Valérie Donzelli

Valérie Donzelli (born 2 March 1973) is a French actress and filmmaker. She has directed six feature films and two short films since 2008, including Declaration of War, Just the Two of Us (2023) and At Work (2025).

Early life Valérie Donzelli was born in Épinal (France). She grew up in Créteil, near Paris. She moved to Lille with her family when she was 14 years old before going back to Paris at the age of 19. Before starting to work in the cinema, Donzelli first studied architecture, but abandoned it quickly. She started playing theatre at the municipal conservatory of the 10th arrondissement of Paris, but always kept a bad memory of this period. For a living, she worked at a bakery in Paris. She met Jérémie Elkaïm at that time, who became her partner, both in life and at work, and who encouraged her to quit the conservatory and her job at the bakery to become an actress. They now have two kids; the oldest one, Gabriel, inspired the movie Declaration of War. They are now separated, but still have a close relationship.

Career In 2001, Valérie Donzelli was the leading actress in Martha Martha, by Sandrine Veysset, which was presented at Directors' Fortnight, Le Plus Beau Jour de ma vie, and also Entre ses mains. She achieved great success among French public thanks to the French TV show Clara Sheller (2005), in which she plays Jeanne, best friend of the main character. Donzelli's first film, The Queen of Hearts , in which she was the leading actress, was more successful than expected. Jérémie Elkaïm is also co-writer. The film was presented at Locarno International Film Festival. Despite its low budget, the film can be considered a success because of its 30,000 spectators.

In 2011, with the help of her now ex-partner Jérémie Elkaïm, Valérie Donzelli directed her second full-length feature film, Declaration of War. This movie, presented during the 2011 Cannes Festival, achieved great success, both with the public and critics, in France. It is directly inspired by their private life, relating how their couple fought against their son's cancer when he was 18 months. As Tim Palmer notes, "Declaration of War serves as an emblematic, even quintessential, contemporary French production: a barometer to gauge film industry standards and prevailing French cultural taste, a standard-bearer of ostensibly progressive materials, an ambassador text for French screen values." The movie was selected for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012, but was not part of the final list.

Donzelli directed once again Jérémie Elkaïm in Hand in Hand (2012), with also Valérie Lemercier in the leading role.

Donzelli considers that this is always a politic and engaged gesture to make films as women, and admires Agnès Varda for her work and her status of first women filmmaker into French Cinema. She was named as the president of the jury of the Critics' Week section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. thumb

Filmography

As filmmaker Feature films Year English TitleOriginal title Notes 2009 The Queen of HeartsLa Reine des pommesCo-written with Jérémie Elkaïm and Dorothée Sebbag 2011 Declaration of WarLa Guerre est déclaréeCo-written with Jérémie Elkaïm 2012 Hand in HandMain dans la mainCo-written with Gilles Marchand and Jérémie Elkaïm 2015 Marguerite & JulienMarguerite et Julien 2019 Notre Dame 2023 Just the Two of UsL'Amour et les ForêtsCo-written with Audrey Diwan 2025 At WorkÀ pied d'œuvre Co-written with Gilles Marchand

Short films Year Title Director Screenwriter Notes 2000 Demoiselle 2007 Il fait beau dans la plus belle ville du monde 2010 Madeleine et le facteur 2012 La Vie parisienne Original idea 2018 Le cinéma de maman

Television Year Title Director Screenwriter