“Our work depends enormously on the role you are given“, explained Niels Arestrup in 2010 on the César stage when he had just received a statuette for his performance in A prophet by Jacques Audiard. While the actor, born in 1949 in Montreuil-sous-Bois to a Breton mother and a Danish father, has just died this Sunday, December 1, 2024 at the age of 75, a look back at five long- films which show why the actor left a lasting mark on the history of French cinema. Her career began in the theater in the 1960s after taking drama lessons with Tania Balachova. It was only a decade later that he encountered the seventh art, working with famous filmmakers like Alain Resnais (Stavisky1974), Chantal Akerman (I, you, he, she1974), Claude Lelouch (If I had to do it again1976).
However, it was not until the 2000s that the artist was considered at his true value. Jacques Audiard relaunches his career by choosing him to play Robert Seyr in My heart stopped beatingreleased in 2005. He lends his features to a crooked real estate agent, father of the hero of the film played by Romain Duris. A dazzling performance for which he won the first César of his career. “Instead of trying to say interesting, amusing, or intelligent things, I wanted to thank the little boy I was when I was seven, eight, nine years old and who I dreamed of being one evening in front of a room like this -there. I would like to thank this little boy for insisting“, he declared the following year on the stage of the Théâtre du Châtelet.
Four years later, Niels Arestrup finds his favorite filmmaker in A prophet (2009), available on MyCanal. His talent illuminates this feature film where he plays César Luciani, a figure in the Corsican mafia. Terrifying, he takes Malik El Djebena, a young delinquent played by Tahar Rahim, under his wing. Two political roles then marked his filmography. In 2013, in Quai d'OrsayBertrand Tavernier suggested that he bring to the screen Claude Maupas, the chief of staff of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexandre Taillard de Vorms alias Dominique de Villepin. He will help young graduate Arthur Vlaminck to find a place as a language manager in an environment where anything goes. To be reviewed on the Max platform.
Niels Arestrup shines in Goodbye up there by Albert Dupontel
In 2016, he shines in the first season of the series Black Baronproduced by Ziad Doueiri, Antoine Chevrollier and Thomas Bourguignon, and commissioned by Canal+. He plays the unforgettable Francis Laugier, mentor and then political adversary of the protagonist, Philippe Rickwaert (Kad Merad). Finally, in 2017, the actor landed a significant supporting role in Goodbye up there by Albert Dupontel. He endorses the rich and unsympathetic businessman Marcel Péricourt, father of Édouard (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), the main character, and Madeleine (Émilie Dequenne). A film currently available in the Netflix catalog.
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