Bertrand Blier
About
Biography
Filmography
Bibliography
Biography
Undeniably gifted director whose blackly humorous, often surrealistic and sometimes misogynistic films have divided critics.
Blier began his career as an assistant to John Berry, Jean Delannoy and Christian-Jacque before making a series of cinema verite-style documentaries which culminated with "Hitler?...Connais Pas!" (1962), a feature-length study of disaffected teenagers. His first fiction feature was "Breakdown/If I Were a Spy" in 1967, but he hit the international spotlight with 1974's "Going Places/Getting It Up/Making It." A kind of French "Clockwork Orange," the film depicted the (primarily sexual) escapades of two amoral, petty thugs (they are not above sniffing a young girl's underwear in an attempt to determine her age). By turns offensive, disturbing and hilarious, the film launched not only Blier, but the then-unknown actors Gerard Depardieu, Patrick Dewaere and Miou-Miou.
After being vilified for the misogynism of "Calmos" (1975), Blier earned international acclaim for "Get Out Your Handkerchiefs" (1978), a ribald comedy, again starring Depardieu and Dewaere, which took the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. "Buffet Froid" (1980) marked the director's incursion into surrealist territory, a farcical study in the psychology of murder pitting Depardieu, as a suspected serial killer, against Blier's father, Bernard, as an aging police inspector.
Blier continued to offend, alienate and exhilarate his audience with "Beau Pere" (1981), a reworking of "Lolita" in which a widower (Dewaere) is left in charge of his adolescent stepdaughter, and "Menage/Tenue de Soiree/Evening Dress" (1986), about a convivial gay burglar (Depardieu) who wreaks havoc within a bankrupt, heterosexual household. "Too Beautiful For You" (1989) saw a successful car dealer (Depardieu) abandoning his beautiful wife (Carole Bouquet) for a plain mistress (Josiane Balasko), Blier's disjunctive, non-linear narrative style served more to defuse the film's emotional impact than to explore new stylistic or psychological territory. Other films include "1, 2, 3 Soleil" (1993) and "My Man" (1996).
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Life Events
1960
Worked as 2nd assistant director for Georges Lautner
1962
Feature-length directing debut with the documentary "Hitler... Connais pas!/Hitler... Never Heard of Him!"
1966
Short fiction film directing debut, "La grimace"
1967
Fiction feature directing debut, "Si j'etais un espion/ /Breakdown/If I Were a Spy"
1972
Published novel "Les Valseuses"
Family
