Biography: life and films
Hippolyte Girardot's screen career took off after playing the lead role in Éric Rochant's Un monde sans pitié (1989), for which he earned another César a nomination, this time in the Best Actor category. Showing a particular flair for playing ambiguous, ironic, seductive and yet mostly sympathetic characters, Girardot was cast in a wide range of roles and worked with some of the most distinguished filmmakers of his time. Among the directors he has worked with are Jean-Luc Godard (Prénom Carmen), Diane Kurys (Après l'amour), Bob Swaim (Nos amis les flics), Arnaud Desplechin (Un conte de Noël) and Alain Resnais (Aimer, boire et chanter).
Girardot's finest performance is, arguably, in Maroun Bagdadi's realist thriller Hors la vie (1991), in which he is harrowingly convincing as a young photographer who is taken hostage in Lebanon. Other notable film appearances include Patrice Leconte's Le Parfum d'Yvonne (1993), Pascale Ferran's Lady Chatterley (2005) and Angelo Cianci's Dernier étage, gauche, gauche (2010). In 2009, he directed his first feature Yuki et Nina (2009), in collaboration with Nobuhiro Suwa. His daughter Ana Girardot (born in 1988) has followed in his footsteps and is making a successful career as an actress.
© James Travers 2017
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Filmography
Key: a = actor; w = writer; d = director
L'Amour nu (1981) [a]
Le Destin de Juliette (1983) [a]
L'Amour ou presque (1985) [a]
Descente aux enfers (1986) [a]
L'Amant magnifique (1986) [a]
Les Pyramides bleues (1988) [a]
Un monde sans pitié (1989) [a]
The Man Inside (1990) [a]
Confessions d'un Barjo (1992) [a]
Quand j'avais 5 ans je m'ai tué (1994) [a]
Le Bel été 1914 (1996) [a]
La Cible (1997) [a]
Jump Tomorrow (2001) [a]
En jouant Dans la compagnie des hommes (2003) [a]
Le Tango des Rashevski (2003) [a]
Modigliani (2004) [a]
House of 9 (2005) [a]
Trois couples en quête d'orages (2005) [a]
Paris, je t'aime (2006) [a]
Un an (2006) [a]
L'Invité (2007) [a]
Le Voyage du ballon rouge (2007) [a]
Où avais-je la tête? (2007) [a]
Caos calmo (2008) [a]
Le Crime est notre affaire (2008) [a]
Plus tard tu comprendras (2008) [a]
Bancs publics (Versailles rive droite) (2009) [a]
Espion(s) (2009) [a]
Yuki et Nina (2009) [a,d,w]
Dernier étage, gauche, gauche (2010) [a]
Schlafkrankheit (2011) [a]
À coeur ouvert (2012) [a]
Les Saveurs du Palais (2012) [a]
Vous n'avez encore rien vu (2012) [a]
Kidon (2013) [a]
À la vie (2014) [a]
Aimer, boire et chanter (2014) [a]
Benoît Brisefer: Les taxis rouges (2014) [a]
Bird People (2014) [a]
The Girl King (2015) [a]
The very best of the French New Wave
The very best fantasy films in French cinema
The very best French thrillers
