Jacques Audiard

Biography: life and films

Jacques Audiard may not be the most prolific of film directors but, since his directing debut in 1994, he has come to be regarded as one of his country's finest filmmaking talents. Mainly through his penchant for moody, stylised noir thrillers, he has gained a worldwide following and is considered a worthy successor to the great policier directors of the past, notably Jean-Pierre Melville. A consummate auteur, Audiard prepares and makes his film with painstaking care and precision, which explains why he has made only half a dozen films in the past two decades and why he is held in such high esteem by the critics.

The son of Michel Audiard, a well-known French screenwriter and film director, Jacques Audiard was born in Paris on 30th April 1952. Initially, he was reluctant to follow in his father's footsteps and intended to forge a career in academia. Having failed to complete his studies in literature at the Sorbonne, he found work as an apprentice editor and earned his first screen credit as assistant editor on Roman Polanski's 1976 film Le Locataire. Whilst working as a film editor, he began to take an interest in the theatre, and adapted several works for the stage.

In the early 1980s, Audiard began to find success as a screenwriter. He collaborated with director Georges Lautner on Le Professional (1981) and Claude Miller on Mortelle randonnée (1983), two popular thrillers, and also with Josianne Balasko on her comedy Sac de noeuds (1985). Audiard made his directing debut in 1994 with Regarde les hommes tomber, a heady mix of film noir thriller and road movie which featured the up-and-coming film director Mathieu Kassovitz in his first substantial screen role, alongside established stars Jean Yanne and Jean Louis Trintignant. The film won three Césars, including the award for Best First Work.

Audiard gave Kassovitz the leading role in his next film, Un héros très discret (1996), a provocative assault on the De Gaulle myth that France had been a country of resistance during the Nazi occupation. Despite the film's controversial subject matter, it proved to be a commercial and critical success, and established the director's international reputation. The film failed to win any of the six Césars it was nominated for, but it took the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival. Audiard's next film, Sur mes lèvres (a.k.a. Read My Lips) (2001), a dark romantic thriller, was also critically well-received and was nominated for nine Césars, winning in three categories, including that of Best Original Screenplay.

De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté (a.k.a. The Beat That My Heart Skipped) (2005), Audiard's third foray into film noir territory, proved to be an even greater success. A remake of James Toback's 1978 thriller Fingers, the film starred Romain Duris and was a hit with both critics and audiences. It dominated the 2006 César awards ceremony, winning in eight categories, including Best Director, Best Film, Best Cinematography and Best Original Screenplay. The film also won the 2006 BAFTA for the Best Foreign Language Film.

Audiard stayed with the film noir theme for his next film, the highly acclaimed Un prophète (a.k.a. A Prophet) (2009). Again, Audiard almost swept the board at the Césars, winning in nine categories, including Best Actor, Best Director and Best Film. The film garnered a host of other awards, including the 2009 Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, the 2010 BAFTA for the Best Foreign Language Film and the prestigious Louis Delluc Award. Often cited as the best French film of the decade, Un prophète has secured Jacques Audiard's reputation as one of France's leading auteur filmmakers.

Filmography

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