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1-50 of 201
- Director
- Producer
- Writer
He grew up in Versailles with a family who was very influenced by pop music. When he was young, Gondry wanted to be a painter or an inventor. In the 80s he entered in an art school in Paris where he could develop his graphic skills and where he also met friends with whom he created a pop-rock band called Oui-Oui. The band released 2 albums ('Chacun tout le monde' and 'Formidable') and several singles until their separation in 1992. Gondry was the drummer of the band and also directed their video clips in which it was possible to see his strange world, influenced by the 60s and by his childhood. One of his videos was shown on MTV and when Björk saw it, she asked him to make her first solo video for 'Human Behaviour'. The partnership is famous: Gondry directed five other Björk's videos, benefiting by the huge budgets. This led to commissions for other artists around the world, including Massive Attack. He also made a lot of commercials for Gap, Smirnoff, Air France, Nike, Coca Cola, Adidas, Polaroid and Levi - the latter making him the most highly-awarded director for a one-off commercial.
Hollywood became interested in Gondry's success and he directed his first feature movie Human Nature (2001), adapting a Charlie Kaufman's scenario, which was shown in the 2001 Cannes Festival. Although it wasn't a big success, this film allowed him to direct Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), for which he again collaborated with Charlie Kaufman. The movie became a popular independent film and he and his co-writers won an Oscar for it.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Stéphane Audran was born on November 8, 1932 in Versailles, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France as Colette Suzanne Jeannine Dacheville. She was an actress, known for Der diskrete Charme der Bourgeoisie (1972), Babettes Fest (1987) and Der Schlachter (1970). She was married to Claude Chabrol and Jean-Louis Trintignant. She died at the age of 85 on March 27, 2018 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France after an illness.- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Jean Cocteau was one of the most multi-talented artists of the 20th century. In addition to being a director, he was a poet, novelist, painter, playwright, set designer, and actor. He began writing at 10 and was a published poet by age 16. He collaborated with the "Russian Ballet" company of Sergei Diaghilev, and was active in many art movements, but always remained a poet at heart. His films reflect this fact. Cocteau was also a homosexual, and made no attempt to hide it. His favorite actor was his close friend Jean Marais, who appeared in almost every one of his films. Cocteau made about twelve films in his career, all rich with symbolism and surreal imagery. He is now regarded as one of the most important avant-garde directors in cinema.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Romane Bohringer was born on 14 August 1973 in Pont-Sainte-Maxence, Oise, France. She is an actress and director, known for Savage Nights (1992), L'amour flou (2018) and The Apartment (1996).- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Olivier Megaton was born on 6 August 1965 in Versailles, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France. He is a director and writer, known for Transporter 3 (2008), Colombiana (2011) and Exit (2000).- Director
- Writer
- Animation Department
Sylvain Chomet was born on 10 November 1963 in Maisons-Laffitte, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines, Île-de-France], France. He is a director and writer, known for The Triplets of Belleville (2003), The Illusionist (2010) and Paris, I Love You (2006).- Anne Marivin was born on 23 January 1974 in Senlis, Oise, Picardie, France. She is an actress, known for Welcome to the Sticks (2008), Tell No One (2006) and Little White Lies (2010).
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Albert Dupontel was born on 11 January 1964 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Seine-et-Oise, France. He is an actor and writer, known for Irreversible (2002), 9-Month Stretch (2013) and See You Up There (2017).- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Director
Celebrated French stage actor/director/producer Jean-Louis Barrault was born on September 8, 1910. A superlative tragedian and mime, his dedication to both avant-garde and classical plays helped revive the French theatre after World War II, while presenting world premières of works by such playwrights as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco and Jean Genet. A rebel with many causes, he once hid French Underground members on the set of his greatest film Children of Paradise (1945).
Barrault initially was a teacher and studied art before turning to the theatre. A gifted student of both Charles Dullin of drama and Etienne Decroux of pantomime, he supported himself as a bookkeeper and flower salesman during those lean years. He made his official film bow in Vagabonds imaginaires (1950) (billed as J.L. Barrault), and took his first curtain call a year later playing a servant in "Volpone" at the Theatre de l'Atelier. While he made quite an impact in numerous classic, romantic films, including Bizarre, Bizarre (1937), Mirages (1938) and Children of Paradise (1945) (the last two opposite the exquisite Arletty), the theatre would remain Barrault's greatest passion, marking his directorial debut with "Les beaux jours" in 1935. Five years later he would join the Comedie Francaise as both actor/director.
