Astruc, Alexandre

(1923- )

   Film theorist and director. Alexandre Astruc began his film career as an assistant to Marc Allégret in Blanche Fury (1947). He is famous for his concept of the "caméra-stylo," which he articulated in "Naissance d'une nouvelle avant-garde: La caméra-stylo" (The Birth of a New Avant-Garde: The Caméra-Stylo), an essay that appeared in 1948 in L'Ecran français. He was also a screenwriter for Marcello Pagliero, Fernando Cerchio, and Jean-Daniel Pollet. His first independent work as director was the sketch Le rideau cramoisi (1953), which won the Prix Louis-Delluc. He is known for his adaptations of literary works, especially Une Vie (1958), a feature based on the story by Guy de Maupassant, and L'éducation sentimentale (1962), based on Gustave Flaubert's classic novel. He also directed Les mauvaises rencontres (1955), La proiepour l'ombre (1961), La longue marche (1966), Flammes sur l'Adriatique (1968), and, with Michel Contat, the documentary Sartre par lui-même (1976). He plays himself in Michel Pascal and Serge Toubiana's François Truffaut: portrait volés (1993). Critics often place him as a precursor to the Nouvelle Vague or New Wave.

   Historical Dictionary of French Cinema by Dayna Oscherwitz & Mary Ellen Higgins