After studying philosophy and cinema, Marion Lary worked as an assistant to István Szabó, Alberto Lattuada, Léos Carax, Régis Warnier, and Nagisa Ōshima, before embarking on personal projects.

Through documentary cinema, she explores working-class neighborhoods, as in "Dans mon quartier je vis, je meurs" (In my neighborhood I live, I die) in 2011 or "Comme un poisson dans l’eau" (Like a fish in water) in 2013; she meets asylum seekers in "Ni ici, ni là-bas" (Neither here nor there) in 2003, women rebuilding their lives after domestic violence in "Quand elles passe à l'action" (When they take action) in 2021, and black and white people who ignore each other in "Les Silences de Cuthbert" (The Silences of Cuthbert) in 2018.

She experiences the difficulties of a different sexual orientation in "Unique en son genre" in 2012 or questions parenthood in "Désirs d’enfant" in 1996, thus affirming her perspective and her place as a committed filmmaker.