Marianne Denicourt
Nude

With eyes like two star-filled night skies contained in a face as pale and perfectly round as the clouds of heaven, it is no wonder the French revere their native daughter Marianne Denicourt as a living, breathing, sensual muse of Eros. No mere symbol of the spiritually freeing aspects of physical love, the thin and dainty brunette has put her skin where her heart is on many occasions. My Sex Life…Or How I Got Into an Argument(1996), for instance, is elevated by the freely given gift of Marianne’s lovely breasts and frilly bush as she unself-consciously sits grinning impishly as the character Sylvia, or sprawls on a hardwood floor playing strip twiddlesticks. She is also, it seems, fond of a certain sort of slickness, and shares her naked form in multiple water sequences: as Blanche in a lake in Le bel été 1914 (1996), or The Beautiful Summer of 1914; and in bathtubs in both La vie des morts (1991), or Life of the Dead, as Pascale Mac Gillis; and as Isabel in Me Without You (2001). In addition to her many moments of generous nudity, Marianne is also known for her turn as Julienne in The Beautiful Troublemaker (1991); as Louise in the film Up, Down, Fragile (1995); as Chef in SK1 (2014); and she was nominated for a César Award (like an Oscar) for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Denormandy in Hippocrates: Diary of a French Doctor (2014). Mr. Skin waxes poetic about the divine Marianne, and his appreciation does not wane.