Pierre Schoendoerffer
Encyclopedia
Pierre Schoendoerffer is a French
film director
, a screenwriter
, a writer
, a war reporter, a war cameraman, a renowned First Indochina War
veteran, a cinema academician
and since 2001 the President of the Académie des Beaux-Arts
.
of a French Alsatian
Protestant family. As Alsace
was a territory contested and annexed in the 17th, 19th and 20th centuries by both France and Germany leading to the Franco-Prussian War
(1870) next the World War I
(1914–18), his forefathers chose to remain French, even though they lost all their belongings.
His maternal grandfather, who was a 1870 veteran, volunteered in the French Army in 1914 at the age of 66 and the rank of Captain. He was killed during the Second Battle of the Aisne
at Chemin des Dames
. His father was the director of the Annecy
hospital and died shortly after the end of the battle of France
(1940) where he was injured.
He met his wife Patricia in Morocco
(then a Spanish-French joint protectorate
), she was a journalist for France-Soir. They had three children, actor and screenwriter Frédéric Schoendoerffer, director and producer Ludovic Schoendoerffer and actress Amélie Schoendoerffer.
's epic adventure novel Fortune Carrée (1932) who changed his mind, he wanted to become a mariner and travel the world
In 1946, he spent his summer job as a fisherman aboard a small fishing trawler in the Bourgneuf-en-Retz
bay, near Pornic
, Pays de la Loire
(close to Brittany
). From this experience he would later direct Than the Fisher shot in Vietnam, and Iceland Fisherman.
The following year he went back to the Pays de la Loire region and embarked a Swedish
cargo
ship at Boulogne
.
coaster
, he sailed for two years in the Baltic Sea
and North Sea
. This sailor experience would later find echoes in Seven Days at Sea, The Drummer-Crab and even in Above the Clouds.
From 1949 to 1950 he left the navy to fulfill the mandatory military service in the Alpine infantry's 13e Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpins ("13th Alpine Chasers Battalion", 13e BCA) based in Chambéry
and Modane
, Rhône-Alpes
. The Alpine infantry would later become the title character's corps in The Honor of a Captain.
Young Schoendoerffer had realized he was not born to be a mariner, but he did not want to be a soldier either, thinking he would be wasting his time. What he wanted to do was filmmaking. As he failed to enter the television and cinema industries, he began photography instead. One day as he read a Le Figaro
article about KIA
war cameraman Georges Kowal during the First Indochina War, he decide to try his luck in the Service Cinématographique des Armées ("Armies' Cinematographic Service", SCA, now ECPAD).
Thus in late 1951, he volunteered to become a war cameraman for the French army and was sent to Saigon, in French Indochina
. There Corporal Schoendoerffer met and befriended with Service Presse Information ("Information Press Service", SPI) war photograph Sergeant-Chief Jean Péraud, who took him as his protégé.
Schoendoerffer's first SCA production would be a 9-minute short documentary First Indochina War Rushes (1952) that would surface thirty years later on screen in The Honor of a Captain.
In 1954, his friend and superior Sergeant-Chief Péraud asked him by telegram
to join him at the battle of Dien Bien Phu
and he dropped with the 5th Vietnamese Parachutist Battalion (5e BPVN aka 5e BAWOUAN). As a result, upranked Corporal-Chief Schoendoerffer "celebrated" his 26th birthday in the midst of the 57 days siege. He filmed the entire battle for the SCA but after the French ceasefire and the defeat, just as the other soldiers destroyed their equipment so it would not be captured by the Viet Minh, Schoendoerffer destroyed his films and camera. This event was later depicted on screen by his own son, Frédéric, in Pierre Schoendoerffer's 1992 docudrama Dien Bien Phu
recreating the battle.
By the end of the battle in 1954, he saved and secretly hid six SCA 1-minute reels which ended in Roman Karmen
's hands.
. During the march to the camp, following Jean Péraud, he tried to escape with paratroopers commander Marcel Bigeard
, but he was caught. Péraud vanished though and has since been Missing in action
.
In prison, his life was spared in the insistence of Roman Karmen, the Soviet propagandist who directed all the worldwide famous sequences illustrating the battle, from the Viet Minh raising the Red flag over General de Castries
's bunker staged a few weeks after the siege, to the French Union
POWs column marching from Dien Bien Phu
to the re-education camp (a crane
was used for the shooting), that are featured in Вьетнам ("Vietnam", 1955). During his jail time, Karmen had some friendly meetings with Schoendoerffer, they spoke about their job, and he revealed to the French prisoner he had found his reels and had watched them. Karmen kept the reels though, as a result the only footage covering the battle is from the Viet Minh's perspective. His own work has been watched all around the world and has even been used in the western media. As an example, Peter Batty's 1980 The Battle for Den Bien Phu documentary is largely based on the footage from Vietnam.
Schoendoerffer was released by the Viet Minh four months later on 1 September 1954. On the battle's tenth anniversary, in Paris, Schoendoerffer was invited with Bigeard to comment on the Viet Minh footage, including segments from Vietnam, which were broadcast on the French public channel ORTF (Cinq colonnes à la une show) for the first time.
