
You may know French actress/model Clémence Poesy as Fleur Delacour in the Harry Potter series, but she’s done a number of historical films and TV shows. She’ll soon be joining Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston for a spooky late Victorian mini-series (The Essex Serpent), so let’s look at her frock flick resume!
Gunpowder, Treason & Plot (2004)
In her first English-language role, Poesy played an actually French-accented Mary Queen of Scots, but sadly that was the only positive in this awful, awful miniseries.



Le grand Meaulnes (2006)
A literary adaptation about doomed love set just before the First World War. Poesy plays the love interest, Yvonne.


Les amants du Flore (2006)
A TV biopic about French writers Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. Poesy plays “Lumi.”
War and Peace (2007)
Irritating me as the original historic manic pixie dream girl, Natasha, in this TV miniseries adaptation of the Russian Napoleonic Wars-set novel.




The Silence of Joan (2011)
As Joan of Arc, baby! This film focuses on her capture and execution.

Birdsong (2012)
A soldier in World War I flashes back to his affair with a young, married woman (Poesy). I was super bored by this, but I still like Poesy in general!



The Hollow Crown: Richard II (2012)
As Isabella of Valois, Queen of England, in this Shakespeare adaptation.





Final Portrait (2017)
A biopic about Swiss painter/sculptor Alberto Giacometti. Poesy plays “Caroline.”
Genius (2018)
This season focused on artist Pablo Picasso. Poesy played French painter Françoise Gilot, who had a long romantic relationship (and children) with Picasso.


Resistance (2020)
A biopic about famed French mime Marcel Marceau’s World War II experiences. Poesy plays “Emma.”

The Essex Serpent (coming soon)
A TV miniseries based on a novel. Per Wikipedia: “Set in the Victorian era, in the year 1893, it tells the tale of Cora Seaborne, a woman relishing her recent freedom from an abusive husband, who moves from London to a small village in Essex and becomes intrigued by the idea that it might be haunted by a mythological sea serpent.” Poesy plays Stella, whom the main character befriends.

What’s your favorite Clémence Poesy frock flick role?
I think the padded armor undergarment is called a gambeson or pourpoint. She looks great as Isabella de Valois!
ooo that sounds right!
I don’t understand why War and Peace-2007 irritates you.
All the costumes here are absolutely gorgeous. These dresses in the second photo are day dresses, made of cotton, pleasant green-swampy color, with long sleeves and hidden tits, with fashionable cut. The plot is trashy of course, but Clemence did a good job of playing the fool manic pixie dream girl, Natasha.
Oh, it’s totally because of the character of Natasha, not because of the costumes!
I must find that episode–feels funny to refer to an episode of Shakespeare–of “The Hollow Crown.” Wonderful shot of Isabella with the skull. Mind you, the historical Isabella was not quite 7 when she was married off to Richard, and let a rather sad life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_of_Valois
Yes, although it was Shakespeare who changed it. If he hadn’t, he couldn’t have had a tragic farewell scene in which Richard blames the deposers for bringing a double divorce between him and his queen and him and his country. Not to mention that he gets to tell her to treat him as a story: “tell thou the lamentable tale of me.”
My God, I love that play.
So glad you mentioned Poesy. Although not FF’s, I fell for her in In Bruges and The Tunnel. A wonderful actor.
Yes! Loved In Bruges. :)
Fun fact: in the 14th century those Princess Leia buns would have been covered and held in place by an ornamental net of silk or gold thread, known as ‘crespines’. In modern French, ‘crépine’ means the fatty membrane surrounding animal intestines, which is used to wrap around minced pork to make a traditional type of patties which are called ‘crépinettes’. We use this membrane to make a very similar dish in Britain, except we call them ‘faggots’!
Okay, that literally WAS a fun fact!
She is my Keira K. Or whoever most irritates you on screen…I can’t handle her and War & Peace was the worst of her…
I blamed the story/script for War & Peace rather than her acting!
It’s just not a houppelande without the belt. It’s just not.
Medieval caftan?
I guess? Casual wear for Queenie while she’s just hanging out on the throne, wearing her crown? I’ve only ever seen one image of a houppelande without a belt, and it’s a man who’s obviously crazed with grief…. And having worn them, they’re completely unmanageable without the belt, as well!
I smell beachy waves in Le grand Meaulnes!
She is always so lovely in costume dramas. Her looks suit them.
The loose, rather shapeless gowns with their round necks are definitely not fifteenth century, though they do make her look frail and rather overwhelmed by her clothes which I’m assuming was what they were after. BTW Isabella was about ten years old when Richard II was dethroned. The marriage was unconsummated but Isabella was very much attached to Richard and took his fate extremely badly.
Having in mind (and in the heart) W&P as Tolstoj’s novel and Vidor’s movie as the top movie rendition, I’m rather indulgent about all later versions as well as this one.
Clemence Poesy is yet another actor who has suffered from being in Harry Potter, much as I love those movies. Every time I see Maggie Smith referred to as “Harry Potter’s Maggie Smith,” I want to spit tacks. It’s as though the woman had no career until she was sixty.