Deneuve looked fabulous, hard to square with my memory of having interviewed her on her trip to New York early in her career. She was perfectly charming then, but looked like an unassuming and rather shy girl from the country. Watching her subsequent dynamic career and the stunning glamour image acquired along the way has offered special pleasure. The clips shown from her various films during the evening spoke loudest in telling the story of her achievements that earned her this prestigious award.

We watched her in snippets from “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” “Belle de jour,” “Repulsion,” “Le Savage,” “The Hunger,” “The Last Metro,” “Hustle,” “Indochine,” “8 Women,” “A Christmas Tale” “Potiche” and more, and seeing her on screen in various roles emphasized her range and the authenticity she has brought to each character.

As is customary at these galas, notables were on hand to pay tribute to the honoree. Susan Sarandon praised her not only for her work in cinema but for her principled stand on issues of the times and “not so much as blinking in the face of controversy.” Sarandon injected humor, pointing out in a reference to a steamy film (“The Hunger”) they made together that she was the only American actress to have slept with Deneuve.

The person who one might say stole the show was Chiara Mastroianni, Deneuve’s daughter with Marcello Mastroianni and an actress in her own right. Striking looking, she particularly resembles her father, and in her comments, she exhibited a keen sense of fun. But she also expressed pride in her mother’s stands on various issues, in particular her joining 342 other noted women who signed a statement in 1971 admitting to having broken French law by having an abortion and demanding the legal right to have one, a right subsequently granted by French lawmakers.

Then she elicited a huge laugh from the crowd by assuming that Rick Santorum would not like her mother.

After being lauded by Scorsese and receiving the award statue, which she placed on a stand next to her, Deneuve thanked the Film Society of Lincoln Center for the honor, especially meaningful to her, she said, as an American award in view of the fact that most of the films she has made have been French. She basked in the applause and the standing ovation before going off-stage along with the entourage of those who had spoken in her honor and witnessed the presentation, including noted French director François Ozon.