After the First Indochina War Schoendoerffer left the French army and became a war reporter-photograph in South Vietnam for French and American news magazines: Paris Match
, Paris-Presse
, Time
, Life
, Look
.
In April 1955 he left South Vietnam
to return to France, stopping off along the way in Hong Kong
, Taipei
, Japan
, Hawaii
and San Francisco.
In Hong Kong, through the AFP
news agency he met Joseph Kessel
, the adventurer, famous Free French, World War I and World War II aviator, war correspondent, reporter, and novelist he admired in his childhood for Fortune Carrée. During a quick friendly relationship, Schoendoerffer narrated his three years adventure in Indochina to Kessel who was impressed. Soon they broke up promising to keep in touch.
In Hollywood Schoendoerffer became an apprentice on a movie for ten days thanks to his connections with Life magazine, but without a Green Card
he was eventually forced to leave.
Back in France he signed his first important contract with Pathé Journal
and two weeks later he flew to Morocco
where the French Algeria
anticolonial rebellion was emulated. He became a war correspondent filming the riots for the French audience, Morocco was then a French protectorate
. There he met Patricia, a journalist at France Soir
, who would later become his wife.
In 1956, he resigned from Pathé whose representative threatened him: "You are leaving us? So you'll never do cinema again, because we are huge!".
Kessel was actually searching for him since he had a film project in Afghanistan
, The Devil's Pass, he wanted Schoendoerffer to direct it. Kessel wrote the script, Raoul Coutard, a First Indochina War photograph (SPI) veteran was in charge of the cinematography on his first film (later he would join Jean-Luc Godard
), Jacques Dupont assisted Schoendoerffer with the direction and Georges de Beauregard
produced it.
In 1958, he married "Pat", Patricia, the journalist he met in Morocco in 1955.
In 1959, Pierre Lazareff, founder of Patricia Schoendoerffer and Joseph Kessel newspaper France Soir, asked him to direct a reportage about the Algerian War for his Cinq colonnes à la une (ORTF) TV show. Thanks to Lazareff he would later return to Vietnam in 1966 and make his acclaimed The Anderson Platoon for the ORTF.
Later in 1991 he would come back to Dien Bien Phu
and recreate the battle in a self-titled epic docudrama — in the fashion of Tora! Tora! Tora!
— in which his son Frédéric would play his own role as cameraman. The actual Vietnamese army was used to play the role of both the Viet Minh and the State of Vietnam
national army fighting in the French side against the Communists. Meanwhile, the French 11th Parachute Division played the role of the French Union
paratroopers.
In the 2000s, his latest productions consist of the 2003 novel The Butterfly Wing (L'Aile du Papillon) and Above the Clouds (Là-Haut, un roi au-dessus des nuages), the theatrical adaptation of his 1981 novel Up there (Là-Haut).
In France he is famous for his 1973 three-time César Award
-winning Le Crabe-Tambour
("Drummer Crab"), based on his French Academy
-award–winning self-titled novel. His first success was in 1965 with his Cannes Film Festival
Best Screenplay
winning The 317th Platoon (La 317e Section). Both films are based on his experience in the First Indochina War.
He is most known abroad, particularly in the United States, for his 1967 Oscar-winning Vietnam War
B&W documentary, The Anderson Platoon
(La Section Anderson), originally made for the French public channel ORTF's popular Cinq colonnes à la une monthly show. It earned him an Oscar, an International Emmy Award
, a Red Ribbon Award at the New York Film Festival
, a BBC's Merit Award and an Italia Prize.
Military honors:
Academic honors:
Artistic prizes
' Section VII: Artistic creation in the cinema and the audio-visual field, Seat#4, on 23 March 1988, replacing Guillaume Gillet
.
He is president of the Académie des Beaux-Arts since 2001.
's Fortune Carrée (1932). Kessel wrote The Devil's Pass (1956) he co-directed with Jacques Dupont. In the late 1950s, he adapted on screen two Pierre Loti
novels, first Iceland Fisherman (1886) then Ramuncho (1897). Following his 1992 motion picture Dien Bien Phu
, Schoendoerffer spent three years working on the screen adaptation of his favourite writer Joseph Conrad
's Typhoon (1902). The script was ready and the filmmaker started location spotting for shooting but the producer didn’t find enough money to cover the high production budget and so the project was eventually cancelled.
Young Schoendoerffer was also inspired by Hollywood movies
he watched instead of going to high school class. In The 317th Platoon, there's a running reference to Michael Curtiz
' Charge of the Light Brigade
(1936) historical movie. In 2004, a L'Express
journalist asked Schoendoerffer his favourite movie: Akira Kurosawa
's Ran
(1985).
Military photograph Jean Péraud was a "big brother" for him — he was three years younger — and "the most important person he met in Indochina" as well as an inspiring character model.
His own experience as a mariner, a Vietnam veteran and a globetrotter is a strong inspiration in most of his works. This is obvious in the Drummer-Crab, but the most autobiographical work is Dien Bien Phu (1992), where his elder son Frédéric impersonates him.
seen in the Drummer-Crub plays a role in Apocalypse Now
s French plantation chapters connecting the Vietnam war with the French experience in the First Indochina War.
