Jean-Pierre Léaud, ComM (; born 28 May 1944) is a French actor best known for being an important figure of the

French New Wave The New Wave (, ), also called the French New Wave, is a French European art cinema, art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentat ...

and his portrayal of Antoine Doinel in a series of films by

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a ...

, beginning with '' The 400 Blows'' (1959). He has worked with

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...

, Agnès Varda, and

Jacques Rivette Jacques Rivette (; 1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine '' Cahiers du Cinéma''. He made twenty-nine films, including '' L'Amour fo ...

, as well as other notable directors such as

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, film director, writer, actor and playwright. He is considered one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history, influential both as an artist ...

, Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat,

Jerzy Skolimowski Jerzy Skolimowski (; born 5 May 1938) is a Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist, actor and painter. Beginning as a screenwriter for Andrzej Wajda's ''Innocent Sorcerers'' (1960), Skolimowski has made more than twenty films since his dire ...

, and Aki Kaurismäki.

Early life

Born in Paris, Léaud made his major debut as an actor at the age of 14 as Antoine Doinel, a semi-autobiographical character based on the life events of 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 ...

, in '' The 400 Blows''. To cast the two central characters, Antoine Doinel and his partner-in-crime René Bigey, Truffaut published an announcement in '' France-Soir'' and auditioned several hundred children in September and October 1958. Jean Domarchi, a critic at '' Cahiers du cinéma'', had earlier recommended the son of an assistant scriptwriter, Pierre Léaud, and the actress Jacqueline Pierreux. Patrick Auffay was cast as René. Truffaut was immediately captivated by the fourteen-year-old Léaud, who had already appeared with Jean Marais in Georges Lampin's '' La Tour, prends garde !'' (1958). He recognized traits they both shared, "for example a certain suffering with regard to the family...With, however, this fundamental difference: though we were both rebels, we hadn't expressed our rebellion in the same way. I preferred to cover up and lie. Jean-Pierre, on the contrary, seeks to hurt, shock and wants it to be known...Why? Because he's unruly, while I was sly. Because his excitability requires that things happen to him, and when they don't occur quickly enough, he provokes them". In his final interview, Truffaut mentioned he was happy with how Léaud improvised within the flexibly written script. Jean-Pierre Léaud, then in the eighth grade at a private school in Pontigny, was a far from ideal student. The director of the school wrote this to Truffaut, "I regret to inform you that Jean-Pierre is more and more 'unmanageable'. Indifference, arrogance, permanent defiance, lack of discipline in all its forms. He has twice been caught leafing through pornographic pictures in the dorm. He is developing more and more into an emotionally disturbed case". But this unstable boy, who often ran away with the older students on their nights out, could also be brilliant, generous, and affectionate. Extremely cultured for his age, he was already very good at writing, and he even claimed to Truffaut that he had written a "verse tragedy", ''Torquatus''.

Truffaut's influence from adolescence into adulthood

Throughout the production of '' The 400 Blows'' (''Les Quatre Cents Coups'', 1959), wrote Jay Carr, "Truffaut would take Léaud to see rushes of Godard's '' Breathless'' each evening. They'd sit up late talking film with Godard, Rivette, Rohmer, Eustache, Orson Welles." Upon the filmmaker's death, the actor reminisced Truffaut was the first person he admired and that he "spoke to children like they were adults. He realized that children understood things better than adults did. He was purely intuitive. We operated in a sort of complicity." During and following the filming of ''The 400 Blows'', Truffaut's concern for Léaud extended beyond the film set. He took charge of the difficult adolescent's upbringing after Léaud was expelled from school and kicked out of the home of the retired couple taking care of him. Truffaut subsequently rented a studio apartment for Léaud. Truffaut also hired him for assistant work on '' The Soft Skin'' (''La peau douce'', 1964) and '' Mata Hari, Agent H21'' (1964).

