At 92, Kim Novak is back in the spotlight. The Hollywood icon, unforgettable in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, was awarded an honorary Golden Lion on Monday, September 1st, at the Venice Film Festival, recognizing a career that was both brilliant and deeply marked by a desire for freedom.
A legend in spite of herself
Born Marilyn Pauline Novak in 1933 in Chicago to parents of Czech descent, Kim Novak was never destined to become a movie star. A model, hostess, and saleswoman, she was discovered by chance at the age of 20 in Los Angeles. Columbia signed her and wanted to make her a new Marilyn Monroe. Refusing to completely erase her roots, she was allowed to keep her last name but abandoned her birth name. Kim Novak was born.
She quickly made her mark on the big screen in blockbuster films like Phffft! and Picnic, but it wasn't until 1958 that her name truly became a legend. In Vertigo, she played Judy/Madeleine, a dual and enigmatic character, alongside James Stewart. A memorable role in a film that was initially misunderstood, but has since become one of cinema's greatest masterpieces.
An actress who defies the system
Behind the icy beauty fashioned by the studios, Kim Novak quickly revealed herself to be resistant to Hollywood's dictates. "What they want is to recreate you in the image of what they have in mind," she confided in 2013 to Le Nouvel Observateur. "I've been called a piece of meat." Her career, marked by ups and downs, is that of a woman who has never agreed to fully comply with the rules of the star system.
She starred alongside Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, William Holden, and Fredric March, but regretted not having had access to more complex roles, denouncing the recurrence of the “child-women” that she was made to play.
In 1991, the nightmarish filming of Liebestraum with director Mike Figgis convinced her to leave Hollywood for good. She settled in Oregon, on a ranch where she devoted herself to painting, surrounded by horses, llamas, and her veterinarian husband.
A Golden Lion for a free woman
In Venice, Kim Novak received a standing ovation, nearly thirty years after making her last film. The Mostra, through its director Alberto Barbera, hailed "an emancipated star, a rebel at the heart of the system who illuminated the dreams of cinephiles."
The presentation of this Golden Lion is also accompanied by the presentation of a tribute documentary: Kim Novak's Vertigo, directed by Alexandre O. Philippe. The film looks back at the actress's career and her intimate relationship with the role of Madeleine, a symbol for her of a Hollywood that mass-produces identities.
Kim Novak, who also revealed that she was a victim of childhood abuse and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after leaving acting, has made her life a fight for integrity and independence.
"We can't let people ruin our lives," she said after being mocked for her appearance at the 2014 Oscars. In Venice, the legend Hollywood tried to mold in her image was celebrated for who she truly is: an artist, a survivor, and a free woman.
