Binoche first gained recognition for working with such auteur directors as Jean-Luc Godard (Hail Mary, 1985), Jacques Doillon (Family Life, 1985), and André Téchiné; the latter made her a star in France with a leading role in his drama Rendez-vous (1985).

Annick Lanoë's Les Nanas gave Binoche her most noteworthy role to date, playing opposite established stars Marie-France Pisier and Macha Méril in a mainstream comedy,[19] though she has stated the experience was not particularly memorable or influential.

[25] Rendez-Vous is the story of a provincial actress, Nina (Binoche), who arrives in Paris and embarks on a series of dysfunctional liaisons with several men, including the moody, suicidal Quentin (Lambert Wilson).

[29] Binoche has commented that Rouffio's film is very significant to her career as it taught her to judge roles based on the quality of the screenplay and her connection with a director, not on the reputation of other cast members.

Mauvais Sang is an avant-garde thriller in which she plays Anna the vastly younger lover of Marc (Piccoli) who falls in love with Alex (Denis Lavant), a young thief.

[34] Set against the USSR's invasion of Prague in 1968, the film tells the story of the relationships a Czech surgeon, Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis), has with his wife Tereza and his lover Sabina (Lena Olin).

[13] In the summer of 1988, Binoche returned to the stage in an acclaimed production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull directed by Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky at Théâtre de l'Odéon in Paris.

[49] Following the long shoot of Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, Binoche relocated to London for the 1992 productions of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and Damage, both of which considerably enhanced her international reputation.

[55] Damage, a UK and French co-production, is the story of a British Conservative minister played by Jeremy Irons who embarks on a torrid affair with his son's fiancée (Binoche).

Based on the novel by Josephine Hart and directed by veteran French director Louis Malle, Damage seemed to be the ideal international vehicle for Binoche; however the production was fraught with difficulties and dogged by rumours of serious conflict.

Binoche has said her inspirations for the role were her friend and coach Vernice Klier who suffered a similar tragedy, and the book The Black Veil by Anny Duperey which deals with the author's grief at losing her parents at a young age.

[66] Three Colors: Blue, The Horseman on the Roof and A Couch in New York all gave Binoche the opportunity to work with prestigious directors she had turned down during the prolonged shoot of Les Amants du Pont-Neuf.

[11] The film, which tells the story of a badly burned, mysterious man found in the wreckage of a plane during World War II, won nine Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Juliette Binoche.

After this international hit, Binoche returned to France and began work opposite Daniel Auteuil on Claude Berri's Lucie Aubrac, the true story of a French Resistance heroine.

[11] Next, Binoche was reunited with director André Téchiné for Alice et Martin (1998), the story of a relationship between an emotionally damaged Parisian musician and her younger lover who hides a dark family secret.

La Veuve de Saint-Pierre (2000) by Patrice Leconte, for which she was nominated for a César for Best Actress, was a period drama which saw Binoche appear opposite Daniel Auteuil in the role of a woman who attempts to save a condemned man from the guillotine.

[37] After the success of Chocolat, Binoche was internationally recognized as an A-list movie star in the early 2000s, but as an actor her persona became somewhat fixed following a series of period roles portraying a stoic heroine facing tragedy and desolation.

[89][90] Her sister, Marion Stalens, also traveled to South Africa to shoot a documentary, La reconciliation?, which explores the TRC process and follows Binoche's progress as she acts in Boorman's film.

[92] The film tells the story of a bourgeois Parisian couple, played by Binoche and Daniel Auteuil, who begin to receive anonymous videotapes containing footage shot over long periods, surveying the outside of their home.

Although Binoche began the decade on a professional high with an Academy Award nomination for Chocolat, she struggled at the beginning of the 2000s to secure roles that did not confine her to the tragic, melancholic persona developed in the 1990s.

Paying homage to Albert Lamorisse's 1957 short The Red Balloon, Hou's film tells the story of a woman's efforts to juggle her responsibilities as a single mother with her commitment to her career as a voice artist.

Co-starring Liron Levo and Jeanne Moreau, Disengagement is a political drama charting the story of a French woman, of Dutch/Palestinian origin, who goes in search of a daughter she abandoned 20 years previously on the Gaza strip.

[117] In stark contrast, Peter Hedges co-wrote and directed the Disney-produced Dan in Real Life, a romantic comedy featuring Binoche alongside Steve Carell.

[121] Also in France, Summer Hours (2008), directed by Olivier Assayas, is the critically acclaimed story of three siblings who struggle with the responsibility of disposing of their late mother's valuable art collection.

Binoche's visit proved controversial when two Iranian MPs raised the matter in parliament, advising more caution be exercised in granting visas to foreign celebrities which might lead to "cultural destruction".

[141] On 17 February 2011, Screendaily announced that Binoche had been cast in David Cronenberg's film Cosmopolis with Robert Pattinson, Paul Giamatti, Mathieu Amalric, and Samantha Morton.

[152] The 2016 Cannes Film Festival saw the première of Slack Bay (Ma Loute), also starring Fabrice Luchini and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, which is a burlesque comedy based in the Ambleteuse region of Northern France.

"[169] Binoche and numerous other French personalities, including Isabelle Adjani, Yvan Attal, Jane Birkin, and Josiane Balasko, joined Réseau Éducation Sans Frontières (RESF) on 7 January 2010 with a symbolic "cake of solidarity" to highlight the taxation and legitimacy issues being faced by undocumented workers in France.

[171] At the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Binoche spoke out against the detention of Iranian director Jafar Panahi, incarcerated in Tehran's Evin Prison since 1 March 2010 without charge or conviction.

[176] In February 2019, during a press conference at the Berlin International Film Festival, Binoche said that Harvey Weinstein was a great producer and "we shouldn't forget, even though it has been difficult for some directors and actors, and especially actresses".