During the production of Oliver Stone
's Platoon
(1986), Stone who was also a Vietnam veteran forced his cast and crew to live like an actual platoon in the jungle, it was the very same technique used by Schoendoerffer twenty one years earlier in The 317th Platoon.
is the first feature documentary about him. Directed by Raphaël Millet
, it is a co-production between Nocturnes Productions
and the Institut national de l'audiovisuel
(INA, the French National Institute for Audiovisual). In it, Pierre Schoendoerffer revisits his life and career, with a strong focus on the impact that his experience as a war cinematographer for the French army during the Indochina War had on him.
A short biography
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:...
, a screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, a writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, a war reporter, a war cameraman, a renowned First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
veteran, a cinema academician
Academician
The title Academician denotes a Full Member of an art, literary, or scientific academy.In many countries, it is an honorary title. There also exists a lower-rank title, variously translated Corresponding Member or Associate Member, .-Eastern Europe and China:"Academician" may also be a functional...
and since 2001 the President of the Académie des Beaux-Arts
Académie des beaux-arts
The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...
.
Family
Pierre Schoendoerffer was born in ChamalièresChamalières
Chamalières is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.Chamalières is the third-largest town in the department and lies about from Lyon.-History:...
of a French Alsatian
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
Protestant family. As Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
was a territory contested and annexed in the 17th, 19th and 20th centuries by both France and Germany leading to the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
(1870) next the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
(1914–18), his forefathers chose to remain French, even though they lost all their belongings.
His maternal grandfather, who was a 1870 veteran, volunteered in the French Army in 1914 at the age of 66 and the rank of Captain. He was killed during the Second Battle of the Aisne
Second Battle of the Aisne
The Second Battle of the Aisne , was the massive main assault of the French military's Nivelle Offensive or Chemin des Dames Offensive in 1917 during World War I....
at Chemin des Dames
Chemin des Dames
In France, the Chemin des Dames is part of the D18 and runs east and west in the département of Aisne, between in the west, the Route Nationale 2, and in the east, the D1044 at Corbeny. It is some thirty kilometres long and runs along a ridge between the valleys of the rivers Aisne and Ailette...
. His father was the director of the Annecy
Annecy
Annecy is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy , 35 kilometres south of Geneva.-Administration:...
hospital and died shortly after the end of the battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
(1940) where he was injured.
He met his wife Patricia in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
(then a Spanish-French joint protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
), she was a journalist for France-Soir. They had three children, actor and screenwriter Frédéric Schoendoerffer, director and producer Ludovic Schoendoerffer and actress Amélie Schoendoerffer.
Early life (1942–1947)
During World War II, Schoendoerffer lost his father and was not doing well with his studies at Annecy's school. In winter 1942–1943, he read Joseph KesselJoseph Kessel
Joseph Kessel was a French journalist and novelist.He was born in Villa Clara, Entre Ríos, Argentina, because of the constant journeys of his father, a Lithuanian doctor of Jewish origin. Joseph Kessel lived the first years of his childhood in Orenburg, Russia, before the family moved to France...
's epic adventure novel Fortune Carrée (1932) who changed his mind, he wanted to become a mariner and travel the world
In 1946, he spent his summer job as a fisherman aboard a small fishing trawler in the Bourgneuf-en-Retz
Bourgneuf-en-Retz
Bourgneuf-en-Retz is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France.-See also:*Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department...
bay, near Pornic
Pornic
Pornic is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique département in western France.-Breton language:The municipality launched a linguistic plan through Ya d'ar brezhoneg on 1 March 2006.-Climate:...
, Pays de la Loire
Pays de la Loire
Pays de la Loire is one of the 27 regions of France. It is one of the regions created in the late 20th century to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful so-called "balancing metropolises" ¹...
(close to Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
). From this experience he would later direct Than the Fisher shot in Vietnam, and Iceland Fisherman.
The following year he went back to the Pays de la Loire region and embarked a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
cargo
Cargo
Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...
ship at Boulogne
Boulogne, Vendée
Boulogne is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France.-References:*...
.
From mariner to war cameraman (1947–54)
In 1947, on board the merchant navyMerchant Navy
The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...
coaster
Coaster
Coaster or Coasters may refer to:* A beverage coaster on which to rest glasses of beverage* A Furniture coaster Which stops wheeled furniture moving* Coaster , a regional rail service in San Diego County, California...
, he sailed for two years in the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
and North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. This sailor experience would later find echoes in Seven Days at Sea, The Drummer-Crab and even in Above the Clouds.
From 1949 to 1950 he left the navy to fulfill the mandatory military service in the Alpine infantry's 13e Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpins ("13th Alpine Chasers Battalion", 13e BCA) based in Chambéry
Chambéry
Chambéry is a city in the department of Savoie, located in the Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France.It is the capital of the department and has been the historical capital of the Savoy region since the 13th century, when Amadeus V of Savoy made the city his seat of power.-Geography:Chambéry...
and Modane
Modane
Modane is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France.It was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia until 1860.-Transportation:...
, Rhône-Alpes
Rhône-Alpes
Rhône-Alpes is one of the 27 regions of France, located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the Rhône River and the Alps mountain range. Its capital, Lyon, is the second-largest metropolitan area in France after Paris...
