Venus beauty (institute) on France 2: all the finesse of Nathalie Baye

“We love Tonie Marshall’s generosity with her characters,” wrote Première in 1999.

France 2 pays tribute this Sunday evening to Nathalie Baye by rebroadcasting Venus beauty (institute) by Tonie Marshall, a role which relaunched the actress’ career and enjoyed great success in 1999. The film will be available the next day on the France Télévisions website, until April 26.

Television channels are shaking up their programs to pay tribute to Nathalie Baye

Venus beauty (institute) is a dramatic comedy starring excellent actresses, which received four Césars (best film, best director, best female hopeful – for Audrey Tautou – and best screenplay). The story? Nadine (Bulle Ogier) runs the “Vénus Beauté”, a Parisian beauty salon like so many others, where all those who swear by the splendor of their skin come to be oiled, kneaded, waxed or smoothed.

There are three of them who assist Nadine: Samantha (Mathilde Seigner), Marie (Audrey Tautou) and especially Angèle (Natalie Baye), who invests herself completely in her work, to the point of reducing her private life to the bare minimum. It is true that Angèle no longer expects anything from men, other than a few minutes of pleasure with strangers she meets by chance. The situation is not much better for his colleagues. Samantha regularly changes partners, and Marie only talks about her parents. One day, a young man approaches Angèle in a café…

The film charmed Gilles Verdiani when it was released. Here is an extract from his review published in First : “Venus Beauté (Institut) is an attractive film. Even more than the idea of a beauty institute as a microcosm of femininity, we like Tonie Marshall’s generosity with her characters, from the young girl (Audrey Tautou) seduced by the old libertine (Robert Hossein) to the overly fragile heartthrob (Mathilde Seigner). And, of course, her (self?)portrait of a mature, daring and tenacious woman who Nathalie Baye imposes with finesse In the confusion of morals, faced with ultra-modern solitude, this tolerance is deeply endearing.

Nathalie Baye returned to this experience to Studioa few years ago:

“I loved this role for its two antagonistic sides. Like all women who work in beauty, Angèle must create an always positive atmosphere around her, even though her life is immense chaos. Tonie was a fighter to whom I was very attached, but she was also an anxious woman who transmitted her anguish. And in fact, this shoot was not peaceful. But I don’t care. The main thing is always the script and the role.“