In 1936 Barrault met actress Madeleine Renaud, who was a decade his senior, and married her four years later. Together the couple founded many theatres (including the Renaud-Barrault Paris stage company in 1947) and toured extensively, becoming the Lunt and Fontanne of European theatre with such performances in "Christopher Columbus" (1957) (she as his Queen Isabella), "The Misanthrope" (1957) and "The Marriage of Figaro" (1964) among their many collaborations. In November of 1952, Barrault and Renard made daunting Broadway debuts touring in repertory with "Les Fausses Confidences", "Baptiste", "The Trial", "Amphitryon", "Scapin", "Keep Your Eyes on Amelie" and "Hamlet". In 1957, they returned with "Christopher Columbus", "Volpone", "The Misanthrope", "Intermezzo", and others. He received a "special" Tony award for his work.
Barrault's thin frame, gentle bearing and sensitive features belied a great power and those same talents were utilized magnificently, if sporadically, on film, associating with the greatest of directors including Abel Gance, Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Sacha Guitry, Jean Delannoy, Max Ophüls and Jean Renoir. His initial impression playing Beethoven's nephew Karl in The Life and Loves of Beethoven (1936), led to other fine filming. Arguably his most notable triumph on film was his portrayal of Baptiste in Children of Paradise (1945), which was based on the life of the mime-actor Jean-Gaspard Deburau, a character he originally suggested to Marcel Carné and Jacques Prévert. The phenomenal success of that film singlehandedly revived public interest in the art of pantomime and subsequently influenced the popularity of legendary mime Marcel Marceau. Barrault's peerless performance in that role is still studied in acting and mime schools today. Elsewhere, he appeared in historical characterizations ranging from that of composer Hector Berlioz to Napoleon Bonaparte.
In later years Barrault served twice as director of the Theatre des Nations and in 1974-1981 was the director of the Theatre d'Orsay. His last film performance at age 78 was in La lumière du lac (1988). The beloved 83-year-old actor died of a heart attack in Paris on January 22, 1994; wife Madeleine died in September of that same year at age 94.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Claude Gensac was born on 1 March 1927 in Acy-en-Multien, Oise, France. She was an actress, known for 22 Bullets (2010), Hibernatus (1969) and The Wing or The Thigh? (1976). She was married to Henri Chemin and Pierre Mondy. She died on 27 December 2016 in Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine, France.- Nicole Courcel was born Nicole Marie-Anne Andrieux, the daughter of a journalist, in the Parisian suburb of Saint Cloud. Some of her early childhood was spent in Catholic boarding schools (an unhappy experience) and with her grandmother (much happier) in the small township of Martel (renowned for its truffles). While in her mid-teens she began acting in amateur theatre, eventually completing her dramatic training at the venerable acting school René Simon in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. Courcel entered films as a small part actress in 1947 and adopted the stage name Courcel two years later from a character in Jacques Becker's romantic youth comedy Rendezvous in July (1949). This was her first leading role. An actress of considerable poise, beauty and sensitivity, Courcel reached the peak of her popularity just prior to the beginning of the New Wave movement. Many of her films were commercially successful and directed by leading auteurs of the period, including Marcel Carné (in La Marie du Port (1950), co-starring opposite Jean Gabin), Jean Cocteau (in Testament of Orpheus (1960)) and Serge Bourguignon (in Sundays and Cybèle (1962)). The latter role -- as nurse to an emotionally crippled war veteran -- was arguably her most famous and complex, contrasting tender care with obsessive jealousy.
