Jean-Daniel Pollet (; 1936–2004) was a French
film director and
screenwriter who was most active in the 1960s and 1970s. He was associated with two approaches to filmmaking: comedies which blended burlesque and melancholic elements, and poetic films based on texts by writers such as the French poet
Francis Ponge.
Career
Pollet was born on 20 June 1936 in
La Madeleine, Nord, in France. His film career started in 1958, when he did a short film set in Paris called ''Pourvu qu'on ait l'ivresse''..., in which Pollet filmed the movements of dancers' silhouettes. Pollet built on the images and themes from this first film in many of his later works, by incorporating elements of popular comedies imbued with both
burlesque and melancholic elements. In the early 1960s, Pollet began exploring another approach to filmmaking with the film ''
Méditerranée'', which he made over two years with
Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff (; born 31 March 1939 Friday) is a German film director, screenwriter and producer who has worked in Germany, France and the United States. He was a prominent member of the New German Cinema of the late 1960s and early 1970s ...
. Pollet tried to create a form of poetic film, using texts and commentaries by writers such as
Philippe Sollers,
Jean Thibeaudeau, and
Francis Ponge.
In the 1990s, he was paralyzed after a train accident, and so he filmed his last movies in the areas around his house in the French town of
Cadenet. In 2004, when Pollet realized that his death was approaching, he wrote his last screenplay, ''Jour après jour'', which was finished by
Jean-Paul Fargier. Pollet died at the age of 68 on 9 September 2004 at Cadenet,
Vaucluse
Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.[Line of Sight
The line of sight, also known as visual axis or sightline (also sight line), is an imaginary line between a viewer/observer/ spectator's eye(s) and a subject of interest, or their relative direction. The subject may be any definable object taken ...]
''
*1961: ''Gala''
*1963: ''
Méditerranée''
*1964: ''Bassae''
*1965: ''
Une balle au cœur''
*1965: ''
Paris vu par...'' (segment Rue Saint-Denis)
*1966: ''Les Morutiers''
*1966: ''Le Horla''
*1967: ''Tu imagines Robinson''
*1970: ''Le Maître du temps''
*1971: ''Le Sang''
*1971: ''L'Amour c'est gai, l'amour c'est triste''
*1973: ''L'Ordre''
*1976: ''L'Acrobate''
*1978: ''Pour mémoire (La forge)''
*1986: ''Au Père Lachaise''
*1988: ''Contretemps''
*1991: ''Trois jours en Grèce''
*1994: ''Dieu sait quoi''
*2001: ''Ceux d'en face''
*2006: ''Jour après jour'', terminé par Jean-Paul Fargier
References
External links
*
Films of Ruin and Rapture: In Search of Jean-Daniel Pollet an appreciation by Chris Darke at ''Filmcomment''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollet, Jean-Daniel
1936 births
2004 deaths
French film directors