The director of Waltzesof Evening wear or even Prepare your tissues died at age 85. He ” loved women, but had them mistreated by his guys», remembers Gilles Jacob, former president of the Cannes Film Festival
Bertrand Blier died Monday January 20 evening at the age of 85. He died « peacefully at home in Paris, surrounded by his wife and children »declared his son Léonard Blier. The director was known for having directed several classics of French cinema such as The Valseuses (1974), Buffet froid (1979), Evening wear or even Prepare your tissues (1978) which won the Academy Award for Best International Film at the 51e ceremony. The feature films of this fan of dark and crude humor, shot in particular with Gérard Depardieu, left their mark on the cinema of the 1970s and 1980s.
Reactions to this announcement were quick, starting with those of the actors who filmed with him. Josiane Balaskolet you film Too beautiful for you released in 1989, praised the memory of the director on social networks. « Have a good trip my friend. And empties a bucket with White as he passes », writes the actress. « What a privilege to have filmed for you. You were a boss. A friend. An inventor in cinema. Your poetry, your audacity, your words, your laughter, your silences. You loved the actors so much. I'm thinking of you, Farida and your whole family. »greets on his side Jean Dujardinwho played an alcoholic writer in The sound of ice cubes.
The actress Anny Duperey, who worked on the play Sorry about the carpet by Bertrand Blier in 2010 confided to BFMTV to be “ really sad ”, as she “ loved this man ».
« As well a writer as a filmmaker, cynical as provocative, moralistic as jaded, Bertrand Blier loved women, but had them mistreated by his guys »remembers Gilles Jacobone of the former presidents of the Cannes Film Festival, in a message communicated to AFP. « There are, in his films, astonishing discoveries, a daring exposition of certain revolting morals, hilarious scenes that border on the absurd and emotion too. »he continues.
-“The great hours of French cinema”
“I loved this man, his way of pushing situations, discomfort and laughter, and when he talked about Bernard (his father, Editor’s note). They pushed the characters far (too much, one might say today, but that was yesterday). I loved his voice, his look and his books”wrote for his part Pierre Lescureanother former president of the Cannes Film Festival.
« Bertrand Blier, écrit Rachida Dati, was a genius dialogue writer, in the tradition of Prévert and Audiard. In films that were part of their era, he offered iconic roles to the greatest. Bertrand Blier was an immense and non-conformist filmmaker, a mad lover of the freedom to create. » « Bertrand Blier leaves us a filmography in his image: non-conformist, irreverent, sometimes provocative and taboo-breaking, but always tinged with tenderness and shot through with crazy poetry », greet him National Cinema Center.
« Iconoclast, provocative but immensely talented, Bertrand Blier will have made the heyday of French cinema. Master of writing, with him, the words click. A master of dialogues, a keen observer of the human soul, in his films, he dissected without taboos and with infinite freedom the excesses and worries of our time. Transgressive, often acerbic, Bertrand Blier did not want to please, above all he liked to provoke to fuel debates and move the lines. He leaves us a cult filmography which will lastingly permeate the 7th art », compliment Jack Langthe former Minister of Culture on X.
GEORGES BENDRIHAM/AFP
