At 14, she took dance classes, which she abandoned in favor of theater. She made her debut with plays by
Molière. She read
Racine and, with
Marie-France Boyer, founded the Théâtre Grignan (1956-1957), which became the Théâtre Quotidien de Marseille. Rouvel had her breakthrough role in 1959 when she starred in the film
Picnic on the Grass (''Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe
), directed by Jean Renoir. Afterwards, while regularly appearing in films, she proved more interested in theatre where she performed works by Marcel Pagnol, Jacques Audiberti and Fyodor Dostoevsky. She also found success on French television where she appeared in the miniseries L'Éducation sentimentale'' (1971, based on
Gustave Flaubert's
novel of the same name) and
Les Rois maudits (1972, based on
Maurice Druon's
The Accursed Kings). In 1970 she appeared in the major box-office hit
Borsalino, where she played the girlfriend of the gangster portrayed by
Alain Delon. She and Delon reprised their roles in the sequel
Borsalino & Co. (1974). Rouvel's other notable films include
Claude Chabrol's
The Breach (1970),
Marcel Carné's ''
Les Assassins de l'ordre'' (1971) and
Jean-Jacques Annaud's
Black and White in Color (1976). From the 1980s, Rouvel focused on television work, appearing in various miniseries and TV movies. From the early 1990s, she returned to the theatres of her native Marseille, where she appeared in a dozen plays while still playing occasional supporting roles on the big screen. She became less active on screen during the 2000s, but kept working on stage. == Selected filmography ==