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Claude Berri

Claude Berri

Production · 1934 – 2009 · Paris, France

Claude Berri (1 July 1934 – 12 January 2009) was a French film director, producer, screenwriter, distributor and actor. Berri was a leading figure of the French film industry both a director and as a producer. Following a short film that won an Academy Award, Berri achieved success with his first feature film, The Two of Us (1967). He then had a varied career, producing and distributing both mainstream and avant-garde films. During the 1970s, Berri's films as a director were mostly comedies but he later found increased success with several high-profile literary adaptations. In 1986, his two-part film Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring won public and critical acclaim, becoming his best-known work. He next directed Uranus (1990) and most notably Germinal (1993). In 1997, he directed the historical biopic Lucie Aubrac. Directors whose films were produced by Berri include Roman Polanski, Jacques Demy, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Claude Sautet, Miloš Forman, Claude Zidi, Jacques Rivette, Patrice Chéreau, Alain Chabat, Abdellatif Kechiche and Dany Boon. Born Claude Beri Langmann in Paris, Berri was the son of Jewish immigrant parents. His mother, Beila (née Bercu), was from Romania, and his father, Hirsch Langmann, was a furrier from Poland. In 1943, during the Nazi occupation of France, Berri's parents entrusted him for his safety to a family in the countryside. He spent the rest of the occupation being fostered by "an antisemitic couple" who were unaware that he was Jewish. His sister, screenwriter and editor Arlette Langmann, was born after the war. Berri's original vocation was to be an actor. He began a career in the early 1950s but struggled to find roles, which prompted him to turn to directing and eventually producing. In 1965, he gained notice for The Chicken, which won the Award for best short film at the 38th Academy Awards. In 1967, Berri directed The Two of Us (Le Vieil homme et l'enfant), a partially autobiographical film that told the story of a Jewish child, entrusted during World War II to a benevolent and antisemitic old farmer who remains unaware that the boy he is caring for is a Jew. The film was a great success in France and abroad. Berri also adapted the story into a novel, released the same year as the film. During the years that followed, Berri became active as a producer and film distributor while continuing to direct his own films. Also in 1967, with his associate (later brother-in-law) Jean-Pierre Rassam, Berri bought the international distribution rights for Miloš Forman's The Firemen's Ball which was a great success and was nominated to the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Berri's company, Renn Productions, which he had founded to produce The Two of Us, gradually became a major player in the French film industry. ... Source: Article "Claude Berri" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Movies23

  • Movie7.4

    Astérix & Obélix : Mission Cléopâtre

    Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra

    2002 · 3.8K votes

  • Movie7.6

    La Vérité

    The Truth

    1960 · 214 votes

  • Movie5.7

    L'Homme blessé

    The Wounded Man

    1983 · 39 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d'enfants

    Happily Ever After

    2004 · 123 votes

  • Movie3.6

    La Débandade

    Hard Off

    1999 · 10 votes

  • Movie5.1

    La Bride sur le cou

    Please, Not Now!

    1961 · 36 votes

  • Movie6.1

    Didier

    1997 · 667 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Les Sept Péchés capitaux

    The Seven Deadly Sins

    1962 · 21 votes

  • Movie5.2

    Les Clefs de bagnole

    The Car Keys

    2003 · 89 votes

  • Movie6.3

    La Ligne de démarcation

    Line of Demarcation

    1966 · 40 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Les Trois Frères

    The Three Brothers

    1995 · 828 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Va savoir

    Va Savoir (Who Knows?)

    2001 · 33 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Behold a Pale Horse

    1964 · 43 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Zazie dans le métro

    1960 · 191 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Germinal

    1993 · 349 votes

  • Movie7.2

    French Cancan

    1955 · 110 votes

  • Movie6.9

    Compartiment tueurs

    The Sleeping Car Murders

    1965 · 104 votes

  • Movie5.3

    J'irai cracher sur vos tombes

    I Spit on Your Grave

    1959 · 13 votes

  • Movie6.6
  • Movie6.0

    Le Pistonné

    The Man with Connections

    1970 · 16 votes

  • Movie4.8

    Le Roi des cons

    1981 · 11 votes

  • Movie8.0
  • Movie5.3

    La Machine

    The Machine

    1994 · 20 votes

Series9

  • TV5.7

    Sacrée soirée

    1987 · 5 votes

  • TV3.6

    Vivement dimanche

    1998 · 9 votes

  • TV9.5

    Spécial cinéma

    1974 · 2 votes

  • TV9.0

    Midi Première

    1975 · 2 votes

  • TV8.0

    Le Grand Échiquier

    1972 · 3 votes

  • TV5.0

    Ciné regards

    1978 · 1 votes

  • TV6.1

    Nulle part ailleurs

    1987 · 8 votes

  • TV8.6

    Les Nuls, l'émission

    1990 · 6 votes

  • TV