The great French film star Catherine Deneuve will receive the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in September, organizers said Wednesday.
With her angular features, blonde hair and regal demeanor, Deneuve was a key figure in the French New Wave. She broke out after starring as the lovesick Geneviève in Jacques Demy's candy-colored musical “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," which came out in 1964. It would lead to more lauded collaborations with Demy ("The Young Girls of Rochefort," “Donkey Skin”) as well as directors like Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut ("The Last Metro") and Roman Polanski ("Repulsion").
