TMS Muse of the Week: Léa Seydoux
(Eric Guillemain)
As time marches on each year, I find myself losing energy and interest in consistently watching movies and shows or buying albums from new favorite artists strictly as fan support. If that Rotten Tomatoes score is below 70%, I probably won’t check out a recent movie anytime soon unless I’m obligated to review it professionally. I like Florence Pugh, Alex Wolff and Anya Taylor-Joy quite a bit as actors, but I also don’t feel in a hurry to watch Josh Boone’s New Mutants (2020) or David Mackenzie’s Outlaw King (2018). There are less than ten actors I still tune in for regularly, and one of them is French starlet Léa Seydoux. Like her fellow Bond girl Monica Bellucci, you might not recognize her name right away, but you’ll probably know her face. Léa’s background in film begins all the way at birth, when she was born into one of the biggest dynasties in French history. Her famous relatives include grandfather, producer and studio head Jérôme Seydoux [you may remember his name recently on the end credits of Sian Heder’s CODA (2021)]; and older sister Camille Seydoux, a successful fashion stylist. But despite her many affiliations, Léa still managed to break out on her own both as an actress and a model.
French locals and film critics were already aware of Léa early on with Christophe Honoré’s romance-drama La belle personne (2008), where she received praise for her first lead role. Only a year later she was cast as a small, but memorable part in Quentin Tarantino’s award friendly historical satire Inglourious Basterds (2009), and shortly after that she played Oscar Isaac’s on-screen wife in Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Robin Hood (2010). 2011 is when Léa went on my radar with both Woody Allen’s fantasy romcom Midnight in Paris and Brad Bird’s blockbuster Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol. The former features her as a charming ingénue while the latter has her as a ruthless assassin. Yet she completely pulls off portraying opposite personas.
(Eric Guillemain)
Not long after, the Frenchwoman gained attention in the LGBT film community for her performances in Benoît Jacquot’s period drama Farewell, My Queen (2012) and Abdellatif Kechiche’s coming of age piece Blue is the Warmest Color (2013). During all these hits, designers were making use of her golden locks, sophisticated presence and cute tooth gap through photoshoots for brands like American Apparel, ASOS, Rag & Bone and Prada. It was while she was shooting a set of TV spots for Prada: Candy in 2013 [directed by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola], where she and Wes hit it off artistically.
The American auteur apparently enjoyed working with the French star so much, he recruited her for roles in his flashy indie films The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), The French Dispatch (2021) and the French dub of his animated family film Isle of Dogs (2018). In 2015, Léa played Madeleine Swann—only the second ever character to marry James Bond—in Sam Mendes’ Spectre, and reprised the role in Cary Fukunaga’s No Time to Die (2021). When it comes to international exposure and versatility, I don’t think any actor could ask for more than what Léa’s accomplished so far. She has the cred, the beauty, the talent, and best of all: a lowkey private life with hardly any drama. If I were a modern film actress working today, I’d probably fancy a career like Léa’s.