With her hair cut short, leaving her beautiful face bare and revealing her deep blue eyes, Emilie Dequenne announced, in 2023, that she was suffering from a rare and aggressive adrenal gland cancer, which had kept her away from film sets. After months of struggle and then a remission, in May 2024, she had been to walk the steps at Cannes for the 25th anniversary of Rosetta, the Dardenne brothers' film that had launched her career as an actress at the age of 17. On Sunday, March 16, Dequenne died, aged 43.
She appeared on the French television channel TF1 on December 1, 2024, courageous and moving, and spoke about her sadness when faced with the relentlessness of the condition, the 30 or so drugs she had to take every day: "Deep down, I know for a fact that I won't live as long as I thought I would. (...) I'm only 43. I've always dreamed of living to be at least 80 and falling asleep for good. That's what I'm asking for." Cancer eventually took her.
Audiences discovered Dequenne in 1999, as a bundle of rage and willpower in the form of Rosetta, a character that the young actress embodied with breathtaking energy. She won the Best Actress award at Cannes for this first role, which stuck with her for a long time, like a second identity.
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