Louis Guilloux

Writing

Louis Guilloux

Born — Died

1899-01-15 — 1980-10-14

Place of birth

Saint-Brieuc, Côtes-d'Armor, France

Known for

Writing

Credits

5 titles

Louis Guilloux (15 January 1899 – 14 October 1980) was a Breton writer born in Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, where he lived throughout his life. He is known for his Social Realist novels describing working class life and political struggles in the mid-twentieth century. His best-known book is Le Sang noir (Blood Dark), which has been described as a "prefiguration of Sartre's La Nausée." Guilloux's father was a shoemaker and socialist activist, a background that Guilloux describes in his first book La Maison du Peuple (The House of the People), which centres on the struggles of a shoemaker called Quéré as seen through the eyes of his young son. The story describes how Quéré's idealistic political …

Known for

Apostrophes poster
8.5

Apostrophes was a live, weekly, literary, prime-time, talk show on French television created and hosted by Bernard Pivot. It ran for fifteen years (724 episodes) from January 10, 1975, to June 22, 1990, and was one of the most watched shows on French television (around 6 million regular viewers). It was broadcast on Friday nights on the channel France 2 (which was called "Antenne 2" from 1975 to 1992). The hourlong show was devoted to books, authors and literature. The format varied between one-on-one interviews with a single author and open discussions between four or five authors.

Apostrophes

1975

Almayer's Folly poster
10.0

An adaptation of Joseph Conrad's first novel, taking us to the Malaysian mangrove forests against a backdrop of colonial decadence.

Almayer's Folly

1972

Okay, Joe! or the Memoirs of Private Guilloux poster
7.8

In autumn 1944, during the Liberation of Brittany, writer Louis Guilloux worked as an interpreter for the American army. He was a privileged witness to some little-known dramatic aspects of the Liberation: the rapes and murders committed by GIs on French civilians. He also discovered the racism of American military justice. This experience haunted the novelist for thirty years. In 1976, he recounted it in a short novel, "Ok, Joe", which went unnoticed. This film compares his account with the memories of the last witnesses to these forgotten crimes and their punishments.

Okay, Joe! or the Memoirs of Private Guilloux

2023

The Shadow Line poster
6.6

Story of a young, inexperienced ship captain named Marlow, who struggles in solitude during the voyage with disease, insubordinate crew and vagaries of weather.

The Shadow Line

1973

Louis Guilloux, the rebel poster
NR

Louis Guilloux (1899-1980) is one of the great figures of 20th-century literature. Rolland Savidan and Florence Mahé's film accurately retraces the writer's career and his commitments to the century, while emphasizing the significance of his work.

Louis Guilloux, the rebel

2009

Film credits

Series credits

Behind the camera