Bertrand Blier, master of subversive and provocative cinema, passed away at the age of 85 this Tuesday, January 21. Director of Waltzesof Buffet froid andInspector BurrBlier was a story-maker like no other, an author who knew how to mix the absurd with the tragic, laughter with fear. With him, French cinema reached peaks of audacity. He liked to shock, to unsettle. A filmmaker of excess.
His first cinematic shock, Les Valseuses
Son of the illustrious actor Bernard Blier, Bertrand seemed predestined for a career in the seventh art. However, the young man rebelled for a long time against the idea of a clear-cut destiny. It is through writing that he finds his way, signing scripts of rare impertinence before going behind the camera. His first cinematic shock, The Valseuses (1974), propels Patrick Dewaere, Gérard Depardieu and Miou-Miou into a libertarian and scandalous wandering. At the time, France was divided: a moral scandal for some, a manifesto of freedom for others.
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Bertrand Blier loved marginal, battered characters who seek themselves without finding themselves. With Buffet froid (1979), he pushes the absurd to its climax, playing with the codes of the thriller to better pulverize them. The Depardieu-Jean Carmet duo is unforgettable, as is the dark poetry that emanates from this open-air chamber. What made Blier strong was his ability to explore the ambiguity of human feelings. In Prepare your tissues (1978), Oscar for best foreign film, it speaks of desire and love with an apparent lightness which hides a dizzying depth. Spectators never left his works unscathed, divided between bursts of laughter and diffuse unease.
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Bertrand Blier also had exceptional direction of actors. Gérard Depardieu, Patrick Dewaere, Carole Bouquet, Josiane Balasko, Alain Delon: all found unsuitable roles under his leadership, performances of rare truth. But Blier was not content with working with the stars: he liked to reveal talents, as when he entrusted Anouk Grinberg with roles of astonishing strength. His recent, rarer films have never lost their bite. In 2005, How much do you love me? revisited the themes dear to Blier – passion, sex, the commodification of bodies – in a style that was both classic and disconcerting. Until the end, he remained true to himself: free, insolent, and profoundly humanist.
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