{"id":662531,"date":"2025-04-02T08:04:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T06:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/numero.com\/non-classifiee\/the-confessions-of-anais-demoustier-moving-heroine-of-the-count-of-monte-cristo\/"},"modified":"2025-04-04T15:14:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T13:14:01","slug":"the-confessions-of-anais-demoustier-moving-heroine-of-the-count-of-monte-cristo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/numero.com\/en\/culture-en\/movies\/the-confessions-of-anais-demoustier-moving-heroine-of-the-count-of-monte-cristo\/","title":{"rendered":"The confessions of Ana\u00efs Demoustier, the moving heroine of The Count of Monte Cristo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Anais Demoustier in Dior at the presentation Les Jardins de la Couture at Lake Como, June 3, 2023 \u00a9 Dior.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ana\u00efs Demoustier at the Dior Fall\/Winter 2023-2024 show, on February 28, 2023, in Paris. Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ana\u00efs Demoustier in Prada and Boucheron at the screening of Daaaaaali! at the Venice International Film Festival, on September 7 in Venice. Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ana\u00efs Demoustier in Prada and Boucheron at Kering’s Women in Motion dinner at the Cannes Film Festival, May 21, 2023. Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ana\u00efs Demoustier at the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival, May 27, 2023. Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ana\u00efs Demoustier in Dior and Boucheron at the screening of Asteroid City at the Cannes Film Festival, May 23, 2023. Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ana\u00efs Demoustier as Celine at the photocall of the film Time to Love at the Cannes Film Festival, May 21, 2023. Photo by Lionel Hahn\/Getty Images. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ana\u00efs Demoustier in Prada and Boucheron at the screening of Jeanne du Barry, at the Cannes Film Festival, on May 16, 2023. Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ana\u00efs Demoustier in Prada custom and Boucheron at the C\u00e9sar Awards on February 24, 2023 in Paris. Photo by Marc Piasecki\/WireImage via Getty Images. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ana\u00efs Demoustier at the C\u00e9sar dinner at Fouquet’s on February 6, 2023, in Paris. Photo by Marc Piasecki\/WireImage via Getty Images. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Vincent Lacoste and Ana\u00efs Demoustier at the Angoul\u00eame Francophone Film Festival in August 2023. Beauty treatment by the Franck Provost teams \/ Photo by Christophe Brachet. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ana\u00efs Demoustier at the Forum des images on October 14, 2023 by Pascal Olivier Schneider.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the epic blockbuster The Count of Monte Cristo<\/strong>, released in theaters in June 2024, Ana\u00efs Demoustier<\/strong> plays the radiant Merc\u00e9d\u00e8s Herrera, the great love of Edmond Dant\u00e8s (played by Pierre Niney<\/strong>), whom he struggles to forget. Over the years, as the man she was to marry languishes in prison (the victim of a conspiracy), she transforms into a remarried woman, austere and melancholic, devoid of affection. With her talent and moving gaze, the 37-year-old French actress convinces us that she has truly aged and lived through all the devastating consequences of lost love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The confessions of Ana\u00efs Demoustier, actress nominated for the 2025 C\u00e9sar Awards for The Count of Monte Cristo<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This beautiful performance, for which she is nominated for a 2025 C\u00e9sar<\/strong>, offers a chance to revisit the rich career\u2014ranging from zany comedies to poignant auteur films\u2014of an actress who dazzled in the subversive, romantic historical drama Le Temps d\u2019aimer (2023)<\/strong>, alongside Vincent Lacoste<\/strong>. Demoustier gave nearly two hours of her time for a masterclass at the Forum des Images in Paris, at once witty and riveting. Here’s a look back at her most intimate confessions, shared as part of the \u201cActors, Actresses & Avatars\u201d series held in January 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On her beginnings at age 13, acting alongside Isabelle Huppert in Michael Haneke\u2019s Time of the Wolf<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a very happy experience, but Michael Haneke<\/strong> is a director who expects a lot from his actors\u2014just as much from children as from adults. He didn\u2019t treat us like kids at all. He asked all the actors in Time of the Wolf<\/strong><\/em> (released in 2003) to stay in a remote Austrian village and not return to France during filming. Only B\u00e9atrice Dalle<\/strong> managed to escape. She\u2019d built a rapport with a crew member who secretly drove her to the airport so she could fly back to Paris. Her stand-in would occasionally take her place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On her first Cannes Film Festival, as a teenager<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember it vividly\u2014and every time I return to Cannes, those memories come back. It was such a joyful time. My whole family crammed into a single hotel room. It was a fantastic way to experience the Cannes Festival, because I was with the other young actors from Michael Haneke<\/strong>\u2019s film, Time of the Wolf<\/em><\/strong>\u2014Lucas [Biscombe] and Hakim [Taleb]. We were doing cannonballs in the Majestic\u2019s pool, just pure fun, while everyone else in Cannes is uptight and no one swims. The screening was pretty wild\u2014the film was controversial, so some people were booing and slamming their seats. Then there was the red carpet, with photographers shouting Isabelle [Huppert]<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On spending part of her teenage years on film sets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI loved hanging out with my girlfriends, living a normal life (my dad worked at Auchan and my mom was a homemaker). I adored life in Villeneuve-d\u2019Ascq. I felt a little embarrassed when cinema intruded too much into my school life\u2014like when an article about me ran in La Voix du Nord and was pinned up in class. I just wanted to be like everyone else, so that was awkward. I remember once my parents and sister told me, \u2018Come on, clear the table!\u2019 I was too used to film set canteens\u2026 It was a good reality check.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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