Danièle Heymann was born in Paris on 16 May 1933. She was the daughter of filmmaker Claude Heymann, and was the second wife of singer Jean Bertola.[1] Her first salaried job was at the Cinémathèque Française.[2] After starting at France-Soir, she was quickly dismissed because of a very negative review of a film with Roger Pierre and Jean-Marc Thibault.[2] She was a cinema critic at L'Express[3] and Marianne,[4] and head of the Culture Department at Le Monde.[5] From 1989 to 2019, she served as a cinema columnist on the radio show Le Masque et la Plume.[6] She was a member of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival in 1987.[2] From 1977 to 2006 she directed L'Année du cinéma,[2] which she wrote alone or with Pierre Murat or Alain Lacombe.