The Nonentity
Consisting of prints preserved in our collections, this cycle pays tribute to the French filmmaker Michel Deville, who died earlier this year. A contemporary of the New Wave, he nevertheless evolved in parallel with it, giving free rein to his own desires and intuitions for cinema. He made directing a game, putting stylistic effects and formal gambles at the service of stories that are fragments of humanity, touching on all genres to better capture the eroticism, pretenses and ambiguities that underlie the interactions between people.
In a bar on the quays of a port, the paltoquet is both the handyman and the lover of the landlady. Four men, a journalist, a doctor, a shopkeeper and a professor meet there every night to play bridge. One evening, a police commissioner arrives to investigate the murder of a salesman.
Michel Deville
Michel Deville (April 13, 1931 - February 16, 2023) grew up in Boulogne-Billancourt, where he lived all his life. He entered the world of cinema as an assistant, notably with Henri Decoin. In 1961, he created his own production company, Éléfilm, to finance his first solo film, Ce soir ou jamais. His next films, Adorable Menteuse, À cause, à cause d'une femme and even Lucky Jo, cut through the cinematographic production of the time with their poetic-humorous tone and were well received by critics and the general public alike. In 1970, he became one of the administrators of the production company of his friend, critic, filmmaker and novelist Michel Mardore, Nadja films, until 2000, when it closed. He first collaborates with Nina Companeez who signs the screenplay of all his films from 1961 to 1971. From Péril en la demeure (1984), he works with his wife, Rosalinde Damamme, who co-writes and produces most of his films including Le Paltoquet in 1986.
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Michel Deville : les règles du jeu du cinéma
En 2008, Michel Deville évoquait sa carrière avec Michel Ciment dans le studio de Projection privée pour parler de sa carrière, de ses premiers pas avec une caméra jusqu’à sa vision du cinéma qu’il considère comme un jeu et sa patte créative omniprésente dans chacun de ses films.
