Anne Fontaine (born in Luxembourg, 1959) is a filmmaker and screenwriter who used to be an actor. She lives and works in France. Born Fontaine Sibertin-Blanc, sister of actor Jean-Chrétien Sibertin-Blanc, she went as a young child to live in Lisbon, where her father, Antoine Sibertin-Blanc, is a music professor and cathedral organist. In adolescence she moved to Paris and trained in dance with Joseph Russillo while continuing her academic education, including philosophy. Her husband is Philippe Carcassonne, the film producer, and they have an adopted son who was born in Vietnam. While still dancing, she was picked by Robert Hossein to play Esmeralda in a 1980 theatrical production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and around this time started to use the name Anne Fontaine. She continued with acting and became known for her roles in comedies like Si ma gueule vous plaît... (1981) and P.R.O.F.S.(1985). An opportunity to be assistant director came with a 1986 stage version of Céline's Voyage au bout de la nuit (Journey to the End of the Night) at the Renaud-Barrault theatre. Fontaine's first project as solo director, Les histoires d'amour finissent mal... en général (Love Affairs Usually End Badly), won the 1993 Prix Jean Vigo (prize). In 1995, she worked with her brother on the comic Augustin. Two years later, she wrote and directed the successful Nettoyage à Sec (Dry Cleaning). This won the Best Screenplay award at the Venice Film Festival 1997 and is generally considered a milestone on Fontaine's way to becoming "an important figure in contemporary French cinema". In 1999 the character Augustin (Jean-Chrétien Sibertin-Blanc) re-appeared in Fontaine's film Augustin, Roi Du Kung-Fu (Augustin, King of Kung-Fu). Comment j'ai tué mon père (How I Killed My Father) was released in 2001, and Nathalie... followed in 2003. The 2005 film, Entre Ses Mains (In His Hands) has been widely described as a thriller: an "intimate thriller" according to Fontaine herself. A third Augustin film, Nouvelle chance (also known as Oh La La) was released in 2006. Then came La fille de Monaco (The Girl From Monaco) in 2008 and Coco avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel), her biopic of Coco Chanel, in 2009. Fontaine's work is not easily categorised, though the phrase "psychological drama" is often used. She told a UK newspaper, "I try to work on my characters' blind side, in a kind of Freudian way: to ask, 'What are the things about themselves that they're unaware of?' I'm fascinated by the irony of fate, when something goes into a skid. All my stories have an element of cruelty in them." Description above from the Wikipedia article Anne Fontaine (filmmaker), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read moreShow less
Biography from TMDB.
- July 15, 1959 (67)
- Luxembourg, Luxembourg
- Director, writer and actor
- 19 on MovieCove · 33 credits in all
What are Anne Fontaine's films like?
Across their 18 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Bonds.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 2 · Wry 1 · Earnest 15
Light 8 · Serious 8 · Dark 2
Grounded 13 · Stylized 4 · Heightened 1
Gentle 8 · Charged 8 · Intense 2
Steady 13 · Shifting 4 · Whiplash 1
A split, not a type: Straight-faced 9 · Some laughs 5 · Funny 4
Slow burn 11 · Even-paced 7 · Relentless 0
Casual 8 · Engaged 9 · Full focus 1
A split, not a type: Easy watch 7 · Affecting 4 · Heavy 7
Resolved 11 · Open-ended 4 · Ambiguous 3
Moods and endings
- Happy4
- Bittersweet9
- Ambiguous4
- Other1
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Anne Fontaine's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 9 of their 19 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (7).
- The Innocents (2016) · director, writer · free
- Coco Before Chanel (2009) · director, writer · free
- Gemma Bovery (2014) · director, writer · free
- Chloe (2009) · writer · free
- La fille de Monaco (2008) · director, writer · free
- The Last Romantic Lover (1978) · actor · free
- Night Shift (2020) · director, writer · free
- Cineverse, show their 2 titles on Cineverse
- Cohen Media Channel, show their 2 titles on Cohen Media Channel
- France Channel, show their 2 titles on France Channel
- Howdy, show their 2 titles on Howdy
- IndiePix Unlimited, show their title on IndiePix Unlimited
- Magnolia Selects, show their title on Magnolia Selects
- Midnight Pulp, show their title on Midnight Pulp
Subscription and free streaming for Anne Fontaine's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
33 credits, 19 with a MovieCove page; 4 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Boléro(2024)
Midcredits score: 54th percentile of all films
A Cooler Climate (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2022)
Presidents(2021)
Midcredits score: 23rd percentile of all films
Night Shift(2020)
Midcredits score: 18th percentile of all films
White as Snow(2019)
Midcredits score: 19th percentile of all films
Reinventing Marvin(2017)
Midcredits score: 73rd percentile of all films
The Innocents(2016)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
Gemma Bovery(2014)
Midcredits score: 51st percentile of all films
Adore(2013)
Midcredits score: 42nd percentile of all films
My Worst Nightmare(2011)
Midcredits score: 31st percentile of all films
Chloe(2009)
Midcredits score: 45th percentile of all films
Coco Before Chanel(2009)
Midcredits score: 70th percentile of all films
La fille de Monaco(2008)
Midcredits score: 30th percentile of all films
Nouvelle chance (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2006)
In His Hands(2005)
Midcredits score: 49th percentile of all films
Nathalie...(2003)
Midcredits score: 51st percentile of all films
How I Killed My Father (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2001)
Keep It Quiet(1999)
Midcredits score: 42nd percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 58th percentile of all films
Dry Cleaning (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1997)
Love Reinvented (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1997)
Love Reinvented (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1996)
Night Hustler (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1996)
Augustin (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1995)
Love Affairs Usually End Badly (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)
Softly from Paris (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1986)
P.R.O.F.S.(1985)
Midcredits score: 37th percentile of all films
Si ma gueule vous plaît... (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1981)
Tender Cousins(1980)
Midcredits score: 31st percentile of all films
Les Mystères de Paris (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1980)
The Last Romantic Lover(1978)
Midcredits score: 29th percentile of all filmsLe Serpent majuscule (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Monique et Matisse (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 33 titles, 31 of them dated from 1978 to 2024.
