Claude Autant-Lara
Encyclopedia
Claude Autant-Lara was a French film director
and later Member of the European Parliament
(MEP).
's Mill Hill School
during his mother's exile as a pacifist
. Early in his career, he worked as an art director and costume designer, his best known work in this vein was possibly for Nana
(1926), a silent film directed by Jean Renoir
. Autant-Lara also acted in the film.
As a director, he frequently created provocative movies, saying "if a film does not have venom, it is worthless". In the 1960s, he turned his back on the New Wave
movement, and from then on he had no popular successes.
On 18 June 1989, he came to public notice again, controversially, when he was elected to the European Parliament
as a member of the National Front
and the oldest member of the assembly. In his maiden speech, in July, he caused a scandal by expressing his "concerns about the American cultural threat", provoking a walkout by the majority of the deputies.
In an interview granted to the monthly magazine Globe in September 1989, he engaged in what Minister of Justice Pierre Arpaillange
referred to as "racial insults, racial slandering and incitements to racial hatred". He also described Nazi gas chambers as a "string of lies". The resulting scandal led to his resignation as European deputy. Moreover, the members of the Academy of the Fine Arts, of which he was a vice-president for life, voted to prohibit him from taking his seat thenceforth.
His memoir, The Rage in the Heart, appeared in 1984.
In 1973 he adapted Stendhal
's Lucien Leuwen
for television.
In addition, he was director of at least five other films produced between 1923 and 1936.
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:...
and later Member of the European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
(MEP).
Biography
Autant-Lara was educated in France and at LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Mill Hill School
Mill Hill School
Mill Hill School, in Mill Hill, London, is a coeducational independent school for boarding and day pupils aged 13–18. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, an organisation of public schools in the United Kingdom....
during his mother's exile as a pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
. Early in his career, he worked as an art director and costume designer, his best known work in this vein was possibly for Nana
Nana (1926 film)
Nana is Jean Renoir's second full-length silent film and is based on the novel by Émile Zola.-Plot:A government official, Count Muffat, falls under the spell of Nana, a young actress. She becomes his mistress, living in the sumptuous apartment which he provides for her...
(1926), a silent film directed by Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...
. Autant-Lara also acted in the film.
As a director, he frequently created provocative movies, saying "if a film does not have venom, it is worthless". In the 1960s, he turned his back on 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...
movement, and from then on he had no popular successes.
On 18 June 1989, he came to public notice again, controversially, when he was elected to the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
as a member of the National Front
Front National (France)
The National Front is a political party in France. The party was founded in 1972, seeking to unify a variety of French far-right currents of the time. Jean-Marie Le Pen was the party's first leader and the undisputed centre of the party from its start until his resignation in 2011...
and the oldest member of the assembly. In his maiden speech, in July, he caused a scandal by expressing his "concerns about the American cultural threat", provoking a walkout by the majority of the deputies.
In an interview granted to the monthly magazine Globe in September 1989, he engaged in what Minister of Justice Pierre Arpaillange
Pierre Arpaillange
Pierre Arpaillange is a French author, senior judge and former Government Minister.-Career:After obtaining his law degree, Arpaillange began a judicial career in 1949...
referred to as "racial insults, racial slandering and incitements to racial hatred". He also described Nazi gas chambers as a "string of lies". The resulting scandal led to his resignation as European deputy. Moreover, the members of the Academy of the Fine Arts, of which he was a vice-president for life, voted to prohibit him from taking his seat thenceforth.
His memoir, The Rage in the Heart, appeared in 1984.
Filmography (director)
- 1920 : L'Homme du large (actor, set design, assistant director)
- 1928 : Pour construire un feu (in early Henri ChretienHenri ChrétienHenri Jacques Chrétien was a French astronomer and an inventor.Born in Paris, France, his most famous invention is the anamorphic widescreen process, that resulted in the CinemaScope, and the co-invention of the Ritchey-Chrétien telescope , which was anadvanced type of astronomical telescope, now...
widescreenWidescreenWidescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
process) - 1931 : Buster se marie (French adaptation of Buster KeatonBuster KeatonJoseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
film Parlor, Bedroom and BathParlor, Bedroom and BathParlor, Bedroom and Bath is a comedy film starring Buster Keaton, released by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer in 1931. It was one of Keaton's early talking pictures, released in the aftermath of his silent career. The film was released in the United Kingdom as Romeo in Pyjamas...
