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Claude Sautet

Writer, Director, Additional Credits
Born February 23, 1924Died July 22, 2000 (76 years)
Claude Sautet (23 February 1924 – 22 July 2000) was a French film director and screenwriter.

He was a chronicler of post-war French society. He made a total of five films with his favorite actress Romy Schneider.

Born in Montrouge, Hauts-de-Seine, France, Sautet first studied painting and sculpture before attending a film university in Paris where he began his career and later became a television producer. His first movie, Hello Smile! (originally Bonjour Sourire) was released in 1956.

He earned international attention with The Things of Life (Les choses de la vie, 1970), which he wrote and directed, like the rest of his later films. Featuring Michel Piccoli in the male lead, it was shown in competition at the 1970 Cannes Festival. The film also revived the career of Romy Schneider; she acted in several of Sautet's later films. In his next film Max and the Junkmen (Max et les Ferrailleurs, 1971) Schneider played a prostitute, while in César and Rosalie (César et Rosalie, 1972) she portrayed a married woman who copes with the reappearance of an old flame.

Vincent, François, Paul and the Others (Vincent, Paul, François, et les Autres, 1974) is one of Sautet's most acclaimed films. Four middle-class men meet in the country every weekend mainly to discuss their lives. As well as Piccoli, it featured Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, and Stéphane Audran. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian in a 2020 tribute article to Michel Piccoli thought it was "arguably the best" of the "five very well-regarded movies" on which the actor and director collaborated. Sautet achieved even further critical success with Mado (1976).

His film A Simple Story (Une Histoire simple, 1978) was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film featured Schneider again, this time as a dissatisfied working woman in her 40s. She won the César Award for Best Actress for her performance.

In the 1980s, he made only two films Waiter! (Garçon!, 1983), a drama starring Yves Montand as a middle-aged waiter, and the comedy A Few Days with Me (Quelques Jours Avec Moi, 1988).

Claude Sautet won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the César Award for Best Director for A Heart in Winter (Un cœur en hiver, 1992) and received the César once more for Nelly and Mr. Arnaud (Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud, 1995). Both films starred Emmanuelle Béart. Apart from his own directing, he also wrote screenplays for other directors.

Claude Sautet died of liver cancer in Paris in July 22, 2000 and was buried there in the Montparnasse Cemetery.

In 2001, from May 5th to July 14th, Canal Plus aired eleven of its feature films in their final versions, following the work done with Béatrice Valbin.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Claude Sautet, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

  • A Heart in Winter
  • Eyes Without a Face
  • The Things of Life
  • Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud
  • The Big Risk
  • Cesar & Rosalie
  • Max and the Junkmen
  • Vincent, François, Paul and the Others
  • Intersection
  • Borsalino
  • A Bad Son
  • A Simple Story
  • A Few Days with Me
  • A Matter of Resistance
  • Death of a Corrupt Man
  • Mado
  • The Swashbuckler
  • Waiter!
  • The Dictator's Guns
  • The Devil by the Tail
  • Symphonie pour un massacre
  • Back to the Wall
  • Backfire!
  • The Tiger Attacks

Filmography

1995
Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud · as Screenplay
1994
Intersection · as Original Film Writer
1992
A Heart in Winter · as Screenplay
1988
1983
Waiter! · as Screenplay
1980
A Bad Son · as Screenplay
1978
1977
Death of a Corrupt Man · as Screenplay
1976
Mado · as Screenplay
1974
1972
Cesar & Rosalie · as Screenplay
1971
1971
Max and the Junkmen · as Screenplay
1970
1970
The Things of Life · as Screenplay
1969
1969
1966
1966
A Matter of Resistance · as Screenplay
1964
That Tender Age · as Screenplay
1964
1964
1963
Banana Peel · as Screenplay
1963

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