Personal details
- Birth Date: 1989-04-04
- Birth Location: Bordeaux, Gironde, France
- Professions: Writer, Director, Producer
Léa Mysius popped into the world in Bordeaux back in ‘89, spent her early days running around the Médoc—yeah, the same place she’d later use as a backdrop for her first feature, “Ava.” Wild, right? She was thirteen when she left for Réunion Island with her folks. Imagine swapping vineyards for volcanic beaches. Anyway, after finishing high school out there, she boomeranged back to mainland France and dove into the Sorbonne, then snagged a spot at the prestigious Femis. Even while she was still figuring things out in film school, people started to notice: her first short, “Cadavre exquis,” was about a boy weirdly obsessed with a gorgeous dead girl. Not exactly your standard feel-good fare, but it snagged her the SACD Award at Clermont-Ferrand, which is a big deal on the short film circuit. She kept the momentum with “Les oiseaux-tonnerre” and “L'île jaune” (that one co-directed with Paul Guilhaume), both racking up festival acclaim. Then bam—at just 26, she dived into shooting “Ava,” her debut feature, in 2016. Like her shorts, “Ava” is… offbeat, to say the least. The main character, another teenage girl, is losing her sight, and her companion’s a young Gypsy boy, totally cut off from his family. Not your typical French movie leads. There’s a bunch of recurring stuff in her films—restless teens, animals, water, that sort of thing. Honestly, it’s clear Mysius isn’t just dabbling; she’s got her own voice, and it looks like she’s just getting started.
Esther Mysius’s twin sister isn’t just floating around in the background—she’s got her own story, deeply intertwined with Paul Guilhaume. Folks who know their French cinema are probably already nodding, but for everyone else: Paul’s not just a random name. He’s actually a pretty big deal as a cinematographer, and there’s a ton of creative energy swirling between him and the Mysius sisters. The twin dynamic brings a whole extra layer of intrigue, especially since Esther herself has made a name as a director and screenwriter. So, you end up with these overlapping worlds—family, film, and romance (or at the very least, a serious partnership). It’s one of those situations where art and life kind of crash into each other. You can spot echoes of this relationship in their collaborative projects, too. And honestly, in the French film scene, a creative duo like this? It’s basically cinematic gold—people eat it up. The behind-the-scenes gossip doesn’t hurt either.
April 4, 1989
Konidela Ram Charan
Bordeaux, Gironde, France
36 years old