. The Alpine infantry would later become the title character's corps in The Honor of a Captain.
Young Schoendoerffer had realized he was not born to be a mariner, but he did not want to be a soldier either, thinking he would be wasting his time. What he wanted to do was filmmaking. As he failed to enter the television and cinema industries, he began photography instead. One day as he read a Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
article about KIA
Killed in action
Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to...
war cameraman Georges Kowal during the First Indochina War, he decide to try his luck in the Service Cinématographique des Armées ("Armies' Cinematographic Service", SCA, now ECPAD).
Thus in late 1951, he volunteered to become a war cameraman for the French army and was sent to Saigon, in French Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
. There Corporal Schoendoerffer met and befriended with Service Presse Information ("Information Press Service", SPI) war photograph Sergeant-Chief Jean Péraud, who took him as his protégé.
Schoendoerffer's first SCA production would be a 9-minute short documentary First Indochina War Rushes (1952) that would surface thirty years later on screen in The Honor of a Captain.
In 1954, his friend and superior Sergeant-Chief Péraud asked him by telegram
Telegraphy
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages via some form of signalling technology. Telegraphy requires messages to be converted to a code which is known to both sender and receiver...
to join him at the battle of Dien Bien Phu
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that...
and he dropped with the 5th Vietnamese Parachutist Battalion (5e BPVN aka 5e BAWOUAN). As a result, upranked Corporal-Chief Schoendoerffer "celebrated" his 26th birthday in the midst of the 57 days siege. He filmed the entire battle for the SCA but after the French ceasefire and the defeat, just as the other soldiers destroyed their equipment so it would not be captured by the Viet Minh, Schoendoerffer destroyed his films and camera. This event was later depicted on screen by his own son, Frédéric, in Pierre Schoendoerffer's 1992 docudrama Dien Bien Phu
Dien Bien Phu (film)
Diên Biên Phu is a 1992 film written and directed by French veteran Pierre Schoendoerffer. With its huge budget, all-star cast, and realistic war scenes produced with the cooperation of the French and Vietnamese armies, Dîen Bîen Phu is regarded by many as one of the more important war movies...
recreating the battle.
By the end of the battle in 1954, he saved and secretly hid six SCA 1-minute reels which ended in Roman Karmen
Roman Karmen
Roman Lazarevich Karmen was a Soviet war camera-man and film director and one of the most influential figures in documentary film making; insofar as his propaganda is concerned he could be considered USSR's answer to Leni Riefenstahl, though the comparison is by no means absolute.-Communist...
's hands.
From prisoner of war to war correspondent (1954–56)
After the battle, on 7 May 1954, he was captured and sent to a Viet Minh reeducation campReeducation camp
Reeducation camp is the official title given to the prison camps operated by the government of Vietnam following the end of the Vietnam War. In such "reeducation camps", the government imprisoned several hundred thousand former military officers and government workers from the former regime of...
. During the march to the camp, following Jean Péraud, he tried to escape with paratroopers commander Marcel Bigeard
Marcel Bigeard
Marcel "Bruno" Bigeard was a French military officer who fought in World War II, Indochina and Algeria. He was one of the commanders in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and is thought by many to have been a dominating influence on French 'unconventional' warfare thinking from that time onwards...
, but he was caught. Péraud vanished though and has since been Missing in action
Missing in action
Missing in action is a casualty Category assigned under the Status of Missing to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed, wounded, become a prisoner of war, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave can be positively...
.
In prison, his life was spared in the insistence of Roman Karmen, the Soviet propagandist who directed all the worldwide famous sequences illustrating the battle, from the Viet Minh raising the Red flag over General de Castries
Christian de Castries
Christian Marie Ferdinand de la Croix de Castries was the French commander at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Castries was born into a distinguished military family and enlisted in the army at the age of 19. He was sent to the Saumur Cavalry School and in 1926 was commissioned an officer but...
's bunker staged a few weeks after the siege, to the French Union
French Union
The French Union was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial system, the "French Empire" and to abolish its "indigenous" status.-History:...
POWs column marching from Dien Bien Phu
Dien Bien Phu
Điện Biên Phủ is a city in northwestern Vietnam. It is the capital of Dien Bien province, and is known for the events there during the First Indochina War, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, during which the region was a breadbasket for the Việt Minh.-Population:...
to the re-education camp (a crane
Crane (machine)
A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...
was used for the shooting), that are featured in Вьетнам ("Vietnam", 1955). During his jail time, Karmen had some friendly meetings with Schoendoerffer, they spoke about their job, and he revealed to the French prisoner he had found his reels and had watched them. Karmen kept the reels though, as a result the only footage covering the battle is from the Viet Minh's perspective. His own work has been watched all around the world and has even been used in the western media. As an example, Peter Batty's 1980 The Battle for Den Bien Phu documentary is largely based on the footage from Vietnam.
Schoendoerffer was released by the Viet Minh four months later on 1 September 1954. On the battle's tenth anniversary, in Paris, Schoendoerffer was invited with Bigeard to comment on the Viet Minh footage, including segments from Vietnam, which were broadcast on the French public channel ORTF (Cinq colonnes à la une show) for the first time.