Acting career

Léaud starred in four more Truffaut films depicting the life of Doinel, spanning a period of 20 years—after the short-film '' Antoine et Colette'' in 1962—beside actress Claude Jade as his girlfriend, and then wife, Christine. Those films are '' Stolen Kisses'' (1968), '' Bed and Board'' (1970) and '' Love on the Run'' (1979). Truffaut stated that Léaud was the source of inspiration for the Antoine Doinel character and "I created some scenes just because I knew he would be funny in them—at least I laughed during the writing as I thought of him." He also collaborated with Truffaut on non-Antoine Doinel films like '' Two English Girls'' (''Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent'', 1971) and '' Day for Night'' (''La Nuit américaine'', 1973) and became the actor most commonly affiliated with him. Although Antoine Doinel is his most familiar character, he often found his performances in other films to be compared to his Doinel character whether there were legitimate similarities or not. Léaud is one of the most visible and well-known actors to be associated with the

film movement and, aside from his work with Truffaut, collaborated with

(nine films), Jean Eustache,

and Agnès Varda. The early 1970s was perhaps the peak of his professional career when he had three critically acclaimed films released: Bertolucci's '' Last Tango in Paris'' (1972), Truffaut's ''

La Nuit américaine ''Day for Night'' () is a 1973 Romance film, romantic comedy-drama film co-written and directed by François Truffaut. The metafictional and self-reflexive film chronicles the troubled production of a melodrama, and the various personal and prof ...

'', and Eustache's '' The Mother and the Whore'' (both 1973). In the Bertolucci film, Léaud appeared in the same film as a hero of his,

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century,''Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia''

, although the two men never met, since all of Léaud's scenes were shot on Saturdays and Brando refused to work on Saturdays. In March 1966, Léaud won the

Silver Bear for Best Actor The Silver Bear for Best Actor () was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and was chosen by the International Jury from the films i ...

at the 16th Berlin International Film Festival for his role in

's '' Masculin, féminin''. He was nominated for a

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 ...

for Best Supporting Actor in 1988 for Les Keufs and was awarded an

Honorary César The César Award is France's national film award. Recipients are selected by the members of the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of ...

for lifetime achievement in 2000. Léaud acted in films by other influential directors, such as

, Aki Kaurismäki,

Olivier Assayas Olivier Assayas (; born 25 January 1955) is a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. Assayas is known for his eclectic filmography, consisting of slow-burning Period Piece Films, period pieces, psychological thrillers, neo-noirs, an ...

Tsai Ming-liang Tsai Ming-liang (; born 27 October 1957) is a Malaysian filmmaker based in Taiwan. Tsai has written and directed 11 feature films, many short films, and television films. He is one of the most celebrated "Second New Wave" film directors of T ...

Bertrand Bonello Bertrand Bonello (; born 11 September 1968) is a French film director, screenwriter, producer, composer and actor. His work has been associated with the New French Extremity. He wrote and directed ''Something Organic'' (1998), '' The Pornographe ...

and Albert Serra.

Personal life

He is married to the French actress Brigitte Duvivier.

Honours and awards

Awards

* (1961) Nominated for the BAFTA Film Award for being the "Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles" for his role in '' The 400 Blows'' (1959). * (1966) Won the

at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

for his role in '' Masculin Féminin''. * (1987) Nominated for César Award for Best Supporting Actor at the

César Awards The César Award is the national film award of France. It is delivered in the ' ceremony and was first awarded in 1976. The nominations are selected by the members of twelve categories of filmmaking professionals and supported by the French Min ...

for his role in the film '' Les keufs''. * (1996) Won "Best Actor" at the Thessaloniki Film Festival for his role in ' * (2000) Received the

at the

. * (2001) Shared the FIPRESCI Prize with

for his role in '' The Pornographer''. * (2016) Received the Honorary Palme d'Or at the

2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival took place from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian filmmaker George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and ...

* (2017) Won the

Lumière Award for Best Actor The Lumière Award for Best Actor () is an annual award presented by the Académie des Lumières since 1996. Winners and nominees Winners are listed first with a blue background, followed by the other nominees. 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s T ...

for his role in '' The Death of Louis XIV''.

Honours

Commander of the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

, Portugal (12 January 2017)

Selected filmography

References

External links

*
Biography on newwavefilm.com
*
List of honors and awards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leaud, Jean-Pierre 1944 births Living people 20th-century French male actors 21st-century French male actors Male actors from Paris French male film actors French male child actors César Honorary Award recipients Best Actor Lumières Award winners Silver Bear for Best Actor winners