Bertrand Tavernier

Directing

Bertrand Tavernier

Born 1941-04-25 · Lyon, Rhône, France

Bertrand Tavernier was a French director, screenwriter, producer and writer, born on April 25, 1941 in Lyon, and died on March 25, 2021 in Sainte-Maxime (Var). Son of the writer and resistance fighter from Lyon, René Tavernier, he was first an assistant director, press officer (notably for Stanley Kubrick) and critic before moving on to directing with The Watchmaker of Saint-Paul, his first critical success, which led to a long collaboration with the actor Philippe Noiret (Let the Party Begin..., The Judge and the Assassin, Coup de torchon, Life and Nothing But, The Daughter of d'Artagnan). Eclectic, he tackled several cinematographic genres, from the dramatic comedy (A Sunday in the Country, Daddy Nostalgia) to the war film (Captain Conan) through the historical film (Pass, The Princess of Montpensier) or the thriller (L.627, The Bait). Several of his films have won awards, in France and abroad (including Autour de minuit which won an Oscar and was nominated for a Golden Globe). He was president of the Lumière Institute from 1982, the year the Institute was created, until his death. He is the father of director and actor Nils Tavernier and novelist Tiffany Tavernier.

Acting credits

A Sunday in the Country poster
6.9

In France, before WWI. As every Sunday, an old painter living in the country is visited by his son Gonzague, coming with his wife and his three children. Then his daugther Irene arrives. She is always in a hurry, she lives alone and does not come so often... An intimist chronicle in which what is not shown, what is guessed, is more important than how it looks, dealing with what each character expects of life.

A Sunday in the Country

1984

Lumière, Le Cinéma! poster
7.0

In one of those wonderful coincidences of history, lumière, the French word for “light,” was also the last name of brothers Auguste and Louis, whose brilliant invention, the cinematograph, helped to inaugurate the most beloved art form of the last 130 years. Institute Lumière director Thierry Frémaux uses Lumière, Le Cinema! to guide the viewer through over a hundred shorts—some famous, some forgotten, some never before seen—directed by Lumière and company. In the process, Frémaux illuminates how the brothers employed the camera as a creative instrument as they (and their operators) mastered framing, staging, and subject selection for quotidian and exotic microdocumentaries as well as the first ever fictional motion pictures. The result is not only a glorious re(telling) of the genesis of cinema but a profound meditation on the beautiful world captured—and the mysterious world imagined—by the Lumières.

Lumière, Le Cinéma!

2024

Daddy Nostalgia poster
7.2

A half English, half French screenwriter visits her parents on the Riviera after her father's heart surgery. Once there, she begins to connect with him in a way she never did before, as each member of the family tries to cope with his imminent death.

Daddy Nostalgia

1990

Michael Powell poster
NR

The first episode of a new arts documentary program from BBC Scotland was dedicated to Michael Powell in his centenary year. The program interviews many people who knew or worked with him or were influenced by his work.

Michael Powell

2005

Filmmakers in Action poster
7.2

What is the state of cinema and what being a filmmaker means? What are the measures taken to protect authors' copyright? What is their legal status in different countries? (Sequel to “Filmmakers vs. Tycoons.”)

Filmmakers in Action

2006

Eddy Mitchell, itinéraires poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Eddy Mitchell, itinéraires

2016

François Truffaut: Stolen Portraits poster
5.6

Twenty-six people - including two daughters, an ex-wife, his last lover, actors, fellow directors and writers, a neighbor, and boyhood friends - talk about François Truffaut. They discuss his attitudes toward wealth, his early writings about cinema, the undercurrent of violence in his films and his personality, the way he used and altered events in his life when making films, his search for a father (both artistic and biological), his relationship with his mother, the scenes in his films that cause a squirm of embarrassment, and his ultimate mysticism. Clips from a dozen of his films are included.

