Rappeneau grew up in an artistic household: He is the son of film director Jean-Paul Rappeneau. His aunt is director Élisabeth Rappeneau and his brother Martin Rappeneau is a film composer. Rappeneau regularly went to the movies as a child. As his father was against him pursuing a career in film, Rappeneau initially became a journalist and wrote for magazines such as Écran total and Télérama. Rappeneau came to film more by chance, as his father involved him in the preparation of the film Bon Voyage. Rappeneau ended up co-writing the screenplay. Several film scenarios followed, including the screenplay for 36 - Deadly Rivals (2004) with Olivier Marchal and Franck Mancuso, for which he received a César nomination in the Best Screenplay category in 2005, dialogues for Paris, Paris - Monsieur Pigoil on the Road to Happiness (2008) and the adaptation and screenplay for My Way - A Life for Chanson (2012).
In 2015, Rappeneau made and released his directorial debut with Rosalie Blum. The film, based on a graphic novel by Camille Jourdy, won the Audience Award at the Gijón International Film Festival and was nominated for a César in the Best First Feature category in 2017.
