Laurent Boutonnat (born 14 June 1961) is a French

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and

music video director A music video director is the head of music video production. The director conceives of videos' artistic and dramatic aspects while instructing the musical act, technical crew, actors, models, and dancers. They may or may not be in collaborati ...

, best known as the

songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

partner of

Mylène Farmer Mylène Jeanne Gautier (; born 12 September 1961), known professionally as Mylène Farmer (), is a Canadian-born French singer, songwriter, occasional actress, writer, and entrepreneur. Having sold more than 30 million records in France, she is ...

and the director of several groundbreaking music videos.

Career

Born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Laurent Boutonnat directed his first film, ''Ballade de la Féconductrice'', at age 17, while the film itself is rated 18. It would later be screened off competition at the

Festival de Cannes The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. The movie contains multiple graphic elements that would characterize Boutonnat's provocative style. In 1984, having composed a song called " Maman a tort" with Jérôme Dahan which required a female singer, they started auditioning, and

, a young student in acting, showed up. Boutonnat and Farmer then started an artistic collaboration which goes on to this day. While Farmer had limited songwriting input on her first album, she thereafter took up a habit of writing all the lyrics while Boutonnat composes the music and arranges it. Boutonnat also took up Farmer's visual image. He started directing long, big-budget, literature-inspired music videos that took more the shape of short films. His style was widely recognized, especially thanks to the videos "

Libertine A libertine is a person devoid of most moral principles, a sense of responsibility, or sexual restraints, which they see as unnecessary or undesirable, and is especially someone who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour o ...

" and " Pourvu qu'elles soient douces" in which the action takes place during the eighteenth century. Other videos such as " Ainsi soit je..." were appreciated for their simplicity and visual language. Whether they were big productions or simple projects, all of Boutonnat's videos that he created during that time contained many references to literature and art, like Farmer in her lyrics. Boutonnat is sometimes considered to have revolutionized French music videos, including art and cinematic imagery in them and therefore not limiting them to simple commercial tools. Boutonnat's videos for Farmer contained many nude and sexual provocative scenes which forced the TV stations to ban them from airplay. In the early 1990s, at the end of the promotion of Farmer and Boutonnat's hugely successful album L'autre..., Farmer decided to start working with different music video directors. Boutonnat remained her songwriting partner. The last video he directed for her at that time was " Beyond My Control", which has been banned from daytime TV airplay for violence and sex. In 1994, Boutonnat directed his first feature film, Giorgino, based on an idea he had had for many years. Starring Farmer, Jeff Dahlgren and Joss Ackland, the film was a major critical and commercial flop at the time, even if more recent reviews of the film are less hostile with the film after it achieved cult status with its DVD release. Personally shaken by the disaster, Boutonnat and Farmer decided to part ways. Farmer exiled herself in the USA where she started writing new lyrics and discovering new music. Shortly afterwards, she reconciled with Boutonnat when she asked him to join her to write the music. The resulting album was a success. The corresponding music videos were not directed by Boutonnat as agreed by both. After a string of hugely successful albums, Farmer and Boutonnat wrote the first two hugely successful albums of

Alizée Alizée Lyonnet (''née'' Jacotey; born 21 August 1984), known professionally as Alizée, is a French singer, dancer and musician. She was born and raised in Ajaccio, Corsica. She first became known with her winning performance in the talent ...

, the first of them beating sales records. Boutonnat also directed her videos, which were far more commercial and TV-friendly than those he usually directs. In 2001, Boutonnat directed his first video for Farmer since " Beyond My Control", her hit single " Les Mots" that she recorded with

Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

. The video contains many references to '' Le radeau de la méduse'', the famous painting by Géricault. In 2007, Boutonnat finally directed

Jacquou le Croquant ''Jacquou le Croquant'' is a 2007 French historical film, based on the 1899 novel of the same name by Eugène Le Roy. Set in the Dordogne during the Bourbon Restoration, it tells the story of a young peasant who leads a revolt against an evil n ...

, his first feature film since 1994.''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film) ...