Rare international appearances saw her as a French piano teacher and romantic interest in a typical Heinz Rühmann comedy, Ein Mann geht durch die Wand (1959); as a nurse in a minor cold war drama, Stop Train 349 (1963) (starring Sean Flynn, son of the famous Errol); and a small part, as Raymonde, in the excellent wartime thriller The Night of the Generals (1967), directed by Anatole Litvak. As movie roles began to diminish in the early 70's, Courcel confined her acting to the small screen -- often in period drama -- notably in the title role as Madame Bovary (1974) and as the heroine's grandmother, Jeanne De Breuil, in an adaptation of Milady and the Three Musketeers (2004). Courcel was the mother of French television personality and food critic Julie Andrieu. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Claire Keim was born on 8 July 1975 in Senlis, Oise, Picardie, France. She is an actress, known for Zodiaque (2004), Highlander (1992) and The Girl (2000).- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Francis Perrin is a French stage and film actor. Since 1993, he has been directing the Théâtre Montansier in Versaille. 1959: Writes and directs his first play, "Les deux peintres". 1965: Directs his second play "Le reflet". 1966: Diploma in philosophy. 1971: Prize Premiers Accessits de Comédie 1972: Prize Premiers Prix de Comédie 1972: Joins "La Comédie Française"- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Costume Designer
- Additional Crew
Hubert de Givenchy was born on 20 February 1927 in Beauvais, Oise, France. He was a costume designer, known for Funny Face (1957), Charade (1963) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). He died on 10 March 2018 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France.- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Claude Debussy was born in St. Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, France. His father was a salesman and kept a china shop. His mother was a seamstress. Some traumatizing events in his childhood caused him a depression and he never spoke about his early years. Later he could not compose without having his favorite porcelain frog.
Debussy's piano teacher, Mme. Maute, had been a student of Frédéric Chopin. She sent Debussy to the Paris Conservatory, where he studied from 1872-84 with César Franck, Ernest Guiraud and others. He lived at the castle of Nadezhda von Meck and taught her children. She was a wealthy patroness of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and eventually Debussy played all pieces by Tchaikovsky in addition to other classical repertoire. She also took Debussy on trips to Venice, Vienna and Moscow. In Vienna he heard "Tristan und Isolde" by Richard Wagner and later admitted that it had influenced him for a number of years.
Debussy won the Prix de Rome twice--in 1883 and 1884--and the money covered his studies at the Villa de Medici in Rome for the next four years. In Rome he met Franz Liszt and Giuseppe Verdi and heard more of Wagner's music, which made a strong impression on him. In 1888 and 1889 he went to listen to yet more of Wagner's music at the Bayreuth Festspiehaus. There he was very impressed by "Parsifal" and other of Wagner's works. He used the Wagnerian chromaticism for upgrades to his own tonal harmony in "Cinq poems de Baudelaire" (1889).
Debussy became influenced by the impressionist poets and artists in the circle of Stéphane Mallarmé. In 1890 he wrote his most famous music collection for piano, "Suite bergamasque", containing "Clair de Lune". His "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" (1892) continued the most productive 20-year period in his life. He composed orchestral "Nocturnes", "La Mer", "Images" (1899-1909), and the intricate ballet "Jeux" (1912) for "Ballets Russes" of Sergei Diaghilev. He was fascinated with Maurice Maeterlinck's play "Pelleas et Melisande", which inspired him to compose the eponymous symbolist opera which was praised by Paul Dukas and Maurice Ravel.
In 1908 Debussy married singer Emma Bardac after they had a daughter, Claude-Emma. Debussy called her Chou-Chou and composed for her the collection of piano pieces "Children's Corner Suite" (1909). His piano masterpiece "Preludes" were composed in 1910-1913. The twelve preludes of the first book are alluding to Frédéric Chopin, with more provocative harmonies, especially the "La Cathedrale Engloutie". In the second book of twelve preludes Debussy explored avant-garde, with deliciously dissonant harmonies and mysterious images.
