115th Anniversary of Henri-Georges Clouzot
On November 20, 1907, in the city of Niort, the capital of the French department of Deux-Sèvres (région Nouvelle-Aquitaine), the first child was born in the family of Georges and Suzanne Clouzot - a son, who was named Henri-Georges Léon. Georges Clouzot owned a bookstore, but by 1922 his shop went bankrupt, in connection with which the Clouzot family moved to Brest. There, 15-year-old Henri-Georges tried to enter the Naval School in order to become, like his grandfather, a naval officer. However, severe myopia of the left eye did not allow him to pass the medical examination. Therefore, Henri-Georges had to enter the mathematical department of the Lycée Sainte-Barbe in Paris. After graduating from Lycée, Henri-Georges Clouzot entered the l'École libre des sciences politiques (Free School of Political Science), now known as Sciences Po. The education received at the Free School of Political Sciences allowed Henri-Georges to become an assistant to the French parliamentarian Louis Marin, as well as a member of the editorial boards of two Parisian newspapers: Paris-Midi and Paris-Soir.
Working in mass media, Henri-Georges Clouzot began to try his hand at literature. First as a songwriter, then as a playwright. Some of the lyrics of Henri-Georges fell in love with the famous chansonnier Maurice Chevalier, and he hired Clouzot as his secretary. Thanks to the work with Maurice Chevalier, Henri-Georges Clouzot was able to make acquaintances with many figures of French culture, in particular with the famous film producer Adolphe Osso. Two years after starting work with Chevalier, Adolphe Osso invited Clouzot to become his representative at the German film studio Babelsberg. There, Henri-Georges translated scripts and plays into French. In parallel, Clouzot wrote his own plays and film scripts and gradually mastered the profession of a director. During the period from 1931 to 1940, Henri-Georges Clouzot wrote independently or took part in the creation (translation, dialogues, etc.) of 19 film scripts, and also directed one short film and co-directed two feature films.
After 1940, when the majority of French directors emigrated to the United States due to the beginning of the Nazi occupation, Henri-Georges Clouzot, who had extensive experience working at a German film studio, opened up wide opportunities for the realization of his directorial abilities. In 1942, his first independent full-length feature film "L'assassin habite... au 21 (The Murderer Lives at Number 21)" was released on the screens of French cinemas. This and Clouzot's next film, "Le corbeau (The Raven)" (1943), cemented Henri-Georges Clouzot's reputation as a master of the crime genre. After the release of his films "Le salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear)" (1953) and "Les diaboliques" (1954), Clouzot became known as the "French Hitchcock". And not without reason, since Hitchcock himself seriously feared that Clouzot would surpass him in the skill of producing thrillers. Perhaps this would have happened ... But in December 1960, shortly after the release of the film "La vérité (The Truth)", Henri-Georges' beloved wife, Vera Clouzot, suddenly died of a heart attack. Vera's death was a real shock to Henri-Georges Clouzot. Although he married a second time in 1961, for the 16 years allotted to him by fate after the death of Vera, he was able to make only one film. In January 1977, Henri-Georges Clouzot died.
In total, during his life, Henri-Georges Clouzot made 11 full-length feature films on his own. He shot two more films together with other directors. Of the 11 films of Clouzot, 4 films were included in the Golden Thousand, including "La vérité (The Truth)", "Le salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear)", "Les diaboliques", "Le corbeau (The Raven)". Thanks to this indicator, Henri-Georges Clouzot is included in the list of the 100 greatest directors of world cinema, compiled by FilmGourmand. Cinematographic activity of Henri-Georges Clouzot brought him 12 film awards, including such prestigious awards as two Golden Lions of the Venice International Film Festival, the Palme d'Or and the Special Jury Prize of the Cannes International Film Festival, the Golden Bear of the Berlin International Film Festival, the award of the International Film Festival in Mar del Plata.
Today, in honor of the 115th anniversary of the birth of the great Master, I want to remind the fans of his work the frames from his best films included in the Golden Thousand.
