1989–2003 She made her film debut at the age of nine in
Les Maris, les Femmes, les Amants (1989), directed by
Pascal Thomas, and had other minor roles in the early 1990s, including an appearance in
Cyrano de Bergerac with
Gerard Depardieu. Sagnier's career began in earnest in adulthood, as she gained commercial and critical success for her performances in three films directed by
François Ozon:
Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000),
8 Women (2002), and
Swimming Pool (2003).
8 Women was awarded acting prizes for Sagnier and her seven co-stars collectively. In
Swimming Pool, a psychological thriller, she starred alongside
Charlotte Rampling. Sagnier received significant international media attention for performing several
nude scenes in the film, having previously also done so in
Water Drops on Burning Rocks; she would later express disappointment that this led directors in the United States to attempt to typecast her in sexually explicit roles. She subsequently appeared in French films including
Love Songs (2007),
A Secret (2007), which garnered her another César nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and
Mesrine (2008). 2011 saw her return to international work with a role in the biographical drama ''
The Devil's Double. In 2016, she appeared alongside Jude Law in the Paolo Sorrentino-directed miniseries The Young Pope, later reprising her role in the follow-up series The New Pope'' (2020).
2021–present Since 2021 Sagnier has starred in the
Netflix-produced crime thriller series
Lupin as Claire Laurent, the estranged wife of protagonist Assane Diop (
Omar Sy) and the mother to their son Raoul, whom she is raising alone. Loosely based on the
Arsène Lupin stories written by
Maurice Leblanc, the show became an international hit, and has been regarded as one of Netflix' most successful series in a language other than English. Sagnier's performance as Claire has received praise from critics, with Robert Lloyd of the
Los Angeles Times writing that "like Sy, [she] brings a lot of soul to her part ... and the two actors have great chemistry." Following the success of
Lupin, Sagnier was cast in several English-language historical dramas. In the
STARZ series
The Serpent Queen (2022–2024), about the life and rise to power of
Catherine de' Medici, she portrayed Catherine's rival
Diane de Poitiers. Sagnier said that she was drawn to the role of Diane because she was interested in playing an antagonist, something she had seldom done in her career prior to then. She also made an appearance as
Thérésa Tallien in
Ridley Scott's biopic
Napoleon (2023), though her performance was cut from the theatrical version of the film, and played composer
Anne Louise Brillon de Jouy in the
Apple TV+ miniseries
Franklin (2024), about
Benjamin Franklin's expedition to France during the time of the
American Revolutionary War. In 2024, Sagnier featured in the
film adaptation of
Nicolas Mathieu's novel
And Their Children After Them, and reunited with François Ozon after a two-decade hiatus in their creative relationship for
When Fall Is Coming. That same year she was nominated for a
Molière Award for her performance in
Le Consentement, a one-woman play based on the memoir of the same name by
Vanessa Springora. ==Personal life==