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Benoît Ferreux

Benoît Ferreux is a French actor, television actor and film director whose screen career began with a demanding role in one of Louis Malle’s most provocative coming-of-age dramas. Born in Bordeaux on September 29, 1955, Ferreux was 14 when he was cast in Murmur of the Heart, released in 1971. Set in Dijon in 1954, the film gave Ferreux the central role of Laurent Chevalier, a boy confronting his emerging sexuality and an increasingly complicated bond with his Italian mother, Clara, played by Lea Massari. Their relationship reaches a troubling turning point while Laurent is being treated for a heart murmur at a sanatorium. The role placed the young actor at the centre of difficult material rather than at the edge of an adult story. Murmur of the Heart went on to compete at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. That same year, Ferreux appeared with Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni in Nadine Trintignant’s drama It Only Happens to Others. He continued acting into adulthood, taking roles across French film and television while also becoming associated with film directing. His later work included a move into an international ensemble with John Huston’s 1981 English-language drama Escape to Victory, featuring Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Max von Sydow and Pelé. Decades later, Ferreux appeared in two films directed by Alain Corneau: the 2007 crime thriller The Second Wind, starring Daniel Auteuil and Monica Bellucci, and a small role in the 2010 thriller Love Crime. Ferreux’s career is defined less by a single lane than by its long span: an unusually challenging beginning as a child actor, followed by adult work in film and television and an involvement in directing.