Margaret Qualley, a talented actress who follows in the footsteps of her mother, Andie MacDowell

As a teenager, she was already noticed for her stunning beauty (somewhere between Jennifer Connelly and
Isabelle Adjani)  during a whirling appearance at the Debutante Ball in Paris. Practicing dance in renowned American companies, she possesses a grace, a presence and a flexibility that allow her to move in space by electrifying any kind of assembly. The one who studied acting in London before a detour to a New York university will finally be caught up by her genes. Initially a model, like her father, walking for Fashion Week from the age of 16, it was finally the maternal path that she followed.

And so as not to be suspected of being there only because she is “the daughter of”, Margaret Qualley lives alone even though she is not yet of age and chooses all her projects carefully. She is seen in the independent film Palo Alto (2014) by Gia Coppola with James Franco, in the HBO metaphysical series The Leftovers (2014–2017), in the spicy action comedy The Nice Guys alongside Ryan Gosling or in Seberg (2019) with Kristen Stewart. From the nun to the manga heroine to the survivor of an apocalyptic world, the actress always proves to be fair, exuding an aura that is both strong and fragile that often takes you to the guts.

Stars at Noon (2023) by Claire Denis, in theaters on June 14, 2023.