Alain Jessua

Biography: life and films

Alain Jessua's filmmaking career spans four decades but in this time he made only nine features and one short. He was not a prolific director but he was pretty well unique in that he produced each and every one of his feature films (through his company A.J. Films). This meant that he had a degree of independence that very few filmmakers of his generation had, even in the immediate aftermath of the French New Wave, which is when he had the greatest impact. Jessua's best films tackle issues that were of concern to him at the time and which have since become of even greater concern today. These include: the impact of cultural influences on our lives, fears about immigration, the exploitation of the world's poor by the rich, and the downside of the celebrity (get-famous-quick) culture. These films are provocative, original and entertaining - and it is a shame that he only made ten films. It is equally sad that his films are not more widely appreciated.

Jessua was born in Paris, France on 16th January 1932. He started out in the film business in the early 1950s by working as an assistant to some of the great filmmakers of this era. He assisted Jacques Becker on Casque d'Or (1952), with Yves Allégret on Mam'zelle Nitouche (1954) and with Max Ophüls on his last masterpiece Lola Montès (1955). He then went on to direct his first film, a short entitled Léon la lune (1956), which won him the Prix Jean-Vigo for Short Film in 1957 - an auspicious start to his career.

The director's debut feature La Vie à l'envers (1964) was a hit with the critics and immediately established him as one of the post-Nouvelle Vague directors to watch out for. Arguably his most accomplished work, this film has the character of a Buddhist parable, depicting a young man's withdrawal from the flurry and false pleasures of bourgeois Parisian society, into his own inner world where he discovers the true meaning of existence. With a strong central performance from Charles Denner, supported by Jean Yanne in his first screen role, La Vie à l'envers is an enchanting and thought-provoking piece of cinema - it was a worthy recipient of the Best First Work award at the 1964 Venice Film Festival.

Jessua's next film, Jeu de massacre (1967), was also highly acclaimed and took the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1967. Starring Michel Duchaussoy and Jean-Pierre Cassel, it examines how today's cultural influences can distort our perception of reality and alter our behaviour, usually for the worse. It was around this time that concerns over the impact of television and cinema on individuals and society were gaining traction. It is a debate that still rages to this day and the film probably has greater pertinence today than when it was first seen.

With Traitement de choc (1973), a modern variant on the classic vampire movie, Jessua serves up a grim little fable that tackles another social concern - the exploitation of the poor and vulnerable by the rich and powerful. Alain Delon plays a sinister-looking doctor who promises eternal youth to his clients (one being Annie Girardot), without telling them that his magical cure involves preying on young immigrants. The film was criticised for a scene in which Delon frolics about on the beach in nothing but his birthday suit (hence the film's ludicrous English language title Doctor in the Nude) and was less successful than the star's other films of this era. Whilst not the director's best film, it makes a succinct allegory that is still worryingly relevant.

Of all Jessua's films, Armaguedon (1977) is the one that probably has the most chilling resonance today. Again featuring Alain Delon and Jean Yanne, this slick thriller anticipates the reality TV craze that has since become endemic and warns of its inherent dangers. Yanne's character epitomises those pathetic individuals who are willing to do anything to get their fifteen minutes of fame. No French film made in the 1970s is as grimly prophetic as this one. Les Chiens (1979) is another frighteningly prescient film. With strong lead performances from Gérard Depardieu and Victor Lanoux, it offers a graphic depiction of a small, seemingly perfect community that becomes so overtaken with fear of outsiders that its members resort to hunting them to their deaths. Present day fears over immigration are scarily anticipated in this stark allegory of a society that succumbs to the worst kind of prejudice and intolerance.

Jessua's uncanny knack of predicting the future takes its most tragic turn with Paradis pour tous (1982). The film depicts a man who, having attempted suicide, is cured of his depression by a seemingly miraculous cure. The man in question is played by Patrick Dewaere, who shot himself dead not long after he completed work on this film. With Frankenstein 90 (1984), the director offers one of cinema's weirder reinterpretations of Mary Shelley's famous novel. Whilst far from being the director's best work, it has great entertainment value, with Jean Rochefort looking worryingly at home in the role of the mad Dr Frankenstein and rock musician Eddy Mitchell at his most sympathetic as Rochefort's monstrous creation. The film was not a commercial success and signalled the beginning of the end of Jessua's directing career.

His next film, En toute innocence (1988), in which a murder is committed to protect family interests, is a somewhat half-baked attack on bourgeois attitudes that cannot help looking like a second rate Claude Chabrol movie. The director's final film, Les Couleurs du diable (1997), is a modern variation on the Faust legend which contains some interesting ideas but is marred by a weak script and some poor acting. After this final let down, Alain Jessua gave up directing for good and devoted himself to his new career as a novelist. Since 1999, he has so far published six novels, the most recent being Petit Ange (2011).

Filmography

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