A shoot that certainly left him with a moving memory. In the early 1972s, the talent of Catherine Deneuve did not escape Jean-Pierre Melville. The director assigned him the role of Cathy in his feature film A cop, broadcast this Wednesday, June 28 on Arte. A breathtaking thriller in which the actress gives the answer to another legend of French cinema, Alain Delon. When she started filming, Catherine Deneuve was four months pregnant. She was expecting her daughter Chiara, the fruit of her love affair with Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni.
In order to camouflage her rounded belly, the sister of Françoise Dorléac called on a famous designer friend. A funny anecdote that she revealed in the columns of Paris Matchin April 2019. “My career is a series of choices and happy encounters. When I shot Un cop, with Alain Delon in 1972, I was pregnant. Yves Saint-Laurent had made me a very pretty, slightly flared velvet dress that hid everything.“, she said. Thanks to this skilful and elegant strategist, it was almost impossible to detect the pregnancy of the actress. A few months after the shooting of the film A cop, May 28, 1972, Catherine Deneuve gave birth to her daughter. No wonder Chiara Mastroiani is following in her mother’s footsteps.
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Catherine Deneuve: her great friendship with Yves Saint Laurent
They knew each other as beginners. She, at the cinema, he in fashion. When she first crossed paths with Yves Saint Laurent, Catherine Deneuve is only 22 years old. The heroine of the film Umbrellas of Cherbourg appealed to the talent of Pierre Bergé’s great love for make her a dress for her meeting with Queen Elizabeth II. A meeting that marked the beginning of a long and great friendship. “They are two people who fascinated each other. Catherine Deneuve was impressed by the genius, creativity and diversity of Yves Saint Laurent’s productions and he was fascinated by Catherine Deneuve’s career.”summarized Elsa Janssen, director of the Yves Saint Laurent museum with Gala.fr.
Faithful among the faithful, Yves Saint Laurent created his costumes for the film beautiful day, directed by Luis Buñuel in 1967. The previous year, he asked her to be the ambassador for the first SAINT LAURENT ready-to-wear store on the left bank, in Paris. If they were united by their passion for fashion, Catherine Deneuve and Yves Saint Laurent had much more in common. “They are of the same race, they recognized each other, it isolated them and brought them closer at the same time, they both had the audacity of the timid.”, revealed Olivier Châtenet, fashion heritage consultant. An unwavering friendship that lasted until the death of the fashion genius on June 1, 2008.
Photo credits: OLIVIER BORDE / BESTIMAGE
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Catherine Deneuve: how Yves Saint Laurent allowed her to hide her pregnancy on a set – Gala