- Henri-Georges Clouzot
Infobox actor
bgcolour = silver
name = Henri-Georges Clouzot
imagesize = 150
caption =
birthname =
birthdate = Birth date|1907|11|20
location =Niort ,Deux-Sèvres ,Poitou-Charentes ,France
deathdate = death date and age |1977|1|12|1907|11|20
deathplace =Paris ,France
othername =
yearsactive = (1931-1968)
spouse =Véra Clouzot (1950-1960)Henri-Georges Clouzot (
November 20 ,1907 -January 12 ,1977 ) was a Frenchfilm director ,screenwriter and producer.Biography
Clouzot was born in
Niort ,Deux-Sèvres . After studyingclassics at university, he first attempted to make his living as ajournalist . However, in the 1930s, he worked as supervisor for a dubbing film company inBerlin , where he was exposed to the groundbreaking camerawork of the German cinema of the time. On his return to France, he began to work on film scripts, and then made his directorial debut with "L'assassin habite au 21 " (1942), which starredPierre Fresnay andSuzy Delair . The film was made for theContinental Film Company , which had been set up in the occupied part of France at the behest of the Nazi propaganda ministerJoseph Goebbels . Goebbels intended the company to produce pure entertainment, in the hope of keeping French moviegoers content (Hollywood films were banned under the occupation).Clouzot's next film for Continental, "
Le Corbeau " (1943), also starred Pierre Fresnay alongside popular leading ladyGinette Leclerc . The movie is a noir thriller concerning a spate ofpoison pen letter s in a small French town. Critics have seen this as a comment on life under the occupation, where denunciations were common.Fact|date=February 2007 After the liberation in 1944, the film became the subject of controversy as to whether it was a subtle work of resistance or an act of collaboration; either way, the film defied Continental's remit for making films with limited intellectual content. Because of the scandal, Clouzot was temporarily suspended from his professional activities in 1945. When he returned to film directing, he won several awards at theVenice Film Festival andCannes Film Festival with "Quai des orfèvres " (1947), "Manon" (1949), and "Le Salaire de la Peur (The Wages of Fear)" (1952), all of which were also very popular with audiences.A moviemaker in a classical style, Clouzot was motivated by a
perfectionism that sometimes tyrannized his actors.Fact|date=February 2007 He was a moralist with a pessimistic view of society, as is shown in later films. These include "Les Diaboliques" (1954), a macabre thriller which presents an ambivalent and ambiguous pair of women, played bySimone Signoret andVéra Clouzot , who plot the murder of a sadistic headmaster (Paul Meurisse ), the husband of one and the lover of the other; "Le Mystère Picasso " (1956), a documentary on the method of the painter and the birth of few of his paintings; and "La Vérité" (1960), a drama starringBrigitte Bardot .Henri-Georges Clouzot died in Paris on
January 12 ,1977 .In 1994,
Claude Chabrol adapted and filmed a screenplay, "L'Enfer", of a movie that Clouzot had been unable to finish 30 years before.Awards & Nominations
*"
Quai des orfèvres " (1947)
**Venice Film Festival International Award for Best Director Winner
*"Manon" (1949)
**Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Winner
*"Le Salaire de la Peur" (1953)
**Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear Winner
**Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix du Festival International du Film Winner
*"Le Mystère Picasso " (1956)
**Cannes Film Festival Prix du Jury WinnerFilmography
As director
References
External links
*
* [http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/frenchbib.html#clouzot Clouzot Bibliography (via UC Berkeley]
* [http://frenchfilms.topcities.com/nf_hgclouzot.html Page on Henri-Georges Clouzot, in English]
* [http://members.aol.com/cinefilie/clouzot.htm Page on Henri-Georges Clouzot, in French (more comprehensive)]
* [http://www.optimumdvdstore.com/film.php?id=504 Optimum Releasing H.G. Clouzot Release]
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