Berri, Claude

(1934- )

   Actor, director, producer, and screen-writer. Born Claude Langmann, Claude Berri, as he would come to be known, was one of the most successful directors of the 1980s and 1990s. He started in film as an actor, appearing in Jacques Becker's Rue de l'Estrapade (1953), Claude Chabrol's Les Bonnes Femmes (1960), and Henri-Georges Clouzot's La Verité (1960). He soon turned his hand to other aspects of film, writing the screenplay for Maurice Pialat's Janine (1961), a film in which he also appeared. He won an Oscar for the short Le poulet (1963), a film he wrote, directed, and produced.

   By the late 1960s, Berri had turned his full attention to activities behind the camera. In 1967 he directed his first feature film, Le vieil homme et l'enfant, which starred Michel Simon. It was followed by Mazel Tov ou le mariage (1968), Le pistonné (1970), Le cinéma de papa (1970), Sex shop (1972), Le mâle du siècle (1975), La première fois (1976), Un moment d'égarement (1977), Je vous aime (1980), and Le maître d'école (1981). His features Tchao pantin! (1983), Jean de Florette (1985), Uranus (1990), and Germinal (1993) were all nominated for César Awards for Best Film and Best Director.

   In addition to the awards he won for directing, Berri's films have launched or established the careers of several major actors in France. Coluche won Best Actor at the César Awards for his work in Tchao pantin! and Gérard Depardieu gained considerable acclaim for his performances in Jean de Florette, Uranus, and Germinal. The career of actor Daniel Auteuil was made famous by the film Jean de Florette, and particularly its sequel, Manon des sources.

   Berri is often associated with high-budget heritage or nostalgia films. Though Berri has written many of the scripts for his films, he has also made several cinematic adaptations of French literary oeuvres: Tchao Pantin! was derived from a novel by Alain Page, and both Jean de Florette and Manon des sources (1985) were adapted from Marcel Pagnol's two-part novel, L'Eau des collines. Uranus is an adaptation of a Marcel Ayme novel, and Germinal was adapted from the epic novel by Émile Zola. Lucie Aubrac (1997) was inspired by Aubrac's own memoir, Ils partiront dans l'ivresse. Berri's Une femme de ménage (2002) was based on a novel by Christian Oster. Berri also directed La débandade (1999) and L'Un reste, l'autre part (2004). He has also produced a number of films inspired by literary works, for example, Roman Polanski's Tess (1979), Patrice Chéreau's La reine Margot (1994), and Jean-Jacques Annaud's L'amant (1992). Berri was elected president of the Cinematheque Française in 2003.

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