My Life and Times with Antonin Artaud (french: En compagnie d'Antonin Artaud) is a 1993 French film, directed by

Gérard Mordillat Gérard ( French: ) is a French masculine given name and surname of Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constitu ...

. It is based on

Jacques Prevel Jacques Marie Prevel (July 27, 1915 in Bolbec – May 27, 1951 in Sainte-Feyre) was a French poet. His real first name was Jacques, but he added 'Marie' not to be mistaken with Jacques Prévert, whose surname is pronounced in a very similar way. Du ...

's 1974 novel of the same name. It follows Prevel's journal of a two-year friendship with

Antonin Artaud Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the E ...

until his death in 1948

Plot

After nine years of being locked up, Antonin Artaud (Sami Frey) is released from the asylum at

Rodez Rodez ( or ; oc, Rodés, ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of the ...

, and returns to

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 ...

with his friends. One of his friends, Jacques Prevel (Marc Barbé) is a young poet, and follows Artaud in his wanders between the nursing home at Ivry and Saint Germain-des-Prés, while pursuing the same quest for poetry, drugs, and the absolute. Prevel becomes a disciple, pusher, and companion toward Artaud, whose story he relates in a chronicle that leads up to his death two years later. In post-war Paris where he lives sometimes in misery and suffering, Prevel shares his life between two women, Rolande (Valérie Jeannet) and Jany (Julie Jézéquel), while at the same time continuing his attachment to Antonin Artaud, the man who is his only friend.

Cast

Sami Frey Sami Frey (born Samuel Frei; 13 October 1937) is a French actor of Iranian Jewish descent. Among the films he starred in are '' En compagnie d'Antonin Artaud'' (1993), in which he portrays French poet and playwright Antonin Artaud, and '' Bande ...

* Marc Barbé :

Julie Jézéquel Julie Jézéquel (born 26 March 1964) is a French actress and writer. Filmography Actress Writer Theater Author References External links

* 1964 births Living people French film actresses French television actresses 20th-centu ...

: Jany * Valérie Jeannet : Rolande Prevel * Clotilde de Bayser :

Marthe Robert Marthe Robert (March 25, 1914 – April 12, 1996) was a French essayist and translator. Robert was born in Paris on March 25, 1914. In 1941, she met psychoanalyst Michel de M'Uzan, whom she later married. In 1995, she received the Grand Prix Natio ...

Charlotte Valandrey Charlotte Valandrey (29 November 1968 – 13 July 2022) was a French actress and author. After early success she was widely tipped for stardom, but her career took a more modest course until the release of her autobiography in 2005. Early life ...

: Colette Thomas

Awards

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gave the film a rating of 83% from 6 reviews and an average rating of 6.9/10. Emanuel Levy from

Variety Film Reviews ''Variety Film Reviews'' is the 24-volume hardcover reprint of feature film reviews by the weekly entertainment tabloid-size magazine ''Variety'' from 1907 to 1996. Film reviews continued to be published in the weekly magazine after the reprints we ...

praised Sami Frey's performance in the film ''"Sami Frey gives such an astonishingly intense performance that his portrait of the genius and madness of the famed French poet/intellectual is far more insightful than that offered in the current documentary"''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

also praises Frey's spectacular performance, comparing him to

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...

External links

* *

References

{{Reflist Films shot in Paris Films shot in France Antonin Artaud