Arnaud Desplechin
Encyclopedia
Arnaud Desplechin is a French
film director
.
Arnaud Desplechin studied film directing at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle
then at the IDHEC, graduating in 1984. He made three short films inspired by the work of the Belgian novelist Jean Ray. During the late 1980s, Desplechin worked as a director of photography on several films.
In 1990, Desplechin directed La Vie des morts, starring several actors who would go on to appear in multiple Desplechin films, such as Marianne Dénicourt
, Emmanuelle Devos
, Emmanuel Salinger and Thibault de Montalembert. The 54-minute-long film won the Jean Vigo Prize for Short Films, and was shown at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival
.
Desplechin's first feature-length movie, The Sentinel
, premiered in 1992 at Cannes
, starring several actors from La vie des morts as well as Mathieu Amalric
, Chiara Mastroianni
, and Lászlo Szabó
, who have also become frequent Desplechin collaborators. Desplechin's 1996 film My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument was critically successful.
In 2000, Desplechin made his first English-language film, Esther Kahn
, adapted from a short story by Arthur Symons
, and starred Summer Phoenix
in the title role. The film was seen as a homage to François Truffaut
's work because it deals with coming of age (a favorite Truffaut theme) and uses the New Wave
cinema techniques that Truffaut pioneered.
Three years later, Desplechin made two films adapting Edward Bond
's play Playing 'In the Company of Men'
: one showing 70% rehearsal footage and 30% of the film itself; and the other with inverse proportions. The next year, he directed Kings and Queen
, which mixed comedy and tragedy to tell the story of two ex-lovers played by Amalric and Devos. The film also starred Catherine Deneuve
in the role of a psychiatrist. Kings and Queen was nominated for several awards and Amalric won the César Award
for Best Actor. However, controversy arose when actress Marianne Denicourt
, Desplechin's ex-girlfriend, accused him of revealing elements of her private life in the screenplay of Kings and Queen. In 2005, she published Mauvais génie ("Evil Genius"), describing her relationship with an unscrupulous film director called "Arnold Duplancher." In 2006 she unsuccessfully sued Desplechin.
In 2007, Desplechin filmed L'Aimée,, a documentary showing his father, his brother, and his nephews in the family house in Roubaix
just before it was to be sold. That same year, he filmed the family drama A Christmas Tale
, starring Deneuve, Amalric, Devos, and Mastroianni. This film was screened in competition at Cannes in 2008.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
.
Biography
Arnaud Desplechin is the son of Robert and Mado Desplechin, and grew up in the Nord department. He has a brother named Fabrice who has acted in several of his films, and two sisters: novelist Marie Desplechin and screenwriter Raphaëlle Desplechin.Arnaud Desplechin studied film directing at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle
University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle
The New Sorbonne University is a public university in Paris, France.The Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle is a founding member of the Paris Universitas, a union of 6 Parisian universities....
then at the IDHEC, graduating in 1984. He made three short films inspired by the work of the Belgian novelist Jean Ray. During the late 1980s, Desplechin worked as a director of photography on several films.
In 1990, Desplechin directed La Vie des morts, starring several actors who would go on to appear in multiple Desplechin films, such as Marianne Dénicourt
Marianne Denicourt
Marianne Denicourt is a French actress, who has appeared in about 50 film and television productions between 1986 and 2009....
, Emmanuelle Devos
Emmanuelle Devos
Emmanuelle Devos is a French actress. Devos was born to daughter of actress Marie Henriau in Paris. She appeared in 50 films between 1986 and 2009. She won the César Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her performance in Sur mes lèvres, directed by Jacques Audiard...
, Emmanuel Salinger and Thibault de Montalembert. The 54-minute-long film won the Jean Vigo Prize for Short Films, and was shown at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival
1990 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Bernardo Bertolucci *Alexei Guerman *Anjelica Huston *Bertrand Blier *Christopher Hampton*Fanny Ardant *Françoise Giroud *Hayao Shibata *Mira Nair *Sven Nykvist...
.
Desplechin's first feature-length movie, The Sentinel
The Sentinel (1992 film)
The Sentinel is a 1992 French thriller film directed by Arnaud Desplechin. It was entered into the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Emmanuel Salinger - Mathias Barillet* Thibault de Montalembert - Jean-Jacques* Jean-Louis Richard - Bleicher...
, premiered in 1992 at Cannes
1992 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Gérard Depardieu *John Boorman *Carlo Di Palma *Jamie Lee Curtis *Joële Van Effenterre *Lester James Peries *Nana Djordjadze *Pedro Almodóvar *René Cleitman...
, starring several actors from La vie des morts as well as Mathieu Amalric
Mathieu Amalric
Mathieu Amalric is a French actor and film director, perhaps best known internationally for his performance as the lead villain in Bond film Quantum Of Solace and for his role in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for which he drew critical acclaim...
, Chiara Mastroianni
Chiara Mastroianni
Chiara Charlotte Mastroianni is a French actress and singer.-Biography:Mastroianni was born in Paris, the daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. Her elder half-brother is Christian Vadim; her elder half-sister is Barbara Mastroianni.She had relationships with the actors Benicio...
, and Lászlo Szabó
László Szabó (actor)
László Szabó is a Hungarian actor, film director and screenwriter. He has appeared in over 120 films since 1952, including seven films that have been screened at the Cannes Film Festival.-Selected filmography:* La poupée...
