Credit...Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times
George Clooney Is French Now
The actor and his wife, Amal Clooney, were granted French citizenship. He has spoken fondly of raising their children in a farmhouse they bought in Provence.
by https://www.nytimes.com/by/matthew-mpoke-bigg · NY TimesFrance has granted citizenship to Hollywood star George Clooney and his wife, the human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, according to government decrees issued over the weekend.
The orders of naturalization for the couple and their 8-year-old twins came in documents published by France’s Ministry of Justice. Mr. Clooney, who was born in Kentucky, also has U.S. citizenship, which French law allows him to retain.
Mr. Clooney, 64, has praised French culture and said that French privacy laws enabled him and his family to pursue a quieter existence. In an interview with the French broadcaster RTL aired early this month, Mr. Clooney said that his family had found a farmhouse in France that they loved.
“Here, they don’t take photos of kids. There aren’t any paparazzi hidden at the school gates. That’s No. 1 for us,” he said. “We also have a house in the United States, but our happiest place is on this farm where the kids can have fun.”
Mr. Clooney told Esquire magazine in an interview published in October that he and his family “live on a farm in France” and described a property including 100 acres of grapes, 1,200 olive trees and a vegetable garden. The French news media have reported that the Clooneys bought the house, on a vineyard outside the town of Brignoles, in the southern region of Provence, in 2021 for around $10 million.
The mayor of Brignoles, Didier Brémond, posted a photograph on social media in July that year that showed him meeting the couple at their new home. Last year, Mr. Clooney recorded a New Year’s message expressing thanks to Mr. Brémond and local residents for their welcome.
The actor’s timing for gaining citizenship may be fortunate: Starting next year, the French government is set to raise the language requirement for foreigners seeking residency and naturalization. Mr. Clooney told RTL that he was attempting to learn French using the language app Duolingo, but confessed that it was not easy at his age.
“My French is horrible,” Mr. Clooney said last year, pronouncing the adjective with a strong French accent as he arrived at the opening of a movie theater in Brignoles.
Mr. Clooney also owns a villa on Lake Como, in the foothills of the Italian Alps.
His career in film has spanned decades and includes comedies, dramas and thrillers. Among his awards are an Oscar in 2006 for his role in the film “Syriana” and another as co-producer of the 2013 drama “Argo.”
In his latest film, Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly,” Mr. Clooney plays an aging American film star who is attempting to rediscover himself. Fittingly, his character takes a train journey from Paris to Tuscany in Italy.
Ms. Clooney, 47, who is British and Lebanese, is a barrister in London who specializes in international and human rights law and has represented victims of mass atrocities at the International Court of Justice. Last year, she said that she had participated in a panel that recommended that the International Criminal Court issue arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and the Hamas militant group.