Jean Grémillon

Jean Grémillon (born October 3, 1901 in Bayeux , Basse-Normandie , † November 25, 1959 in Paris ) was a French film director .

Life

Jean Grémillon began his career as a violinist who was active in silent film orchestras. From 1923 he began making films himself, initially documentaries and films with an avant-garde character. They enjoyed great popularity among intellectuals because of their craftsmanship, without being particularly successful commercially. After a first artistic high point with Gardiens de Phare (1929), his last silent film, he went to Germany and Spain to get new ideas from the local avant-garde, as Grémillon's film L'Etrange Monsieur Victor (1937) reminds of works by Fritz Lang . But Grémillon did not make a breakthrough until the 1940s with his cinematic visions (particularly successful: Lumière d'été (1943)), where he repeatedly worked with the actors Jean Gabin and Madeleine Renaud . Le ciel est à vous (1944) pays homage to female aviation pioneers, Les désastres de la guerre (1949) an indictment against war, and Pattes blanches (1949) the film adaptation of a screenplay by Jean Anouilh about the decline of an aristocrat. His last films include: L'amour d'une femme (1954), La maison aux images (1955) and André Masson et les quatre elements . From 1943–1958 he was chairman of the Cinémathèque Française .

Filmography

• 1928: Maldone
• 1930: Little Lise (La petite Lise)
• 1937: The strange Monsieur Victor (L'étrange Monsieur Victor)
• 1937: A face to fall in love with (Gueule d'amour)
• 1939–1941: barges (Remorques)
• 1943: Jump into the clouds (Le ciel est à vous)
• 1943: Weather lights (Lumière d'été)
• 1948: Deadly Passion (Pattes blanches)
• 1949: The joys of being (Les Charmes de l'existence)
• 1950: Sinful love (L'étrange Madame X ...)
• 1953: A Woman's Love (L'amour d'une femme)

Web links

• Jean Grémillon in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Jean Grémillon - Austrian Film Museum