The beginning of WW I and the onset of cancer depressed Debussy. He left unfinished opera, ballets and two pieces after stories by Edgar Allan Poe that later were completed by his assistants. He died on March 25, 1918, in Paris.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Exuberant and funny theater actress who excelled in light comedies (Feydeau's "Le système Ribardier", "Chat en poche"; Françoise Dorin's "L'étiquette"; Remo Forlani's "Le divan", "Un roi qui a des malheurs", "Guerre et paix au café Sneffe"), Micheline Luccioni did not have the movie career she deserved. Used too often as the mocking prostitute or the provocative floosie in the office, she nevertheless played these roles with the appropriate jocular insolence. No wonder that she usually appeared in comedies written and/or directed by Michel Audiard. She was indeed one of those colorful ladies (along with Françoise Rosay, Ginette Leclerc, Jacqueline Maillan, among others) whose down-to-earth liveliness allowed them to deliver for what they are worth the biting lines polished up by the French green language master. All in all, Micheline Luccioni appeared in few memorable films. She even squandered her talent in bombs signed Michel Gérard or Richard Balducci. But she did have good moments in "Pot Bouille", the 1957 adaptation of Emile Zola's classic by Julien Duvivier (as the hysterical sister-in-law)and as one of Valentine Tessier's daughters in Jean-Claude Brialy's directorial debut "Eglantine" (1971). She was fine too in Adam Pianko's wonderful "On n'est pas sérieux quand on a 17 ans", about teen pregnancy. Micheline Luccioni played the difficult role of the 15-year-old girl's mother with subtle nuances, a touching character lights years away from the loud-mouthed woman she was wont to play. This could - and should - have been the beginning of a new career but alas the film was little seen and nothing came out of it.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Bernard Verley was born on 4 October 1939 in Chaumont-en-Vexin, Oise, France. He is an actor and producer, known for Love in the Afternoon (1972), Oh, Woe Is Me (1993) and 3000 scénarios contre un virus (1994).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Cris Campion was born on 1 September 1966 in Versailles, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France. He is an actor and director, known for Pirates (1986), Charlemagne (1993) and Le café (1985). He has been married to Anny Duperey since 1993.- Katia Tchenko was born on 8 May 1947 in Versailles, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France. She is an actress, known for Ronin (1998), Transporter 3 (2008) and Au théâtre ce soir (1966).
- André Penvern is a French actor born in Sèvres. At age 17, he began working with National Drama Centers. He went from small parts to stage manager, sound and lightning designer, etc. His meeting with Margot Capelier, casting director, was crucial for him. She introduced him to Fred Zinnemann Otto Preminger John Frankenheimer, Gérard Oury. He alternates between theater and television, encountering Jean Marboeuf Alain Bonnot, Philippe de Broca, Olivier Dahan.
- Guy Grosso was born on 19 August 1933 in Beauvais, Oise, France. He was an actor and writer, known for The Gendarme of Saint-Tropez (1964), The Gendarme and the Extra-Terrestrials (1979) and The Gendarme Gets Married (1968). He died on 14 February 2001 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines, France.
- Actress
- Costume Designer
Jehanne d'Alcy was born on 20 March 1865 in Vaujours, Seine-et-Oise [now Seine-Saint-Denis], France. She was an actress and costume designer, known for Haggard's She: The Pillar of Fire (1899), Bluebeard (1901) and The Conjuring of a Woman at the House of Robert Houdin (1896). She was married to Georges Méliès and Gustave Manieux. She died on 14 October 1956 in Versailles, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France.- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Though François Leterrier's career evolved from assistant director to writer and director, he left an important mark in cinema with an acting role as the leading man in Robert Bresson's immortal classic A Man Escaped (1956), as Fontaine, the man who skillfully tries several ways and attempts to escape from prison during World War II. He only acted once more in Resnais' Stavisky (1974) in the role of poet André Malraux.
After his work for Bresson, he was second assistant director in two films directed by Louis Malle: Elevator to the Gallows (1958) and The Lovers (1958), then assistant director in four other films. His directorial debut was in _Les mauvais coups (1961), a film starring Simone Signoret. In the following 30 years, Leterrier directed 20 projects in between theatrical films, TV movies and series, which include Un roi sans divertissement (1963), La chasse royale (1969), the final film of the Emmanuelle franchise in the 1970's Emmanuelle 3 (1977), _Rat Race (1980)_ and _Slices of Life (1985)_. He is the father of director Louis Leterrier, famous for directing two films of The Transporter franchise.
He passed away on 3 December, 2020.- François Négret was born on 15 October 1966 in Versailles, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France. He is an actor, known for Goodbye, Children (1987), Sound and Fury (1988) and The Exterminating Angels (2006).
- Director
- Writer
- Cinematographer
Serge Bourguignon was born on 3 September 1928 in Maignelay-Montigny, Oise, Picardie, France. He is a director and writer, known for Sundays and Cybèle (1962), Le sourire (1960) and Two Weeks in September (1967).