BERTRAND TAVERNIER

(25 April 1941 - 25 March 2021)

Bertrand Tavernier was one of the most outstanding directors France ever produced, covering all kinds of genres and always with a certain humanity. Born in Lyon to a literary family, he defied his parents by not taking up law. He began writing about the cinema and, encouraged by Claude Sautet and Jean-Pierre Melville, became a press agent for several directors. In 1964 he co-directed the portmanteau films Les baisers and Chance at Love. He also wrote for other directors until his own first feature in 1974, The Watchmaker of St Paul, from the novel by Georges Simenon, with Philippe Noiret and Jean Rochefort. The films that followed included Let Joy Reign Supreme, again with Noiret and Rochefort, The Judge and the Assassin with Noiret, Spoiled Children with Michel Piccoli and Death Watch with Romy Schneider and Max Von Sydow. Tavernier, who has died at the age of 79, was an avid fan of US cinema, citing John Ford and William Wellman as his influences, along with the French directors Jean Renoir, Jean Vigo and Jacques Becker. He directed 40 films including Coup de Torchon, from Jim Thompson’s novel Pop, A Sunday in the Country with Michel Aumont, Béatrice with Julie Delpy, Life and Nothing But with Noiret again, and These Foolish Things with Dirk Bogarde and Jane Birkin. ‘Round Midnight was shot in both Paris and New York, with jazz saxophonist Dexter Gordon. It won an Oscar for Herbie Hancock’s score. Tavernier continued to work on films but from the 1990s they didn’t necessarily enjoy very wide releases. His last work was an epic TV series, Journeys Through French Cinema, in 2017. He won and was nominated for many international prizes including four French César Awards. Bertrand Tavernier was married to the screenwriter Claudine O’Hagan and they have a son, the actor and director Nils Tavernier, and a daughter, the writer and director Tiffany Tavernier.

MICHAEL DARVELL