Writing
Eugène Ionesco
Born 1909-11-26 · Slatina, Romania
Eugène Ionesco (born Eugen Ionescu, 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco instigated a revolution in ideas and techniques of drama, beginning with his "anti play", The Bald Soprano which contributed to the beginnings of what is known as the Theatre of the Absurd, which includes a number of plays that, following the ideas of the philosopher Albert Camus, explore concepts of absurdism. He was made a member of the Académie française in 1970, and was awarded the 1970 Austrian State Prize for European Literature, and the 1973 Jerusalem Prize. Ionesco was born in Slatina, Romania, to a Romanian father belonging to the Orthodox Christian church and a mother of French and Romanian heritage, whose faith was Protestant (the faith into which her father was born and to which her originally Greek Orthodox Christian mother had converted). Eugène was baptized into the Orthodox Christian faith. Many sources cite his birthdate as 1912, this error being due to vanity on the part of Ionesco himself, who wanted the year of his birth to coincide with that of when his idol, Romanian playwright Caragiale, died. He spent most of his childhood in France and, while there, had an experience he claimed affected his perception of the world more significantly than any other. As Deborah B. Gaensbauer describes in Eugène Ionesco Revisited, "Walking in summer sunshine in a white-washed provincial village under an intense blue sky, [Ionesco] was profoundly altered by the light." He was struck very suddenly with a feeling of intense luminosity, the feeling of floating off the ground and an overwhelming feeling of well-being. When he "floated" back to the ground and the "light" left him, he saw that the real world in comparison was full of decay, corruption and meaningless repetitive action. This also coincided with the revelation that death takes everyone in the end. Much of his later work, reflecting this new perception, demonstrates a disgust for the tangible world, a distrust of communication, and the subtle sense that a better world lies just beyond our reach. Echoes of this experience can also be seen in references and themes in many of his important works: characters pining for an unattainable "city of lights" (The Killer, The Chairs) or perceiving a world beyond (A Stroll in the Air); characters granted the ability to fly (A Stroll in the Air, Amédée, Victims of Duty); the banality of the world which often leads to depression (the Bérenger character); ecstatic revelations of beauty within a pessimistic framework (Amédée, The Chairs, the Bérenger character); and the inevitability of death (Exit the King). He returned to Romania with his father and mother in 1925 after his parents divorced. There he attended Saint Sava National College, after which he studied French Literature at the University of Bucharest from 1928 to 1933 and qualified as a teacher of French. While there he met Emil Cioran and Mircea Eliade, and the three became lifelong friends. ... Source: Article "Eugène Ionesco" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Acting credits
4.8Georges Le Roi lives odd jobs and shares his life between two girlfriends. One day, he falls in love with Sophie and records a message of love. The tape is mistakenly broadcast in the company. In the face of success, Sophie founded the company Tell me about love and spread the messages of Georges, who soon became a sex symbol.
Le Roi des cons
1981
5.9Monsieur Tête, an ordinary bureaucrat, rebels against the world and the ideas of the people around him. Because of his marginal behavior, his head is broken, like everyone else.
Monsieur Tête
1959
In his country house, a man lets himself get stuck in a suicidal lethargy. Eugène Ionesco, alone on screen, interprets the character of his short story, during a cinematic experience as a transcription of an existential malaise. The distress of a devastated, dying man waiting for a glimmer of hope. “I did everything wrong. But I'm going to start again. »
Schlamm
1970
This is the story of a meeting between a man and a woman. In a train, an Austrian singer and a French teacher exchange on their past, their character, and fall in love. Their journey is made in music. The opportunity to evoke Georges Brassens, Annabel Buffet, Eugène Ionesco…
Françoise et Udo...
1968
6.0A teenage boy goes looking for his new friend on the hot streets of an eerie city. As the blue night falls, a sensual journey begins. Nature around him becomes exotic and the exotic becomes erotic. In the illuminating dawn, he discovers he’s not like the rest.
When Night Meets Dawn
2021
A documentary about the film, I am Curious-Yellow (1967), and how it made it into the USA and changed film in USA forever by breaking the USA Obscenity Codes.
The Battle for 'I Am Curious-Yellow'
2003
7.0No synopsis available yet.
Lucifer et moi
2009
NRA dreamlike adaptation of the legend of Ariadne and the Minotaur.
Ariane
1974
NRThese tales for children under three years of Eugène Ionesco are illustrated by drawings of children. The presence of the storyteller is preponderant on the screen. The images of his aged face filmed in close-up create a strange atmosphere.
Tales for children under three
1989
9.0An evocation of the work of the playwright and writer Eugène Ionesco through a series of interviews, footage shot in his studio and extracts from his plays.
Eugène Ionesco, voix and silences
1987
Behind the camera
5.9Seven directors each dramatize one of the seven deadly sins in a short film. In "Anger," a domestic argument over a fly in the Sunday soup escalates into nuclear war. In "Sloth," a movie star would rather pay someone to tie his shoe than bend over to do it himself, and he can't be bothered to accept a starlet's sexual favors. In "Gluttony," a peasant family on its way to the funeral of a relative who died from indigestion stops regularly to eat and drink en route, arriving in time to eat some more. In "Greed," a high-class prostitute refunds the price of a cadet's lottery ticket. In "Pride," an unfaithful wife finds reason to reform. And so on through lust and envy.
The Seven Deadly Sins
1962
NRA mysterious herd of rhinos attacks a peaceful town. The surprised townsfolk initially try to ignore the threat, but their fear for their fate intensifies and causes them to voluntarily become rhinos. A young man named Bérenger tries his best to protect his close friends and his lover from joining the rhino herd, but is it possible to remain human in a time of extreme threat? And at what cost?
Rhinocéros
2025
5.9Monsieur Tête, an ordinary bureaucrat, rebels against the world and the ideas of the people around him. Because of his marginal behavior, his head is broken, like everyone else.
Monsieur Tête
1959
NRElderly couple, in their 90s, live in a lighthouse where the old man is a janitor. Isolated and with no visitors, they decide that on that day the old man will finally make an announcement that will change humanity or at least what is left of it.
As Cadeiras
2022
10.0No synopsis available yet.
Amédée ou comment s'en débarrasser
1968
NRAnger seizes a man who finds a fly in his Sunday soup. It spreads through his neighborhood, his city, his country and soon the whole world. (Segment of "Les sept péchés capitaux")
La Colère
1962
NRThe professor gives his student a lesson, during which the relationship between them gradually changes.
Replacing Dogs with Mixing
1993
Josette knocks on her parents' bedroom door. It seems daddy is in a bad mood. Mama has moved to the country for a couple of days and there's a strange tension in the air. Josette wants to play, but daddy has got to get up and dress for work. Based on a short story by Eugène Ionesco.
Josette and her Daddy
2010