General French News | French film industry mourns loss of iconic director

The world of French cinema has been paying tribute to one of its best-loved and most influential directors, Claude Chabrol, who died on Sunday at the age of 80.
Chabrol was a founding father of French cinema's New Wave movement in the 1950s and 60s, and was considered by many as a master of the suspense thriller genre.

His work drew many comparisons with Alfred Hitchcock for its simmering tension and frequent sense of impending violence, and Chabrol often used his films to scrutinise the French middle-class.

Chabrol made more than 50 films in a fruitful career that spanned almost six decades, with The Unfaithful Wife, The Butcher and This Man Must Die among his most popular works.

His film Les Cousins won the Golden Bear at the 1959 Berlin film festival, and he was awarded the festival's Golden Camera prize last year to honour his contributions to filmmaking.

Britons currently enjoying French holidays around the country are sure to be aware of Chabrol's passing, as tributes for the prolific film-maker continue to flood in to the local and national press.

Gerard Depardieu, who starred in Chabrol's final film, Bellamy, has led the tributes to the cinema great. 'Claude was joie de vivre itself. I cannot bring myself to believe he has gone,' The Guardian quoted him as saying.

The French government has also paid tribute to Chabrol. According to BBC News, president Nicolas Sarkozy described him as a 'great author and great film-maker,' while Prime Minister Francois Fillon said that France had lost 'one of its maestros.'

Author: Joseph Jeffries

Posted on: 13/09/2010