Picked out of hundreds of adolescent hopefuls, Bonnaire was an overnight sensation in Maurice Pialat's À nos amours / To Our Loves (1983). Her lack of training and working-class origins added authenticity to her talented performance as the unruly heroine, and to her portrayal of a tragic drop-out in Agnès Varda's Sans toit ni loi / Vagabond (1985). Bonnaire (who received a César for both films) has become a major figure among young French actors, injecting into her heroines a toughness recalling the young Jeanne Moreau. Her career has gone from strength to strength, and she received an international accolade with an award at the 1995 Venice film festival for her performance in Claude Chabrol's La Cérémonie / Judgment in Stone (1995), co-starring Isabelle Huppert.