The thousand talents of Jean-Claude Carrière in a book

His genius as a storyteller matched his humility and discretion. Jean-Claude Carrière, who left us in 2021, will have exercised his imagination, tirelessly nourished by his taste for discovery, to all genres and all forms of culture. In the theater, he was the writing accomplice of Peter Brook (The Bird Conference…). In the cinema, he wrote the screenplays for six films by Luis Buñuel, including This obscure object of desire which revealed Carole Bouquet. In literature, he happily dabbled with novels, essays and even mythological tales.

Three years after his disappearance, this contemporary Pic de la Mirandole that all men of intellect revered, – like his friends from the Alphonse-Allais Academy who loved this grace which allowed him to pass from Buddhism to the lightest nonsense without to have touched it -, deserved that we dedicate to him the breviary of all his spiritual, intellectual and even material accomplishments since he was also a lover of wine and the vine. Aware that such a work was lacking in the maintenance of her memory, Delphine Bürkli, mayor of the IX^e district of Pari, and Jean Audouze, renowned astrophysicist, edited a book that they simply wanted to name With Jean-Claude Carrière.

The elected official of the capital, whose town hall is located near Drouot, agreed to tell the Figaro why she personally wanted to contribute to what she considers to be “an essential tribute to this immense man, curious about everything”.

Also readOur review of Goya’s Shadow: the testament of Jean-Claude Carrière

LE FIGARO. – How did you come up with the idea of ​​writing about Jean-Claude Carrière?

Delphine BÜRKLI. – He had chosen to live in the IX^ein a house nestled between rue des Martyrs and Pigalle. This neighborhood resembles him, both wise and wanton. I sometimes met him in the streets where he liked to do his shopping. I must say that at first I didn’t even dare approach him because he impressed me so much.

You knew him by reputation…

Yes of course. I knew that he had been the screenwriter of Buñuel, Pierre Étaix, and many other great filmmakers. For me, above all, he had a dialogue with Rappeneau Cyrano de Bergerac. I told myself at the time that you had to have incredible sensitivity to bring Edmond Rostand’s text to life on screen in this way.

How did you approach his protean work in your book?

The difficulty with Jean-Claude is not finding things to say about him, it would rather be not forgetting anything and trying to order the abundance of his ideas. We have Jean Audouze and I decline all the disciplines of this athlete of the spirit: cinema, theater and speech and finally literature. And to make it all as lively as possible, we let witnesses write who knew the work as well as the man, because with him, it is closely linked. We can thus find testimonies or analyzes by Volker Schlöndorff, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Peter Brook, Éric Fottorino, Serge Toubiana… I couldn’t list them all off the top of my head. All of this is abundant like the spirit of Jean-Claude Carrière.

There are also testimonies in your book from people who knew the man Jean-Claude Carrière well…

Again, I can’t list them all. Among these I am thinking of Jean Audouze who in a few words so well described the “invisible” intellectual work of Carrière who liked to mature his ideas when he stumbled upon a difficulty. I also think of Carole Bouquet, who painted a very epicurean, almost carnal portrait of him, even though it was just a matter of pure friendship. She knew him well and loved him for his availability, his taste for others, his desire to pass on things.

In addition to this book, you have decided to name a place from the 9th^e in the name of Jean-Claude Carrière…

Yes, it is the Jean-Claude Carrière square, which is located at the foot of the Sacré-Cœur. This is where he took his daughter, Karia, when she was still a child. It’s a little corner of greenery at the bottom of this mountain in Paris. It’s a place that resembles him and that’s why we wanted it to be dedicated to him.