François Truffaut: Stolen Portraits

1993

Jean Aurenche, écrivain de cinéma poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Jean Aurenche, écrivain de cinéma

2010

The French Minister poster
6.0

Alexandre Taillard de Vorms is a force to be reckoned with. With his silver mane and tanned, athletic body, he stalks the world stage as Minister of Foreign Affairs for France, waging his own war backed up by the holy trinity of diplomatic concepts: legitimacy, lucidity, and efficacy. Enter Arthur Vlaminck. Hired to write the minister's speeches, Arthur must contend with the sensibilities of his boss and the dirty dealings within the Quai d'Orsay, the ministry's home.

The French Minister

2013

The Bakery Girl of Monceau poster
6.9

Early new wave effort from Rohmer, which was the first of his six moral tales. It concerns a young man who approaches a girl in the street, but after several days without seeing her again, he becomes involved with the girl in the local bakery. Eventually, he has to choose between them when he arranges dates with them on the same day.

The Bakery Girl of Monceau

1963

The World of Jacques Demy poster
6.9

Agnès Varda's documentary portrait of her late husband, Jacques Demy. A companion piece to her Jacquot de Nantes.

The World of Jacques Demy

1995

Don't Touch the White Woman! poster
5.5

A highly stylized surreal farce about the events leading up to Custer's Last Stand anachronistically reenacted in an urban renewal area in modern Paris.

Don't Touch the White Woman!

1974

Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows poster
7.3

Hollywood careers are full of make-or-break moments. For Clint Eastwood, one such moment came when studio powers agreed to let him make his directing debut. That story and others comprise this portrait of the famed Hollywood icon. His career is explored via an array of film clips, interviews and more.

Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows

2000

Pictures of Europe poster
NR

What makes European cinema so special? Find out in Paul Joyce’s feature-length documentary, Pictures of Europe, which examines the differences between American independent and Hollywood movies and films from European directors. Featuring luminary iconoclasts from European cinema such as Agnes Varda, Bernardo Bertolucci and Pedro Almodovar, as well as American counterpoints from Paul Schrader, and those who have crossed back and forth, such as Paul Verhoeven

Pictures of Europe

1990

Seuls sont les indomptés poster
8.0

Created in 1966 by Jean-Marie Rodon and Jean-Max Causse, the Action cinemas has succeeded in establishing itself as the leading group for the distribution of classic cinema in the world.

Seuls sont les indomptés

2003

Jean-Pierre Melville and Army of Shadows poster
5.0

In this documentary, produced by Philippe Quinconneau for StudioCanal, editor Françoise Bonnot, actor Jean-Pierre Cassel, composer Éric Demarsan, writer and filmmaker Philippe Labro, cinematographer Pierre Lhomme, and filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier share insights and anecdotes about Jean-Pierre Melville's 1969 film ARMY OF SHADOWS.

Jean-Pierre Melville and Army of Shadows

2002

Jean Renoir: Part One - From La Belle Époque to World War II poster
8.5

Part one of a BBC documentary about Jean Renoir.

Jean Renoir: Part One - From La Belle Époque to World War II

1993

Michel Legrand, sans demi-mesure poster
9.0

This documentary recounts the life of the late composer Michel Legrand, known for his works on Les Parapluies de Cherbourg or Les Demoiselles De Rochefort with the famous director Jacques Demy.

Michel Legrand, sans demi-mesure

2018

Romy Schneider, à fleur de peau poster
NR

The life and the films , not excluding the reference to Domage qu elle soit une putain, of Romy Scheiner recreated grace words of people who knows her in different circumstances.

Romy Schneider, à fleur de peau

2014

The Other Side of the Tracks poster
8.0

The first part of a documentary made by Bertrand and Nils Tavernier, following a letter judged provocative by the Minister of Integration at the time, who spent several months in the Grands Pêchers housing estate in Montreuil, giving voice to its inhabitants. The problems of unemployment, racism, integration and delinquency are addressed.

The Other Side of the Tracks

1997

Code Name: Melville poster
6.7

Mixing interviews, rare archival footage and film extracts, the film shows how Melville's works were impacted by what he experienced in his youth during WWII, and how it structured his whole approach to cinema, not only in its thematic but also in its aesthetics.

