This Thursday, April 25, it is with sadness that we learn of the death of filmmaker Laurent Cantet, at the age of 63, following an illness. This is what his agent has just announced to AFP, confirming information from Release. “He died this morning in Paris of illness“, indicated Isabelle de la Patellière. The director was working on a film project, entitled The apprenticewhich was due to be released in 2025. As a reminder, he received the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2008, for his film Between the walls.
Half-documentary, half-fiction, this film is an adaptation of the homonymous novel by François Bégaudeau, who played the main role in the film. This story is inspired by the author’s experiences when he taught at Mozart College, a Parisian establishment located in a ZEP (priority education zone). Thus, geographical and social origins mix in this very touching work.
The Cannes Film Festival immediately reacted this Thursday, upon learning of the filmmaker’s death. Saluting the memory of a “fierce humanist, who sought light despite social violence, who found hope despite the harshness of reality“. Note that Laurent Cantet had previously made himself known with the film Human ressources (1999), on the business world, then with The timetable (2001), inspired by the Jean-Claude Romand affair.
His journey
His latest film, Arthur Rambo (2021), is inspired by the Mehdi Meklat affair, a writer who caused controversy following the discovery of a series of racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic tweets published under a pseudonym. As a reminder, he was born in April 1961 to teaching parents, and studied cinema – in the prestigious IDHEC school in particular – which allowed him to meet other future filmmakers like Dominik Moll, Vincent Dietschy or Gilles Marchand again.
The latter hired him as cinematographer on his first short film, The Extended (1987), before collaborating with him again in 1993 for another short film entitled Merry Christmas. Finally, note that in 2015 he founded La Cinetek, a film VOD platform edited by filmmakers, alongside Pascale Ferran and Cédric Klapisch, a director who needs no introduction.