After the First Indochina War Schoendoerffer left the French army and became a war reporter-photograph in South Vietnam for French and American news magazines: Paris Match
Paris Match
Paris Match is a French weekly magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. It was founded in 1949 by the industrialist Jean Prouvost....
, Paris-Presse
France Soir
France Soir is a French daily newspaper that prospered during the 1950s and 1960s, but it has declined since then under various owners. It was re-launched as a populist tabloid in 2006.-History:...
, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
, Look
Look (American magazine)
Look was a bi-weekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa from 1937 to 1971, with more of an emphasis on photographs than articles...
.
In April 1955 he left South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
to return to France, stopping off along the way in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and San Francisco.
In Hong Kong, through the AFP
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...
news agency he met Joseph Kessel
Joseph Kessel
Joseph Kessel was a French journalist and novelist.He was born in Villa Clara, Entre Ríos, Argentina, because of the constant journeys of his father, a Lithuanian doctor of Jewish origin. Joseph Kessel lived the first years of his childhood in Orenburg, Russia, before the family moved to France...
, the adventurer, famous Free French, World War I and World War II aviator, war correspondent, reporter, and novelist he admired in his childhood for Fortune Carrée. During a quick friendly relationship, Schoendoerffer narrated his three years adventure in Indochina to Kessel who was impressed. Soon they broke up promising to keep in touch.
In Hollywood Schoendoerffer became an apprentice on a movie for ten days thanks to his connections with Life magazine, but without a Green Card
United States Permanent Resident Card
United States lawful permanent residency refers to a person's immigration status: the person is authorized to live and work in the United States of America on a permanent basis....
he was eventually forced to leave.
Back in France he signed his first important contract with Pathé Journal
Pathe News
Pathé Newsreels were produced from 1910 until the 1970s, when production of newsreels was in general stopped. Pathé News today is known as British Pathé and its archive of over 90,000 reels is fully digitised and online.-History:...
and two weeks later he flew to Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
where the French Algeria
French Algeria
French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...
anticolonial rebellion was emulated. He became a war correspondent filming the riots for the French audience, Morocco was then a French protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
. There he met Patricia, a journalist at France Soir
France Soir
France Soir is a French daily newspaper that prospered during the 1950s and 1960s, but it has declined since then under various owners. It was re-launched as a populist tabloid in 2006.-History:...
, who would later become his wife.
In 1956, he resigned from Pathé whose representative threatened him: "You are leaving us? So you'll never do cinema again, because we are huge!".
Writer and director (1956–2003)
At this point Schoendoerffer was confused with his young career, the major Pathé bringing him back to the situation he experienced in 1951. As he narrated his Hong Kong meeting with Kessel to his fiancée Patricia, she convinced him to contact the one he regarded as an "historic monument".Kessel was actually searching for him since he had a film project in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, The Devil's Pass, he wanted Schoendoerffer to direct it. Kessel wrote the script, Raoul Coutard, a First Indochina War photograph (SPI) veteran was in charge of the cinematography on his first film (later he would join Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
), Jacques Dupont assisted Schoendoerffer with the direction and Georges de Beauregard
Georges de Beauregard
Georges de Beauregard was a French film producer who produced works from many of the French New Wave directors. In 1968, he was a member of the jury at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival....
produced it.
In 1958, he married "Pat", Patricia, the journalist he met in Morocco in 1955.
In 1959, Pierre Lazareff, founder of Patricia Schoendoerffer and Joseph Kessel newspaper France Soir, asked him to direct a reportage about the Algerian War for his Cinq colonnes à la une (ORTF) TV show. Thanks to Lazareff he would later return to Vietnam in 1966 and make his acclaimed The Anderson Platoon for the ORTF.
Later in 1991 he would come back to Dien Bien Phu
Dien Bien Phu
Điện Biên Phủ is a city in northwestern Vietnam. It is the capital of Dien Bien province, and is known for the events there during the First Indochina War, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, during which the region was a breadbasket for the Việt Minh.-Population:...
and recreate the battle in a self-titled epic docudrama — in the fashion of Tora! Tora! Tora!
Tora! Tora! Tora!
is a 1970 American-Japanese war film that dramatizes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, to the extent these facts were known at the time of production. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer and stars an all-star cast, including So Yamamura, E.G...
— in which his son Frédéric would play his own role as cameraman. The actual Vietnamese army was used to play the role of both the Viet Minh and the State of Vietnam
State of Vietnam
The State of Vietnam was a state that claimed authority over all of Vietnam during the First Indochina War, and replaced the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam . The provisional government was a brief transitional administration between colonial Cochinchina and an independent state...
national army fighting in the French side against the Communists. Meanwhile, the French 11th Parachute Division played the role of the French Union
French Union
The French Union was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial system, the "French Empire" and to abolish its "indigenous" status.-History:...
paratroopers.
In the 2000s, his latest productions consist of the 2003 novel The Butterfly Wing (L'Aile du Papillon) and Above the Clouds (Là-Haut, un roi au-dessus des nuages), the theatrical adaptation of his 1981 novel Up there (Là-Haut).
Critical success
Pierre Schoendoerffer received acclaim in international short and feature film festivals. As a writer he won multiple festival, academy and military awards and prizes, including the Prix Vauban, in 1984, (celebrating his life achievement.)In France he is famous for his 1973 three-time 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....
