Olivier Assayas (born 25 January 1955) is a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. Assayas is known for his slow-burning
period pieces
Period may refer to:
Common uses
* Era, a length or span of time
* Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Period (music), a concept in musical composition
* Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...
,
psychological thrillers,
neo-noirs and French comedies. His work has become synonymous with the film movement known as the
New French Extremity
New French Extremity (New French Extremism or, informally, New French Extreme) is a term coined by ''Artforum'' critic James Quandt for a collection of transgressive films by French directors at the turn of the 21st century. Also available othe ...
and has collaborated frequently with
Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche (; born 9 March 1964) is a French actress and dancer.
She has appeared in more than sixty feature films and has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Silver Bear, ...
and
Kristen Stewart. The son of filmmaker
Jacques Rémy, Assayas began his career as a critic for influential magazine ''
Cahiers du Cinéma''. Here he wrote about the
World Cinema and its
film auteurs who would later influence his own works. Assayas made several shorts, and then made the leap from writer to screenwriter.
He made his directorial film debut with ''Disorder'' in 1986. He continued directing films, with ''
Cold Water'' (1994) becoming a breakthrough film in his career. It would be his first film to be screened at the
Cannes Film Festival
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 ...
in the
Un Certain Regard
(, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films w ...
section. His follow up film ''
Irma Vep'' (1996) also screened at Cannes, while ''
Sentimental Destinies
''Sentimental Destinies'' (french: Les Destinées sentimentales) is a 2000 French drama film directed by Olivier Assayas. Running from the 1890s to the 1930s, the film tells the story of two wealthy Protestant families in the south-west of Fra ...
'' (2000), ''
Demonlover'' (2002), and ''
Clean'' (2004) all officially competed for the
Palme d'Or. In 2006, he contributed a short film to the
anthology film
An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme ...
''
Paris, je t'aime'' (2006) with fellow directors such as
Alexander Payne
Constantine Alexander Payne (; born February 10, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for the films ''Citizen Ruth'' (1996), ''Election'' (1999), '' About Schmidt'' (2002), '' Sideways'' (2004), '' The D ...
,
Coen Brothers and
Alfonso Cuarón
Alfonso Cuarón Orozco ( , ; born 28 November 1961) is a Mexican filmmaker. He is known for directing films in a variety of genres including the family drama ''A Little Princess'' (1995), the romantic drama ''Great Expectations'' (1998), the c ...
. He gained acclaim with his dramas ''
Summer Hours
''Summer Hours'' (french: L'Heure d'été) is a 2008 French drama film written and directed by Olivier Assayas. It is the second in a series of films produced by the Musée d'Orsay, after '' Flight of the Red Balloon''. In the film, two brothers ...
'' (2008), ''
Clouds of Sils Maria'' (2014) and ''
Personal Shopper'' (2016); the latter won him the
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director
The Best Director Award (french: Prix de la mise en scène) is an award presented annually at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given for the best achievement in directing and is chosen by the International Jury from the films in the Co ...
. He has also directed the comedy ''
Non-Fiction
Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...
'' (2018) and the spy thriller ''
Wasp Network
The Cuban Five, also known as the Miami Five, are five Cuban intelligence officers (Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González) who were arrested in September 1998 and later convicted in Mi ...
'' (2019).
Life and career
Assayas was born in Paris, France, the son of French director/screenwriter
Raymond Assayas, alias Jacques Rémy (1911–1981). His father was of
Turkish-Jewish origin who had settled in Italy, while his mother,
Catherine de Károlyi, was a fashion designer of
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
Hungarian origin. Assayas started his career in the industry by helping his father. He ghostwrote episodes for TV shows his father was working on when his health failed. In a 2010 interview, Assayas stated that his main political influences when growing up were
Guy Debord
Guy-Ernest Debord (; ; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situation ...
and
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalit ...
. Speaking of the 1968
May uprising
The May Uprising ( hy, Մայիսյան ապստամբություն, translit=Mayisyan apstambutyun) was a coup d'état attempt by the Armenian Bolsheviks that started in Alexandropol (modern-day Gyumri) on May 10, 1920. It was eventually supp ...
to overthrow General de Gaulle, Assayas in the same interview stated: "I was defined by the politics of May '68, but for me May '68 was an anti-totalitarian uprising. People seemed to forget that at the occupied Odéon theater, you had crossed flags-black and red, and I was on the side of the black element."
He made his debut in 1986, after directing some short films and writing for the influential film magazine ''
Cahiers du cinéma''.
Assayas's film ''
Cold Water'' was screened in the
Un Certain Regard
(, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films w ...
section at the
1994 Cannes Film Festival.
His biggest hit to date has been ''
Irma Vep'', starring Hong Kong star
Maggie Cheung
Maggie Cheung Man-yuk (; born 20 September 1964) is a Hong Kong former actress. Raised in Hong Kong and Britain, she started her career after placing second in 1983's Miss Hong Kong Pageant. She achieved critical success in the late 1980s and i ...
, which manages to be a tribute both to French director
Louis Feuillade and to
Hong Kong cinema.
While working at ''
Cahiers du cinéma'', Assayas wrote lovingly about European film directors he admires but also about Asian directors. One of his films, ''HHH: A Portrait of Hou Hsiao-hsien'', is a documentary about Taiwanese filmmaker
Hou Hsiao-hsien.
