[3] In 1955, she won a competition from the magazine Femmes d'aujourd'hui which allowed her to become Jean-Claude Pascal's partner in a photo comics entitled L'amour est un songe.

[6] Denys de La Patellière offered her her first major role in 1959 in Rue des prairies alongside Jean Gabin, in which she played his daughter.

The following year, she performed in a comedy sketch by René Clair alongside Claude Rich and Yves Robert, and obtained a major role in La Vérité by Henri-Georges Clouzot, playing Brigitte Bardot's rival opposite Sami Frey.

She starred in several of her husband's films: Amelie or The Time to Love (1961), Elise, or Real Life (1970) and Les violons du bal (1974), inspired by his childhood experiences during World War II.

[8] She was made a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur on 31 December 2004,[9] chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite on 18 November 2002 and promoted to the rank of officer on 14 November 2011,[10] commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres[3] as a member of the conseil de l'ordre[11] of which she was a member from 1 March 2001 until April 2012[12][13][14] Among her notable works in cinema were the sequel films Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Jean-Marc and Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Françoise (1963), directed by André Cayatte.