Claude Berri

Biography: life and films

In the course of a highly productive career spanning five decades, Claude Berri would become one of the most important figures in post-WWII French cinema. His films range from lavish blockbuster epics such as Germinal (1993) to intimate low-key dramas like Un moment d'égarement (1977). The quality and diversity of Berri's work exemplifies that of French cinema in general, and this accounts for both his success and his high standing as an auteur and master craftsman of the seventh art.

Claude Berri was a man who never forgot his humble beginnings. He was born in Paris, into a working class Jewish family, the Langmanns, on 1st July 1934. Having failed at school, he followed his father's profession as a furrier, before developing an interest in the theatre. He became a film student and intended to make a name for himself as an actor. It was at this time that he changed his surname from Langmann to Berri, adopting his mother's maiden name. He made his film début in the early 1950s with walk-on parts in a number of films. Several small roles came his way in the late 1950s and early 1960s - notably in Claude Chabrol's Les Bonnes femmes (1960) and H.G. Clouzot's La Vérité (1960).

In 1962, Claude Berri made his directorial debut with a short film financed by his friends. That film, Le Poulet (1962), would win him a prize at Venice in 1963 and an Oscar, setting him on a course that would allow him to make a great and lasting impression on French cinema. Having contributed segments to the sketch films La Chance et l'amour and Les Baisers in 1964, he would finally get to make his first full-length film in 1967, Le Vieil homme et l'enfant. For what is considered by many to be his best film, Berri drew on his experiences during the Nazi occupation of France to paint a poignant and truthful depiction of childhood. This film won the Berlin Silver Bear award for its lead actor Michel Simon.

The success of this promising début was followed by several others, including the popular comedy Le Pistonné (1970). In the cult 1980 film Je vous aime, Berri brought together many icons of the day, including Serge Gainsbourg, Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Alain Souchon and Jean-Louis Trintignant. Berri was also a risk-taker and in 1983 he gave the popular comedian Coluche his first purely dramatic role in the compelling crime drama Tchao Pantin (1983).

The highpoint of Claude Berri's career came in the mid-1980s when he made a sumptuous sprawling adaptation of a Marcel Pagnol story - the two-part film: Jean de Florette / Manon des sources (1986). One of the most expensive films to have been made in France at the time, this was to be an enormous international hit and won Berri the BAFTA Best Film award. Other big budget productions followed, including Uranus (1990) and Germinal (1993), both box office hits.

Berri's popularity waned in the late 1990s, and two of his films Lucie Aubrac (1997) and La Débandade (1999) were flops. However, he made a surprising comeback with Une femme de ménage (2002), a return to the more down-to-Earth kind of film with which he began his career. His last film was Ensemble, c'est tout (2007), which starred Audrey Tautou.

Whilst pursuing a career as a director, Claude Berri was actively engaged as a producer, giving moral and financial support to many others in his profession through his film production company, Renn Productions. Among the films that Berri helped to finance are: Claude Sautet's Garçon! (1983), Jean-Jacques Annaud's L'Ours (1988), Patrice Chéreau's La Reine Margot (1994), Alain Chabat's Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre (2002) and Dany Boon's Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (2008). The latter of these became the most successful French film ever, attracting an audience of over 20 million in France alone.

Berri was a man of immense talent and generosity, but he also had a reputation as a hard taskmaster. He famously sacked Juliette Binoche on the set of Lucie Aubrac when they differed over how her role should be played. He was also passionate about supporting others and the French film industry, through the Association des Réalisateurs Producteurs, which he founded, and his presidency of the Cinématèque française between 2003 and 2007. Berri also had an avid and eclectic interest in art; he collected works by Dali, Picasso, Klein and Giacometti and opened an art gallery in Paris.

Claude Berri worked tirelessly throughout his career, remaining productive right up until the end. He died from a stroke on 12th January 2009, in a Paris hospital. His work continues to entertain audiences across the world and serves as an encouragement to other independent filmmakers who aspire to follow in his footsteps.

Filmography

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