He married Cheung in 1998. They divorced in 2001, but their relationship remained amicable, and in 2004 Cheung made her film ''
Clean'' with him.
He met actress-director
Mia Hansen-Løve
Mia Hansen-Løve (born 5 February 1981) is a French film director, screenwriter, and former actress. She has won several accolades for her work. Her first feature film, '' All Is Forgiven'', won the Louis Delluc Prize for Best First Film in 2007 ...
when Hansen-Løve, seventeen at the time, starred in Assayas's 1998 feature ''
Late August, Early September
''Late August, Early September'' (french: Fin août, début septembre) is a 1998 French drama film directed by Olivier Assayas and starring Mathieu Amalric.
Plot
Several lovers and friends come to make decisions on how to live their lives, find ...
'', but "
hey
Hey or Hey! may refer to:
Music
* Hey (band), a Polish rock band
Albums
* ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014
* ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980
* ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title ...
didn't get together until
hewas 20".
They separated in 2017.
In 2009 and 2010, Assayas signed two petitions in support of director
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...
, who had been detained while traveling to a film festival in relation to his 1977
sexual abuse charges, which the first petition argued would undermine the tradition of film festivals as a place for works to be shown "freely and safely", and that arresting filmmakers traveling to neutral countries could open the door "for actions of which no-one can know the effects."
He directed and co-wrote the acclaimed 2010 French television miniseries ''
Carlos
Carlos may refer to:
Places
;Canada
* Carlos, Alberta, a locality
;United States
* Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community
* Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County
* Carlos, Minnesota, a small city
* Carlos, West Virginia
;Elsewhere ...
'', about the life of the terrorist
Ilich Ramírez Sánchez. Venezuelan actor
Édgar Ramírez won the
César Award for Most Promising Actor in 2011 for his performance as Carlos.
In April 2011, it was announced that he would be a member of the jury for the main competition at the
2011 Cannes Film Festival
The 64th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition. South ...
.
His 2012 film, ''
Something in the Air'', was selected to compete for the
Golden Lion
The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguis ...
at the
69th Venice International Film Festival.
Assayas won the
Osella for Best Screenplay at Venice.
His 2014 film ''
Clouds of Sils Maria'' was selected to compete for the
Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the
2014 Cannes Film Festival
The 67th Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2014. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the main competition section. The Palme d'Or was awarded to the Turkish film ''Winter Sleep'' directed by Nuri Bil ...
.
''Sils Maria'' won the
Louis Delluc Prize and garnered six
César Award nominations including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. The film won a
César Award for Best Supporting Actress for American actress
Kristen Stewart. In 2016, Assayas won
Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival)
The Best Director Award (french: Prix de la mise en scène) is an award presented annually at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given for the best achievement in directing and is chosen by the International Jury from the films in the Co ...
for ''
Personal Shopper'', which also starred
Kristen Stewart.
In June 2017, it was announced that Assayas would preside over the 2017 70th anniversary
Locarno Film Festival.
Style and influences
In an interview with Nick Pinkerton of ''Reverse Shot'', Assayas talked about his influences:
Assayas participated in the
2012 ''Sight & Sound'' directors' poll, where he listed his ten favorite films as follows: ''
2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''
The Gospel According to St. Matthew'', ''
Ludwig'', ''
A Man Escaped'', ''
Mirror
A mirror or looking glass is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the direction of the im ...
'', ''
Napoléon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
'', ''
Playtime
''Playtime'' (stylized as ''PlayTime'' and also written as ''Play Time'') is a 1967 comedy film directed by Jacques Tati. In the film, Tati again plays Monsieur Hulot, the popular character who had central roles in his earlier films '' Les Vac ...
'', ''
The Rules of the Game'', ''
The Tree of Life'', and ''
Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
''.
Filmography
Film
As a writer only
*''Passage secret'' (1985)
*''
Rendez-vous'' (1985)
*''L'Unique'' (1986)
*''
Scene of the Crime'' (1986)
*''Avril brisé'' (1987)
*''Filha da Mãe'' (1990)
*''
Alice and Martin'' (1998)
*''
Based on a True Story'' (2017) - Co-written with
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...
Television
Short films
Awards and nominations
References
Further reading
* Olivier Assayas, ''A Post-May Adolescence. Letter to Alice Debord'', FilmmuseumSynemaPublikationen Vol. 17, Vienna: SYNEMA - Gesellschaft für Film und Medien, 2012,
* Kent Jones (Ed.), ''Olivier Assayas'', FilmmuseumSynemaPublikationen Vol. 16, Vienna: SYNEMA - Gesellschaft für Film und Medien, 2012,
External links
*
*
*
''New York Times'' article on AssayasBringing Down the House: A Conversation with Olivier Assayas The Notebook, mubi.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Assayas, Olivier
1955 births
Living people
Film directors from Paris
Sorbonne Nouvelle University Paris 3 alumni
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director winners
Georges Delerue Award winners
French people of Greek-Jewish descent
French people of Turkish-Jewish descent
French Sephardi Jews
Mizrahi Jews
French screenwriters
French film critics
Postmodernist filmmakers