Anicée Alvina

Anicée Alvina, also known as Anicée Schahmaneche (b. Anicée Shahmanesh or Anicee Schahmane (Persian: انیسه شاهمنش‎) on 28 January 1953, Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine – d. 11 November 2006, Boncourt, Eure-et-Loir from cancer) was a French singer and actress.

Her early life and career

Alvina's French mother and Iranian father owned a house on Rue de Verdun in Le Vésinet in which commune Alvina attended the Lycée Alain. After her 1969 graduation from the Conservatory in Saint-Germain-en-Laye Alvina made her screen debut in Elle boit pas, elle fume pas, elle drague pas, mais... elle cause ! (fr) in 1970. Her second screen appearance was in the 1971 Lewis Gilbert film Friends which would remain her sole claim to international fame becoming a worldwide hit, although most likely not due to Alvina's distantly shot full-frontal nudity - the seventeen year old actress was playing a fourteen year old character - and the Elton John/Bernie Taupin soundtrack; Alvina also starred in the 1974 Friends sequel Paul and Michelle, which was not a success. However, Alvina appeared regularly on the French screen, both cinema and television, throughout the 1970s chiefly in nymphet roles, working with such directors as Gérard Blain, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Alain Robbe-Grillet, Alvina's highest career profile probably being afforded by the Robbe-Grillet films Glissements progressifs du plaisir (1974) and Le Jeu avec le feu (fr) (1975).

Her later career and death

Alvina starred in the TF1 mini-series Les 400 coups de Virginie (fr) which ran for six episodes from December 1979 to February 1980. Her only cinematic film credit for the 1980s was the 1981 film Rêve après rêve, a film directed and written by fashion designer Kenzo Takada, although Alvina did play the title role in the 1983 made-for-television film version of Diane Lanster (fr) directed by Bernard Queysanne (fr). Also in the early 1980s, Alvina attempted a singing career, with a solo single released in 1982. However, most of her recordings were with the group Ici Paris, who had several singles released in 1980-83 and also a 1982 album. Around the time of her 1984 marriage, Alvina evidently retired from the entertainment world and did not re-emerge till 1995, when she resumed her acting career with the first of a series of occasional screen appearances.

Madame Alvina died of lung cancer in November of 2006, at the age of 53 years.

Filmography

• Elle boit pas, elle fume pas, elle drague pas, mais... elle cause ! (fr) (She Does Not Drink, SMoke, or Flirt, But... She Talks!) 1970 – pregnant girl
• Friends 1971 – Michelle Latour
• Le Rempart des Béguines 1972 – Hélène
• Les Grands sentiments font les bons gueuletons (Big Sentiments Make for Good Sports) 1973 – Anne-Marie
• Glissements progressifs du plaisir (Successive Slidings of Pleasure) 1974 – The Prisoner
• Paul and Michelle 1974 – Michelle Latour-Harrison
• Une femme fatale (Femme Fatale) 1975 – Anne Korber
• Âmes perdues (Anima persa) 1977 – Lucia
• Un second souffle (1978)
• L'Honorable société (1980) - Ève de Marcilly
• Diane Lanster 1983 (TV) - Diane Lanster
• Jusqu'au bout de la nuit (1995) - Maria
• Ainsi soit-il (2000) - Bertrand's Friend

Discography

• "Le Centre Du Monde"/ "Souris" (single) by Ici Paris (1980)
• "Twist A Paris"/ "Chasse Privée"/ "Desdenova" / "La Fusée De Ton Retour" (EP) by Ici Paris (1981)
• "La Fusée De Ton Retour"/ "Chasse Privée" (1981) (single) by Ici Paris
• Allo le Monde (album) by Ici Paris (1982)
• "Image À Définir"/ "Tu Fais Mal Et Ça Te Plait" (single) by Anicée Alvina (1982)
• "Maman Je N' Veux Plus Aller À L'École"/ "La Ver Interplanétaire" (1983) (single) by Ici Paris