Bertrand Bonello (; born 11 September 1968) is a French

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

, screenwriter, producer, composer and actor. His work has been associated with the New French Extremity. He wrote and directed ''Something Organic'' (1998), '' The Pornographer'' (2001), '' Tiresia'' (2003), '' Cindy: The Doll Is Mine'' (2005), '' On War'' (2008), '' House of Tolerance'' (2011), '' Saint Laurent'' (2014), '' Nocturama'' (2016), '' Zombi Child'' (2019), ''

Coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

'' (2022), and '' The Beast'' (2023). He also starred in '' Portrait of the Artist'' (2015), and '' Titane'' (2021). He was nominated for the César Award for Best Director for ''Saint Laurent'', and was named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France in 2015.

Early life

Bonello's background is in

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

, and he started playing the piano at the age of five. Later on he had a band, and then he discovered punk and

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

and switched from classical to

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

. He became interested in films at the age of twelve by watching horror films from directors such as David Cronenberg, Dario Argento, George A. Romero, and Lucio Fulci. He decided to become a director after watching ''

Stranger Than Paradise ''Stranger Than Paradise'' is a 1984 American black-and-white absurdist deadpan comedy film directed, co-written and co-edited by Jim Jarmusch, and starring jazz musician John Lurie, former Sonic Youth drummer-turned-actor Richard Edson, an ...

'' (1984) by Jim Jarmusch. Before working as a director, he worked as a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

on tours and on records for other artists.

Career

His feature directorial debut, ''Something Organic'', was screened in the Panorama section of the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. His second feature film, '' The Pornographer'', won the FIPRESCI prize at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. His third feature film, '' Tiresia'', was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Bonello was a member of the jury of the Cinéfondation & Short Films section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. His 2011 film '' House of Tolerance'', a depiction of daily life in a fin-de-siècle Parisian bordello, premiered In Competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. His 2014 film '' Saint Laurent'', a biopic of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, competed for the in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. It received ten

César Award Cesar or César may refer to: Arts and entertainment * César (film), ''César'' (film), a 1936 French romantic drama * César (film), ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt Places * Cesar, Portugal * Cesar Department, Colombia * Cesar R ...

nominations, including Best Film and Best Director. The film was selected as France's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards. In 2016, Bonello released the thriller '' Nocturama''. Bonello was the president of the jury of the Cinéfondation & Short Films section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. His 2019 film, '' Zombi Child'', was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. His 2022 film ''

'' competed for the Encounters Award at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival and won the FIPRESCI Award at the festival. Bonello's tenth feature film, '' The Beast'', is a sci-fi romantic drama freely inspired by Henry James' 1903 novella '' The Beast in the Jungle''. It had its world premiere in official competition at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival. Bonello owns the production company My New Picture, which has produced all his films since ''On War'' (2008). In April 2023, Love Theme Music released a soundtrack album featuring original music by Bonello that he wrote for his films.

Personal life

Bonello was in a relationship with his frequent collaborator, French-Canadian cinematographer Josée Deshaies, with whom he had a daughter who was born in 2003. Bonello's 2022 film ''

'' was dedicated to and inspired by his daughter. He lives between

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Filmography

As filmmaker

Acting roles

Awards and nominations

Decorations

* Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (2015)

References

External links

*
Bertrand Bonello
on UniFrance
Bertrand Bonello
on AlloCiné
Bertrand Bonello
on Cineuropa {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonello, Bertrand 1968 births Living people French film directors People from Nice French male screenwriters French screenwriters French film producers French composers French male composers French male film actors 21st-century French male actors Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres French-language film directors