“She was in tears”: Émilie Dequenne’s mother talks about her daughter’s ordeal

It’s been almost a year already. On March 16, 2025, the Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne, the heroine of RosettaPalme d’Or 1999, died at just 43 years old, died of a rare cancer. Thursday February 26, a tribute was paid to him at the Olympia during the 51st César ceremony.

A few days before this sad first anniversary, to honor his memory, an exhibition was organized in Chièvres, the town of his childhood in Belgium. And his parents, Brigitte and Daniel, chose to confide for the first time in Paris Match Belgium.

For Brigitte, her mother, the pain is still raw: “At the moment, we’re not thinking about it too much. I think our brains try to avoid it. The exhibitions that we managed to put together perhaps help to pass the time. I will only be able to say how I will really experience it after the anniversary.”

Very quickly, mixing the present and the imperfect, as if her daughter was always close to them, she returns to her passion for cinema:“Emilie is incomparable. Her talent and personality make her unique. She got along with everyone from Marion Cotillard to Catherine Deneuve, who once left her a congratulatory message for her incredible acting in Not his type but that was never what mattered most to her. His priority remained his work and the sincerity of his roles. »

 

« She was in tears. We did everything to cheer him up…”

Brigitte and Daniel, the parents of Émilie Dequenne

Their daughter’s courage in the face of a rare disease, which affects one person in a million, still upsets both parents, as they told our Belgian colleagues:“At first we just knew there was a problem, but we didn’t know if it was serious or mild. The wait for the results was long and trying. Émilie understood immediately… and immediately grasped the seriousness of the situation.

During her illness, Émilie’s parents were always there to support her despite a not very reassuring diagnosis. They remember it today: “ She was in tears. We did everything to cheer him up…” The parents of the Belgian actress had difficulty resigning themselves to the inevitable: “We were so convinced that death would not separate us that the question did not even arise. She had incredible strength. We would so much like to still be with the one we lost. We don’t bring children into the world to see them leave.”

Émilie Dequenne was a gifted acrobat. Interpretation Prize at Cannes 1999 at only 17 years old in Rosetta of the Dardenne brothers, a first Swann d’or in 2009 in Cabourg in The Girl from the RER of Téchiné, a second in 2014 for Not his type by Lucas Belvaux, then a third in 2021 forThe things we say, the things we do by Emmanuel Mouret. This last film will bring him the most prestigious recognition: a César for supporting role. Fate, cruel, did not want her to receive the César for best actress, which held out its arms to her.