Claude Berri, producer/director: 1934 – 2009
By Craig Kennedy - January 12th, 2009; 10:53 am
Best known in the United States for directing 1986’s Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring, Claude Berri died Monday at the age of 84 of unspecified causes.
The Frenchman’s film career spanned 50 years as an actor, writer, director and producer. He won an Oscar for best short film with Le Poulet in 1965.
Berri also produced Roman Polanski’s Tess in 1979 and 2008’s Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis which went on to become the highest grossing film in French cinema history.
Source: Variety
Filed under: Obituaries
Tags: Claude Berri
Claude Berri’s JEAN DE FLORETTE/MANON DES SOURCES constitutes one of the great modern day epic tales in contemporary French cinema. The first of the two-part opus must surely rank as one of the greatest films of the 1980’s, and one that once seen can never be forgotten. From the piercing use of the elegiac overture from Verdi’s “La forza del destino” to the engrossing tale of greed and betrayal, played out in the beautiful surroundings of southern France, and played to perfection by Gerard Depardieu, Yves Montand and daniel Auteil (later Emanuele Beart) the first half’s climax, when the young girl learns of her father’s fate (and the camera moves in to a stunning close-up) the overwhelming rush of emotion leaves teh viewer with a cinematic scar, rivaling teh freeze-frame on the beach at the conclusion of Truffaut’s THE 400 BLOWS.
Berri has done other fine work including the three-hour GERMINAL, but the two-part saga discussed above based on the novels of Marcel Pagnol with be his lasting legacy.
May this Prince of French cinema rest in peace. I just experienced a surge of emotion while writing this.
I loved JDF and MDS back in the day. They were one of my introductions to the joys of foreign films back in high school.