, who have also become frequent Desplechin collaborators. Desplechin's 1996 film My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument was critically successful.
In 2000, Desplechin made his first English-language film, Esther Kahn
Esther Kahn
Esther Kahn is the first English-language film by the French director Arnaud Desplechin. It premiered at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival but was not distributed to the United States for two years until it played in New York City in 2002...
, adapted from a short story by Arthur Symons
Arthur Symons
Arthur William Symons , was a British poet, critic and magazine editor.-Life:Born in Milford Haven, Wales, of Cornish parents, Symons was educated privately, spending much of his time in France and Italy...
, and starred Summer Phoenix
Summer Phoenix
Summer Joy Phoenix is an American actress and model. She is the youngest sibling of the late River Phoenix, Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, and Liberty Phoenix, and is married to actor Casey Affleck.-Early life:...
in the title role. The film was seen as a homage to François Truffaut
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...
's work because it deals with coming of age (a favorite Truffaut theme) and uses the New Wave
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
cinema techniques that Truffaut pioneered.
Three years later, Desplechin made two films adapting Edward Bond
Edward Bond
Edward Bond is an English playwright, theatre director, poet, theorist and screenwriter. He is the author of some fifty plays, among them Saved , the production of which was instrumental in the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK...
's play Playing 'In the Company of Men'
Playing 'In the Company of Men'
Playing 'In the Company of Men' is a 2003 French drama film directed by Arnaud Desplechin. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Sami Bouajila - Léonard* Jean-Paul Roussillon - Henri Jurrieu...
: one showing 70% rehearsal footage and 30% of the film itself; and the other with inverse proportions. The next year, he directed Kings and Queen
Kings and Queen
Rois et reine is a 2004 French film directed by Arnaud Desplechin. It won the Louis Delluc Prize, the Prix Méliès and the César Award for Best Actor...
, which mixed comedy and tragedy to tell the story of two ex-lovers played by Amalric and Devos. The film also starred Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
in the role of a psychiatrist. Kings and Queen was nominated for several awards and Amalric won the César Award
César Award
The César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....
for Best Actor. However, controversy arose when actress Marianne Denicourt
Marianne Denicourt
Marianne Denicourt is a French actress, who has appeared in about 50 film and television productions between 1986 and 2009....
, Desplechin's ex-girlfriend, accused him of revealing elements of her private life in the screenplay of Kings and Queen. In 2005, she published Mauvais génie ("Evil Genius"), describing her relationship with an unscrupulous film director called "Arnold Duplancher." In 2006 she unsuccessfully sued Desplechin.
In 2007, Desplechin filmed L'Aimée,, a documentary showing his father, his brother, and his nephews in the family house in Roubaix
Roubaix
Roubaix is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is located between the cities of Lille and Tourcoing.The Gare de Roubaix railway station offers connections to Lille, Tourcoing, Antwerp, Ostend and Paris.-Culture:...
just before it was to be sold. That same year, he filmed the family drama A Christmas Tale
A Christmas Tale
A Christmas Tale is a 2008 French comedy-drama film by Arnaud Desplechin, starring Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Mathieu Amalric, Anne Consigny, Melvil Poupaud, Emmanuelle Devos and Chiara Mastroianni. It tells the story of a family with strained relationships which gathers at the...
, starring Deneuve, Amalric, Devos, and Mastroianni. This film was screened in competition at Cannes in 2008.
Filmography
- A Christmas TaleA Christmas TaleA Christmas Tale is a 2008 French comedy-drama film by Arnaud Desplechin, starring Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Mathieu Amalric, Anne Consigny, Melvil Poupaud, Emmanuelle Devos and Chiara Mastroianni. It tells the story of a family with strained relationships which gathers at the...
(2008) - L'Aimée (2007)
- Kings and QueenKings and QueenRois et reine is a 2004 French film directed by Arnaud Desplechin. It won the Louis Delluc Prize, the Prix Méliès and the César Award for Best Actor...
(2004) - Playing 'In the Company of Men'Playing 'In the Company of Men'Playing 'In the Company of Men' is a 2003 French drama film directed by Arnaud Desplechin. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Sami Bouajila - Léonard* Jean-Paul Roussillon - Henri Jurrieu...
(2003) - Esther KahnEsther KahnEsther Kahn is the first English-language film by the French director Arnaud Desplechin. It premiered at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival but was not distributed to the United States for two years until it played in New York City in 2002...
(2000) - My Sex Life ... or How I Got into an Argument (1996)
- La SentinelleThe Sentinel (1992 film)The Sentinel is a 1992 French thriller film directed by Arnaud Desplechin. It was entered into the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Emmanuel Salinger - Mathias Barillet* Thibault de Montalembert - Jean-Jacques* Jean-Louis Richard - Bleicher...
(1992) - La Vie des morts (1991)
External links
- IMDb entry
- Soul Searching - Interview with Desplechin on Esther Kahn
- My Sex Life... How I Got Into An Argument at The AuteursThe Auteurs (film website)MUBI is an online film website that integrates elements of social networking with video streaming. It has been described as an "online cinematheque." The site allows users to watch feature films, usually for a fee, and connect with others with similar tastes in movies.- Partnerships :MUBI is...
- Ryland Walker Knight on "My Sex Life..." and "Kings and Queen" at The House Next Door