Biggest box office
Coco Before Chanel (2009)
Highest rated
The Innocents (2016)
Most popular right now
Adore (2013)
Film career
- 1980Screen debut· Tender Cousins
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Anne Fontaine's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 42nd percentile, the median of all 19; across their 18 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 47th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up1
- 50th to 74th6
- 25th to 49th9
- Below 25th3
Shape of the crowd
9 of their 19 titles are Broadly Agreed.
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser5
- Broadly Agreed9
- Mixed4
Reviewers score the atmosphere 71/100 and the pacing 47/100 in their films, across 17 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Anne Fontaine's work okay for kids?
Across up to 8 MovieCove titles with content scores, sex & nudity runs heavier than most films.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does Anne Fontaine work with?
People who share at least 2 of Anne Fontaine's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Philippe Carcassonne shares the most, 14.
Writers
- Jacques FieschiShared titles: Boléro (2024), La fille de Monaco (2008), Nathalie... (2003), Augustin, King of Kung-Fu (1999)See all 4 shared titles with Jacques Fieschi
- Pascal BonitzerShared titles: White as Snow (2019), The Innocents (2016), Gemma Bovery (2014), Augustin, King of Kung-Fu (1999)See all 4 shared titles with Pascal Bonitzer
- Claire BarréShared titles: Boléro (2024), Night Shift (2020), White as Snow (2019)See all 3 shared titles with Claire Barré
- Pierre TrividicShared titles: Boléro (2024), Reinventing Marvin (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Pierre Trividic
Actors
- Benoît PoelvoordeShared titles: White as Snow (2019), My Worst Nightmare (2011), Coco Before Chanel (2009), In His Hands (2005)See all 4 shared titles with Benoît Poelvoorde
- Isabelle HuppertShared titles: White as Snow (2019), Reinventing Marvin (2017), My Worst Nightmare (2011), Keep It Quiet (1999)See all 4 shared titles with Isabelle Huppert
- Fabrice LuchiniShared titles: Gemma Bovery (2014), La fille de Monaco (2008), Keep It Quiet (1999), P.R.O.F.S. (1985)See all 4 shared titles with Fabrice Luchini
- Grégory GadeboisShared titles: Presidents (2021), Night Shift (2020), Reinventing Marvin (2017)See all 3 shared titles with Grégory Gadebois
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Luc BarnierShared titles: Adore (2013), My Worst Nightmare (2011), Coco Before Chanel (2009), In His Hands (2005), Augustin, King of Kung-Fu (1999)See all 5 shared titles with Luc Barnier
- Bruno CoulaisShared titles: Boléro (2024), White as Snow (2019), Gemma Bovery (2014), My Worst Nightmare (2011)See all 4 shared titles with Bruno Coulais
- Christophe BeaucarneShared titles: Boléro (2024), Gemma Bovery (2014), Adore (2013), Coco Before Chanel (2009)See all 4 shared titles with Christophe Beaucarne
- Yves AngeloShared titles: Presidents (2021), Night Shift (2020), White as Snow (2019), Reinventing Marvin (2017)See all 4 shared titles with Yves Angelo
Producers
- Philippe CarcassonneShared titles: Boléro (2024), Presidents (2021), Night Shift (2020), White as Snow (2019), Reinventing Marvin (2017), The Innocents (2016), Gemma Bovery (2014), Adore (2013), My Worst Nightmare (2011), Coco Before Chanel (2009), La fille de Monaco (2008), In His Hands (2005) and 2 moreSee newest 12 of 14 shared titles with Philippe Carcassonne
- Jean-Louis LiviShared titles: Boléro (2024), Night Shift (2020), Reinventing Marvin (2017)See all 3 shared titles with Jean-Louis Livi
- Geneviève LemalShared titles: White as Snow (2019), The Innocents (2016), Coco Before Chanel (2009)See all 3 shared titles with Geneviève Lemal
- Francis BoespflugShared titles: Gemma Bovery (2014), Adore (2013), My Worst Nightmare (2011)See all 3 shared titles with Francis Boespflug