-winning Le Crabe-Tambour
Le Crabe-tambour
Le Crabe-tambour is a 1977 film directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer based on the novel he published in 1976. The title character played by Jacques Perrin is based on the famous French Navy officer Pierre Guillaume.-Cast:...
("Drummer Crab"), based on his French Academy
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
-award–winning self-titled novel. His first success was in 1965 with his Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
Best Screenplay
Best Screenplay Award (Cannes Film Festival)
The Best Screenplay Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival...
winning The 317th Platoon (La 317e Section). Both films are based on his experience in the First Indochina War.
He is most known abroad, particularly in the United States, for his 1967 Oscar-winning Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
B&W documentary, The Anderson Platoon
The Anderson Platoon
The Anderson Platoon is a documentary feature by Pierre Schoendoerffer about the Vietnam War. Two decades later, a sequel was released as Reminiscence.-Background:...
(La Section Anderson), originally made for the French public channel ORTF's popular Cinq colonnes à la une monthly show. It earned him an Oscar, an International Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
, a Red Ribbon Award at the New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
, a BBC's Merit Award and an Italia Prize.
Awards
- Médaille militaireMédaille militaireThe Médaille militaire is a decoration of the French Republic which was first instituted in 1852.-History:The creator of the médaille was the emperor Napoléon III, who may have taken his inspiration in a medal issued by his father, Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland...
- Croix de Guerre TOECroix de guerreThe Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
- Croix du Combattant volontaireRibbons of the French military and civil awardsThis is a list of the ribbons of the French military and civil awards.-French National Orders:-French Ministerial Orders:-The principal French military awards:-The French commemorative awards:- Medals of Honor :-The other awards:...
Academic honors:
- Commandeur de la Légion d'HonneurLégion d'honneurThe Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
- Officier de l'Ordre National du MériteOrdre National du MériteThe Ordre national du Mérite is an Order of State awarded by the President of the French Republic. It was founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle...
- Officier des Arts et LettresOrdre des Arts et des LettresThe Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
- Chevalier des Palmes Académiques
Artistic prizes
- 1965:
Cannes Film FestivalCannes Film FestivalThe Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
Best ScreenplayBest Screenplay Award (Cannes Film Festival)The Best Screenplay Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival...
The 317th PlatoonThe 317th PlatoonThe 317th Platoon is a 1965 French war film during the French Vietnam war directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer. It was entered into the 1965 Cannes Film Festival where it won the award for Best Screenplay.-Cast:... - 1967:
Academy Award for Documentary FeatureAcademy Award for Documentary FeatureThe Academy Award for Documentary Feature is among the most prestigious awards for documentary films.- Winners and nominees:Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year...
(Oscars): The Anderson Platoon - 1967:
Prix ItaliaPrix ItaliaThe Prix Italia is an international Italian television, radio-broadcasting and Website award. It was established in 1948 by RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana in Capri...
: The Anderson Platoon - 1967: Merit Award (BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
): The Anderson Platoon - 1969: Prix InteralliéPrix InteralliéThe prix Interallié , also known simply as l’Interallié, is an annual French literary award, awarded for a novel written by a journalist.- History :...
: Farewell to the King
Fine Arts Academy
Pierre Schoendoerffer was elected at the Académie des Beaux-ArtsAcadémie des beaux-arts
The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...
' Section VII: Artistic creation in the cinema and the audio-visual field, Seat#4, on 23 March 1988, replacing Guillaume Gillet
Guillaume Gillet
Guillaume Gillet is a Belgian international footballer who plays professionally for Anderlecht, as a full back.-Club career:Born in Liège, Gillet has played for RFC Liège, Visé, Eupen, Gent and Anderlecht in 2008.-International career:...
.
He is president of the Académie des Beaux-Arts since 2001.
Feature films
- 1958: Ramuntcho (Ramuncho) based on the 1897 novelRamuntchoRamuntcho is a novel by French author Pierre Loti. It is a love and adventure story about contraband runners in the Basque province of France. It is one of Loti's most popular stories—"love, loss and faith remain eternal themes"—with four French film adaptations. It was first published...
by Pierre LotiPierre LotiPierre Loti was a French novelist and naval officer.-Biography:Loti's education began in his birthplace, Rochefort, Charente-Maritime. At the age of seventeen he entered the naval school in Brest and studied at Le Borda. He gradually rose in his profession, attaining the rank of captain in 1906... - 1959: Pêcheur d'Islande (Iceland Fisherman) — based on the 1886 novelAn Iceland FishermanAn Iceland Fisherman is a novel by French author Pierre Loti. It depicts the romantic but inevitably sad life of Breton fishermen who sail each summer season to the stormy Iceland cod grounds...
by Pierre Loti - 1965: The 317th PlatoonThe 317th PlatoonThe 317th Platoon is a 1965 French war film during the French Vietnam war directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer. It was entered into the 1965 Cannes Film Festival where it won the award for Best Screenplay.-Cast:...
