Aactor, screenwriter and director, Michel Blanc, who has just died at the age of 72, always wanted to go further throughout his career, to explore all the richness of cinema while trying to escape its comic image of service, to this character of Jean-Claude Dusse who made him famous but who stuck to him a little.
Every Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Receive the cultural news of the week not to be missed as well as Surveys, decryptions, portraits, trends…
Merci !
Your registration has been taken into account with the email address:
To discover all our other newsletters, go here: MyAccount
By registering, you accept the general conditions of use and our confidentiality policy.
From his debut on stage with the Splendid troupe and his friends from the Pasteur de Neuilly high school, Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko, Christian Clavier, Gérard Jugnot and Marie-Anne Chazel, with whom he will share the poster of Tanned (1978), until his last film, Les Tuches 4alongside his friend Jean-Paul Rouve, Michel Blanc made some 80 films, including some with big names like Bertrand Tavernier, Patrice Leconte, Claude Berri, Bertrand Blier, Roberto Benigni, André Téchiné and Alain Corneau.
ALSO READ Michel Blanc: how the role of Jean-Claude Dusse stuck to himHere are six that made Michel Blanc not only a comedy actor, but simply an actor, demanding, surprising, talented.
Tanned people go skiing (1979)
An essential, immediate continuation of Tannedreleased a year before and which took place at Club Med in the company of the Spendid troupe. Michel Blanc takes the opportunity to refine his character of Jean-Claude Dusse, a flirtatious loser who never has luck with girls but never loses his morale, in a memorable dialogue with Gérard Jugnot: “Listen, Bernard, I believe that you and I have a bit of the same problem; It’s that we can’t really bet everything on our looks, especially you. So, if I can allow myself to give you some advice, it’s forget that you have no chance, go ahead, go for it! You never know, a misunderstanding could work. » Forty-five years later, we are still laughing. In 2006, the troupe found itself in The Bronzed 3. Big success in theaters (10 million admissions), which does not prevent Michel Blanc from admitting that it is not what he has done “best”.
Come to my house, I’m staying with a friend (1980)
With Patrice Leconte, Michel Blanc, mustachioed and looking sickly, will shoot three comedies in which he plays on the same register: that of the loser who hits the nail on the head and sows mayhem. After Vcome to my place, I live with a friend, alongside Bernard Giraudeau and Marie-Anne Chazel, he continued with My wife’s name is come back (1982) et Move around, there’s nothing to see (1983). The following year, Michel Blanc formed a hilarious duo with Gérard Lanvin in his first film, Walk in the shadebig success in theaters.
Evening wear (1986)
At the height of his popularity, Michel Blanc takes risks with this explosive comedy by Bertrand Blier in which he opposite Miou-Miou and Gérard Depardieu in the role of a homosexual thug and does not hesitate to disguise himself as a woman. The slogan is clear: “Damn movie”. It’s either make or break. Michel Blanc wins the acting prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He will meet Bertrand Blier in Thank you life (1987).
Mr Hire (1989)
Beautiful dramatic role in which he reunites with his favorite director, Patrice Leconte, in this revival of Panic by Julien Duvivier. The opportunity for Michel Blanc to show the extent of his register by playing a disturbing voyeur unjustly accused of a crime. The following year, he did it again in the role of a communist purger in Uranus by Claude Berri, based on the novel by Marcel Aymé.
State Exercise (2011)
New unexpected role against employment, that of a veteran of ministerial cabinets, right-hand man of a Minister of Transport (Olivier Gourmet) confronted with an explosive file aimed at the privatization of the railway sector and forced to make an about-face. A good political thriller, by Pierre Schoeller, in which his character as a shadowy advisor, cold and self-confident, earned him the César for best supporting actor.
See how we dance (2018)
Sixteen years later Kiss whoever you wantMichel Blanc returns as director and actor with a hilarious social comedy. In this film inspired, like the first part, by English holidays by the novelist Joseph Connolly, we find Carole Bouquet as a businesswoman, a fan of sprouted seeds and dried algae, in a relationship, this time, with a Jean-Paul Rouve in paranoid mode.
Charlotte Rampling is a wealthy bourgeoisie married to Jacques Dutronc in the role of a tax delinquent, while the character played by Karin Viard is having a bad professional run. The actress was awarded a César for best supporting actress in 2003 for Kiss whoever you want.