, co-directed with Edward BrophyEdward BrophyEdward S. Brophy was an American character actor, voice artist, and comedian. Small of build, balding, and raucous-voiced, he was known for portraying gangsters, both serious and comic.-Career:...
) - 1933 : CibouletteCibouletteCiboulette is a French opérette in three acts, music by Reynaldo Hahn, libretto by Robert de Flers and Francis de Croisset, first performed at the Théâtre des Variétés, in Paris, on April 7, 1923...
- 1937 : L'Affaire du courrier de Lyon (co-directed with Maurice Lehmann)
- 1939 : Fric-Frac
- 1942 : Le Mariage de chiffon
- 1942 : Lettres d'amour
- 1943 : Douce
- 1946 : Sylvie et le fantômeSylvie et le fantômeSylvie et le fantôme is a 1946 French film directed by Claude Autant-Lara.-Plot:Sylvie is fascinated by the portrait of long dead Alain de Francigny and she is upset when her father, Baron Eduard, is forced to sell the painting. The Baron hires an actor to appear as Alain's ghost on the eve of...
- 1947 : Le Diable au corpsDevil in the Flesh (1947 film)Devil in the Flesh The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures named it the fifth best film of 1949.-Cast:*Micheline Presle ... Marthe Grangier*Gérard Philipe ... François Jaubert*Denise Grey ... Madame Grangier...
- 1949 : Occupe-toi d'Amélie
- 1951 : L'Auberge rouge [also screenwriter]
- 1952 : The Seven Deadly Sins [also screenwriter]
- 1953 : Le Blé en herbeLe Blé en herbe (1954 film)Le Blé en herbe is a 1954 French film by Claude Autant-Lara based on the 1923 novel by French novelist Colette. The film stars Edwige Feuillère, Pierre-Michel Beck , Nicole Berger , Robert Berri and Louis de Funès. It is black and white with a monaural soundtrack....
- 1953 : Le Bon Dieu sans confession [also screenwriter]
- 1954 : Le Rouge et le noirLe Rouge et le Noir (1954 film)Le rouge et le noir is a 1954 French drama film directed by Claude Autant-Lara, who co-wrote screenplay with Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost, based on novel by Stendhal. It starred Gerard Philipe, Antonella Lualdi and Danielle Darrieux...
- 1955 : Marguerite de la nuitMarguerite de la nuitMarguerite de la nuit is a 1955 French language motion picture fantasy drama directed by Claude Autant-Lara, and written by Ghislaine Autant-Lara and Gabriel Arout , based on novel by Pierre Dumarchais...
- 1956 : La Traversée de ParisLa Traversée de Paris (film)La Traversée de Paris , is a French comedy drama film from 1956, directed by Claude Autant-Lara, written by Marcel Aymé, starring Jean Gabin, Bourvil and Louis de Funès...
- 1958 : Le Joueur
- 1959 : En cas de malheur
- 1959 : La Jument verteLa Jument verteLa Jumente Verte is the title of a humorous novel by French writer Marcel Aymé first published by Gallimard in 1933.The story is divided into seventeen chapters written using the third person narrative mode; interspersed between them are a number of interludes all entitled "The Observations of the...
- 1960 : Tu ne tueras point
- 1961 : Le Comte de Monte-Cristo
- 1961 : Vive Henri IV... vive l'amour! ... aka Long Live Henry IV... Long Live Love (USA: literal English title)
- 1963 : Le Meurtrier
- 1964 : Le Magot de Josefa
- 1965 : Le Journal d'une femme en blancLe Journal d'une femme en blancLe Journal d'une femme en blanc is a 1965 Italian film, derected by Claude Autant-Lara, written by Jean Aurenche and André Soubiran.-Cast:* Marie-José Nat : Claude Sauvage* Claude Gensac : Mlle Viralleau* Jean Valmont : Pascal...
- 1967 : Le Plus vieux métier du monde
- 1967 : Le Franciscain de Bourges
- 1969 : Les Patates
- 1977 : Gloria
In 1973 he adapted Stendhal
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme...
's Lucien Leuwen
Lucien Leuwen
Lucien Leuwen is an unfinished French novel written by Stendhal in 1834. It was published posthumously in 1894....
for television.
In addition, he was director of at least five other films produced between 1923 and 1936.