(La 317e section) — based on his 1953 novel - 1966: Objectif 500 millions (Objective 500 Million)
- 1977: Le Crabe-tambourLe Crabe-tambourLe Crabe-tambour is a 1977 film directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer based on the novel he published in 1976. The title character played by Jacques Perrin is based on the famous French Navy officer Pierre Guillaume.-Cast:...
(The Drummer Crab) — based on his 1976 novel - 1982: A Captain's HonorA Captain's Honor-Plot:A courtroom-drama about a dead Captain whose memory is publicly accused by a historian on TV, twenty years after his death. The story follows his widow's struggle to prove that he was not a murderer and did not practise torture while he was leading a ground unit during the Algerian war.She...
(L'Honneur d'un Capitaine) - 1992: Diên Biên PhuDien Bien Phu (film)Diên Biên Phu is a 1992 film written and directed by French veteran Pierre Schoendoerffer. With its huge budget, all-star cast, and realistic war scenes produced with the cooperation of the French and Vietnamese armies, Dîen Bîen Phu is regarded by many as one of the more important war movies...
(Dien Bien Phu) - 2004: Above the Clouds (Là-haut, un roi au-dessus des nuages) — based on his 1981 novel
Feature documentaries
- 1956: La Passe du diable (The Devil's Pass) — co-directed with Jacques DupontJacques Dupont (director)- Life :Formerly of the IDHEC, and a specialist in exotic cinema, he appeared less comfortable in Les Distractions, in which he directed Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alexandra Stewart, than he did in evoking French volunteers in Korea in Crève-cœur.-Short films:...
, written by Joseph KesselJoseph KesselJoseph Kessel was a French journalist and novelist.He was born in Villa Clara, Entre Ríos, Argentina, because of the constant journeys of his father, a Lithuanian doctor of Jewish origin. Joseph Kessel lived the first years of his childhood in Orenburg, Russia, before the family moved to France... - 1967: The Anderson PlatoonThe Anderson PlatoonThe Anderson Platoon is a documentary feature by Pierre Schoendoerffer about the Vietnam War. Two decades later, a sequel was released as Reminiscence.-Background:...
(La Section Anderson) — Cinq colonnes à la une TV show - 1976: La Sentinelle du matin (The Morning Sentinel)
- 1975: Al-Maghrib al-Aqsa (Morocco)
- 1986: Le Défi (The Challenge)
- 1989: Réminiscences (Reminiscences) — sequel of The Anderson Platoon
Short documentaries
- 1952: Épreuves de Tournage de la Guerre d'Indochine (First Indochina War Rushes) — segments are featured in L'Honneur d'un Capitaine (1982) and in two battle of Dien Bien Phu documentaries by Peter Hercombe (2004) and Patrick Jeudy (2005)
- 1959: L'Algérie des combats (Algeria That Fights) — Cinq colonnes à la une TV show
- 1963: Attention Hélicoptère (Warning Helicopter)
- 1973: Sept Jours en mer (Seven Days at Sea)
Novels
- 1963: La 317e Section (The 317th Platoon) — adapted on screen in 1965 by himself
- 1969: Farewell to the KingFarewell to the KingFarewell to the King is a 1989 film written and directed by John Milius. It stars Nigel Havers, Frank McRae, Gerry Lopez and Nick Nolte, and is based on the 1969 novel L'Adieu au Roi by Pierre Schoendoerffer. Longtime Milius collaborator Basil Poledouris composed the musical score...
(L'Adieu au Roi) — adapted on screen in 1989 by John MiliusJohn MiliusJohn Frederick Milius is an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures.-Early life:Milius was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Elizabeth and William Styx Milius, who was a shoe manufacturer. Milius attempted to join the Marine Corps in the late 1960s, but was rejected... - 1976: The Paths of the Sea (Le Crabe-tambour) — winner of Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie françaiseGrand Prix du roman de l'Académie françaiseLe Grand Prix du Roman is a French literary award, created in 1918, and given each year by the Académie française. Along with the Prix Goncourt, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious literary awards in France...
- adapted on screen in 1977 by himself - 1981: Là-haut (Upthere) — adapted on screen in 2003 by himself
- 2003: L'Aile du papillon (The Butterfly Wing)
Essays
- 1994: Diên Biên Phu, 1954/1992 De la Bataille au Film (Dien Bien Phu: 1954–1992 From the battle to the movie) — based on his 1992 movie
His inspirations
Schoendoerffer was primarily influenced by epic adventure novels, notably Joseph KesselJoseph Kessel
Joseph Kessel was a French journalist and novelist.He was born in Villa Clara, Entre Ríos, Argentina, because of the constant journeys of his father, a Lithuanian doctor of Jewish origin. Joseph Kessel lived the first years of his childhood in Orenburg, Russia, before the family moved to France...
's Fortune Carrée (1932). Kessel wrote The Devil's Pass (1956) he co-directed with Jacques Dupont. In the late 1950s, he adapted on screen two Pierre Loti
Pierre Loti
Pierre Loti was a French novelist and naval officer.-Biography:Loti's education began in his birthplace, Rochefort, Charente-Maritime. At the age of seventeen he entered the naval school in Brest and studied at Le Borda. He gradually rose in his profession, attaining the rank of captain in 1906...
novels, first Iceland Fisherman (1886) then Ramuncho (1897). Following his 1992 motion picture Dien Bien Phu
Dien Bien Phu (film)
Diên Biên Phu is a 1992 film written and directed by French veteran Pierre Schoendoerffer. With its huge budget, all-star cast, and realistic war scenes produced with the cooperation of the French and Vietnamese armies, Dîen Bîen Phu is regarded by many as one of the more important war movies...
