Alain Jessua

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Alain Jessua (born January 16, 1932 in Paris - † November 30, 2017 in Évreux , Département Eure ) was a French film director , screenwriter , producer , composer and writer who directed various genres in French cinema between 1956 and 1997 .

life and career

Jessua, born in Paris in 1932, was a student in Lyon and Paris. After completing his baccalaureate degree in philosophy, he became assistant director under Jacques Becker , who was shooting the 1952 film Goldhelm ( Casque d'or ). Jessua took great pleasure in film work and continued to work meticulously as an assistant, using his experience in the following years for well-known French directors and films such as Miss Nitouche ( Mam'zelle Nitouche ) (1954), directed by Yves Allégret , or Lola Montez ( Lola Montès) (1955) by Max Ophüls , around 1957 to make the first attempts at walking with his own short film Léon la lune . His apprenticeship years ended in 1960 with Marcel Carné's “dangerous pavement” ( Terrain vague ).

In 1964 he then took on responsibility for The Reversed Life ( La vie à l'envers ), a drama with Charles Denner and Anna Gaylor , for the first time as a director and screenwriter for a major cinema production. The film became a great intellectual success. For Alain Jessua, a Golden Lion for the best first work in Venice was the reward for courage and years of meticulous preparation and work.

Three years later, in 1967, he staged murder stories ( Jeu de massacre ), a lighter but no less intelligent material, an adventure comedy with Jean-Pierre Cassel and Claudine Auger . Another reward for the effort: The Palme d'Or, the "Prix du scénario", in the Cannes International Film Festival category / Best Screenplay for Alain Jessua.

As an independent filmmaker, he needed five more years of preparation for the psychological thriller Der Schocker (German TV title Der Preis für ein Leben , original title Traitement de choc ), an Italian-French co-production with Alain Delon and Annie Girardot in the leading roles and after one Screenplay directed by Roger Curel and Alain Jessua himself, Jessua even composed the score for the film himself. Commercially, the shocker is probably his best-known film and received very positive reviews from the critics:

Reviews

“A rich, lonely factory owner, fearing old age, goes to a sophisticated fresh cell clinic, where she ends up in a circle of respected people who have their rejuvenation cures carried out at the expense of the organs of young servants. When the patient begins to expose the criminal practice, attempts are made to accuse her of murder. Excellent psycho thriller with unusual criticism of the times and society. "

- Lexicon of international film

After the positive response to Der Schocker , Jessua worked again in 1977 with Alain Delon in the thriller “The Last Warning”, another German title “The Blackmailer” (Armaguedon) . Jean Yanne and Renato Salvatori also played in other roles .

1979 followed the drama The Dogs ( Les chiens ) with Gérard Depardieu , Victor Lanoux and Fanny Ardant . Then the two comedies Brainwash - A man in top form ( Paradis pour tous ), cast with the actors Patrick Dewaere and Jacques Dutronc and 1984 The Spy Who Goes to Hell ( Frankenstein 90 ) with Jean Rochefort as Victor Frankenstein.

With Michel Serrault and Nathalie Baye in Murder Sketches ( En toute innocence ), Jessua returned to the dramatic field in 1988.

The thriller Les couleurs du diable , with the less well-known actors Ruggero Raimondi and Wadeck Stanczak, which could not find a distributor in Germany, was his last work for the cinema.

After working on Les couleurs du diable , Jessua withdrew from the active film business and devoted himself entirely to writing books.

Books

  • 1973: Traitement de choc , (novel), Alain Jessua, Editions Seghers 1973, 198 pages, ISBN 978-2-232-11578-3
  • 1999: Crêvecoeur , (novel), Alain Jessua, Editions Jean Claude Lattès 1999, 222 pages, ISBN 978-2-7096-1940-0
  • 2003: Ce sourire-la , (novel), Alain Jessua, Editions Jean Claude Lattès 2003, 198 pages, ISBN 978-2-7096-2456-5
  • 2005: Bref séjour parmi les hommes , (novel), Alain Jessua, Editions Rocher 2005, 182 pages, ISBN 2-268-05691-0
  • 2007: La vie à l'envers , (novel), Alain Jessua, Editions Leo Scheer 2007, 106 pages, ISBN 978-2-7561-0086-9
  • 2008: Un jardin au paradis , (novel), Alain Jessua, Editions Leo Scheer 2008, 236 pages, ISBN 2-7561-0125-7
  • 2011: Petit ange , (novel), Alain Jessua, Editions Leo Scheer 2011, 220 pages, ISBN 978-2-7561-0313-6

Awards

Filmography

  • 1964: Life in reverse (La vie à l'envers)
  • 1967: Murder Stories (Jeu de massacre)
  • 1973: The shocker (Traitement de choc) Dt. TV Title: The Price for a Lifetime
  • 1977: The Last Warning (Armaguedon)
  • 1979: The dogs (Les chiens)
  • 1982: Brainwash - A man at his best (Paradis pour tous)
  • 1984: The Spy Who Goed to Hell (Frankenstein 90)
  • 1988: Murder Sketches (En toute innocence)
  • 1997: (Les couleurs du diable)

Discographic notes

  • 1973: Film music for (Traitement de choc) by Alain Jessua CAM (1992)

literature

  • Alain Jessua - "Film Analysis" by Hans-Werner Asmus, in: "Das große Cinema Film-Lexikon": Volume III SZ, Publishing Group Milchstraße, Hamburg 1992, page 39, ISBN 3-89324-092-6
  • Alain Jessua - "Film Music Analysis" by Royal S. Brown, in: "Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music", University of California Press 1994, page 59 and page 344, ISBN 0-520-08544-2
  • Alain Jessua - "Filmography" by Michael Singer in: "Film Directors - A Complete Guide", Lone Eagle Publishing, Beverly Hills, California 1992, page 170, ISBN 0-943728-46-0

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary for Alain Jessua in Le Figaro
  2. ^ Profile of Alain Jessua at Cinema
  3. ^ Biography of Alain Jessua in Film - British Federation of Film Societies, Federation of Film Societies (Great Britain), 1982
  4. ↑ The shocker in the lexicon of international filmTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used
  5. ↑ Soundtrack by Alain Jessua to (Traitement de choc)
personal data
SURNAME Jessua, Alain
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French film director and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH January 16, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris , France
DATE OF DEATH November 30, 2017
Place of death Évreux , Eure department , France