'' gave the film a positive review, praising it as "feisty family fare" with "pleasingly

Dickensian Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

" themes. Characterizing the film as a "handsomely mounted, old-fashioned mini- epic", ''Variety'' singled out its

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to fo ...

for praise: "Painterly widescreen lensing wins the day. Shot in the burnished fields and rustic outcroppings of France and Romania, with a preference for classy amber and ochre tones, many scenes look like vintage etchings or oil paintings." The songwriting partnership between Farmer and Boutonnat is still going strong, with each of their albums having huge success in French-speaking countries. In December 2010, Farmer released her eighth album, '' Bleu Noir'', without the collaboration of Boutonnat. The album marks the first time that Farmer and Boutonnat did not work together in Farmer's music career. The couple reunited in 2012 composing together all the songs for the album '' Monkey Me'', the albums after that however were again done without Boutonnat. He was however still part of the stage design team on her 2019 tour, and they worked together for the

Julia Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e. ...

project in 2020.

Theatrical movies

* ''Ballade de la Féconductrice'' (1978) * '' Giorgino'' (1994) * ''

'' (2007)

Live videos

* Mylène Farmer - En concert (1990) * Mylène Farmer - Live à Bercy (1997)

Music videos

* Mylène Farmer - Maman a tort (1984) * Mylène Farmer - Plus grandir (1985) * Mylène Farmer -

(1986) * Mylène Farmer - Tristana (1987) * Mylène Farmer - Sans Contrefaçon (1987) * Mylène Farmer - Ainsi soit je... (1988) * Mylène Farmer - Pourvu qu'elles soient douces (1988) * Mylène Farmer - Sans Logique (1988) * Mylène Farmer - A quoi je sers... (1989) * Mylène Farmer - Allan (Live) (1989) * Mylène Farmer - Plus Grandir (Live) (1990) * Mylène Farmer - Désenchantée (1991) * Mylène Farmer - Regrets (Mylène Farmer and Jean-Louis Murat song) (1991) * Mylène Farmer - Je t'aime mélancolie (1991) * Mylène Farmer - Beyond My Control (1992) * Nathalie Cardone - Hasta Siempre (1997) * Nathalie Cardone - Populaire (1998) * Nathalie Cardone - ...Mon Ange (1999) * Nathalie Cardone - Baila Si (2000) * Alizée - Moi... Lolita (2000) * Alizée - Parler tout bas (2001) * Mylène Farmer - Les Mots (2001) * Mylène Farmer - Pardonne-moi (2002) * Alizée - J'ai pas vingt ans (2003) * Kamal Kacet - Ifkis (2004) * Mylène Farmer - Du temps (2011) * Mylène Farmer - A l'ombre (2012) * Mylène Farmer - N'oublie Pas (2018) * Julia - S.E.X.T.O (2018) * Julia - Passe... comme tu sais (2019) * Julia - Et toi mon amour (2020)

Albums

Laurent Boutonnat worked as composer and producer on all the listed albums * Mylène Farmer - '' Cendres de Lune'' (1986) * Mylène Farmer - '' Ainsi soit je...'' (1989) * Mylène Farmer - '' L'Autre_(Mylène_Farmer_album)'' (1991) * Mylène Farmer - '' Dance Remixes'' (1992) * Mylène Farmer - '' Anamorphosée'' (1995) * Nathalie Cardone - Album éponyme (1999) * Mylène Farmer - '' Innamoramento'' (1999) * Alizée - '' Gourmandises'' (2000) * Mylène Farmer - '' Les Mots'' (2001) * Alizée - '' Mes courants électriques...'' (2003) * Mylène Farmer - '' Avant que l'ombre...'' (2005) * Mylène Farmer - '' Point de Suture'' (2008) * Mylène Farmer - '' Monkey Me'' (2012) *

- ''Passe... comme tu sais'' (2020)

Movie soundtracks

* '' Giorgino'' (1994) * ''Le Pèlerin'' (1995) * ''

'' (2006)

References

External links

Official website for the movie Giorgino

German website about the 1994 movie Giorgino
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boutonnat, Laurent 1961 births French film directors French male composers French songwriters Living people Male songwriters