Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet, French cinema power couple, call it quits

Oscar winner Marion Cotillard and actor-director Guillaume Canet announced their separation Friday after 18 years and two children together, breaking up a power relationship of French cinema.

Cotillard won an Academy Award in 2008 for her performance as the legendary French singer Edith Piaf in “La Vie en Rose” and is one of France’s best-known stars internationally. She starred with Brad Pitt in the World War II romantic thriller “Allied” and Leonardo DiCaprio in “Inception.” Canet has acting, directing, and screenplay credits and played in “The Beach” with DiCaprio. The 49-year-old Cotillard and 52-year-old Canet starred together in the French-Belgian film “Love Me If You Dare” in 2003, a breakthrough box-office hit in France for her. They began dating in 2007.

They announced their separation in a statement to the Agence France-Presse news agency that said they made the split public to avoid all speculation, rumors, and risky interpretations. It did not give a reason but said they were separating by common accord and with mutual goodwill.

France-based agents for Cotillard and Canet did not respond to emails from The Associated Press.