, Schoendoerffer spent three years working on the screen adaptation of his favourite writer Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
's Typhoon (1902). The script was ready and the filmmaker started location spotting for shooting but the producer didn’t find enough money to cover the high production budget and so the project was eventually cancelled.
Young Schoendoerffer was also inspired by Hollywood movies
Classical Hollywood cinema
Classical Hollywood cinema or the classical Hollywood narrative, are terms used in film history which designates both a visual and sound style for making motion pictures and a mode of production used in the American film industry between roughly the 1910s and the early 1960s.Classical style is...
he watched instead of going to high school class. In The 317th Platoon, there's a running reference to Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
' Charge of the Light Brigade
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936 film)
The Charge of the Light Brigade is a 1936 historical film made by Warner Bros. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Samuel Bischoff, with Hal B. Wallis as executive producer, from a screenplay by Michael Jacoby and Rowland Leigh, from a story by Michael Jacoby based on the poem The...
(1936) historical movie. In 2004, a L'Express
L'Express (France)
L'Express is a French weekly news magazine. When founded in 1953 during the First Indochina War, it was modelled on the US magazine TIME.-History:...
journalist asked Schoendoerffer his favourite movie: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
's Ran
Ran (film)
is a 1985 Japanese-French jidaigeki film written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film starred Tatsuya Nakadai as Hidetora Ichimonji, an aging Sengoku-era warlord who decides to abdicate as ruler in favor of his three sons. It also stars Mieko Harada as the wife of Ichimonji's eldest son...
(1985).
Military photograph Jean Péraud was a "big brother" for him — he was three years younger — and "the most important person he met in Indochina" as well as an inspiring character model.
His own experience as a mariner, a Vietnam veteran and a globetrotter is a strong inspiration in most of his works. This is obvious in the Drummer-Crab, but the most autobiographical work is Dien Bien Phu (1992), where his elder son Frédéric impersonates him.
His influence
French actress Aurore ClémentAurore Clément
Aurore Clément is a French actress. She has performed in a number of motion pictures in both the French language and the English language as well as in television films and miniseries.-Early life:...
seen in the Drummer-Crub plays a role in Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
s French plantation chapters connecting the Vietnam war with the French experience in the First Indochina War.
During the production of Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
's Platoon
Platoon (film)
Platoon is a 1986 American war film written and directed by Oliver Stone and stars Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen. It is the first of Stone's Vietnam War trilogy, followed by 1989's Born on the Fourth of July and 1993's Heaven & Earth....
(1986), Stone who was also a Vietnam veteran forced his cast and crew to live like an actual platoon in the jungle, it was the very same technique used by Schoendoerffer twenty one years earlier in The 317th Platoon.
Film on Pierre Schoendoerffer
Produced in 2011, Pierre Schoendoerffer, the Sentinel of MemoryPierre Schoendoerffer, the Sentinel of Memory
Pierre Schoendoerffer, the Sentinel of Memory is the first feature length documentary about French writer and filmmaker Pierre Schoendoerffer, directed by Raphaël Millet and produced by Olivier Bohler for Nocturnes Productions in 2011.- Synopsis :Pierre Schoendoerffer revisits his life and...
is the first feature documentary about him. Directed by Raphaël Millet
Raphaël Millet
Raphaël Millet is a French writer, critic, producer and director of cinema and television, as well as an organiser and programmer of cultural events.- Studies :...
, it is a co-production between Nocturnes Productions
Nocturnes Productions
Nocturnes Productions is a French production company founded in 2007 by Olivier Bohler and Raphaël Millet.- Activity :Nocturnes Productions produces mainly documentary films about cinema and film-makers, such as Code Name Melville directed by Olivier Bohler and Pierre Schoendoerffer, the Sentinel...
and the Institut national de l'audiovisuel
Institut national de l'audiovisuel
The Institut national de l'audiovisuel , is a repository of all French radio and television audiovisual archives. Additionally it provides customers with a free and immediate access to archives of countries such as Afghanistan and Cambodia...
(INA, the French National Institute for Audiovisual). In it, Pierre Schoendoerffer revisits his life and career, with a strong focus on the impact that his experience as a war cinematographer for the French army during the Indochina War had on him.
See also
- Roman KarmenRoman KarmenRoman Lazarevich Karmen was a Soviet war camera-man and film director and one of the most influential figures in documentary film making; insofar as his propaganda is concerned he could be considered USSR's answer to Leni Riefenstahl, though the comparison is by no means absolute.-Communist...
- Raoul Coutard
- Joseph ConradJoseph ConradJoseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
- First Indochina WarFirst Indochina WarThe First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
- Siege of Dien Bien Phu
Media links
Dien Bien Phu: a portrait signed Schoendoerffer, French public channel France 3, News 12h/14h, May 5th 2004External links
Complete biography from the Académie des Beaux-ArtsAcadémie des beaux-arts
The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...
A short biography