Code Name: Melville

2010

Jean Rochefort, l'irrésistible poster
7.4

If Jean Rochefort remains so dear to our hearts, it is because this extraordinary actor alone embodies a cinema and a France imbued with freedom and carelessness. Through his films, archives and the testimony of those close to him, we discover a complex man, a sad clown saved by his taste for words and for fun.

Jean Rochefort, l'irrésistible

2020

Claude Sautet or the Invisible Magic poster
8.0

Thanks to a series of unpublished interviews, recorded shortly before his death, director Claude Sautet gives us a fascinating lesson in cinema. Through his thirteen films, he tells about his career and his work as a director.

Claude Sautet or the Invisible Magic

2003

Boia, maschere e segreti: l’horror italiano degli anni sessanta poster
7.3

No synopsis available yet.

Boia, maschere e segreti: l’horror italiano degli anni sessanta

2019

Behind the camera

In the Electric Mist poster
6.1

Lt. Dave Robicheaux, a detective in New Iberia, Louisiana, is trying to link the murder of a local hooker to New Orleans mobster Julie 'Baby Feet' Balboni, who is co-producer of a Civil War film. When the star of the film, Elrod Sykes, reports finding another corpse in the Atchafalaya Swamp near the movie set, Robicheaux starts another investigation, believing the corpse to be the remains of a black man whose murder he witnessed 35 years earlier.

In the Electric Mist

2009

'Round Midnight poster
7.1

Inside the Blue Note nightclub one night in 1959 Paris, an aged, ailing jazzman coaxes an eloquent wail from his tenor sax. Outside, a young Parisian too broke to buy a glass of wine strains to hear those notes. Soon they will form a friendship that sparks a final burst of genius.

'Round Midnight

1986

'Round Midnight poster
7.1

Inside the Blue Note nightclub one night in 1959 Paris, an aged, ailing jazzman coaxes an eloquent wail from his tenor sax. Outside, a young Parisian too broke to buy a glass of wine strains to hear those notes. Soon they will form a friendship that sparks a final burst of genius.

'Round Midnight

1986

A Sunday in the Country poster
6.9

In France, before WWI. As every Sunday, an old painter living in the country is visited by his son Gonzague, coming with his wife and his three children. Then his daugther Irene arrives. She is always in a hurry, she lives alone and does not come so often... An intimist chronicle in which what is not shown, what is guessed, is more important than how it looks, dealing with what each character expects of life.

A Sunday in the Country

1984

A Sunday in the Country poster
6.9

In France, before WWI. As every Sunday, an old painter living in the country is visited by his son Gonzague, coming with his wife and his three children. Then his daugther Irene arrives. She is always in a hurry, she lives alone and does not come so often... An intimist chronicle in which what is not shown, what is guessed, is more important than how it looks, dealing with what each character expects of life.

A Sunday in the Country

1984

A Sunday in the Country poster
6.9

In France, before WWI. As every Sunday, an old painter living in the country is visited by his son Gonzague, coming with his wife and his three children. Then his daugther Irene arrives. She is always in a hurry, she lives alone and does not come so often... An intimist chronicle in which what is not shown, what is guessed, is more important than how it looks, dealing with what each character expects of life.

A Sunday in the Country

1984

A Week's Vacation poster
6.1

On the verge of an emotional collapse, schoolteacher Laurence takes a week off from work to figure out her life. She reconnects with friends and family and wrestles with everything from whether she should continue her job to whether she should have a child with her boyfriend.

A Week's Vacation

1980

A Week's Vacation poster
6.1

On the verge of an emotional collapse, schoolteacher Laurence takes a week off from work to figure out her life. She reconnects with friends and family and wrestles with everything from whether she should continue her job to whether she should have a child with her boyfriend.

A Week's Vacation

1980

A Week's Vacation poster
6.1

On the verge of an emotional collapse, schoolteacher Laurence takes a week off from work to figure out her life. She reconnects with friends and family and wrestles with everything from whether she should continue her job to whether she should have a child with her boyfriend.

A Week's Vacation

1980

The Princess of Montpensier poster
6.3

Set in the high courts of 16th Century France, where the wars of religion between Catholics and Protestants are raging. Marie de Mézières, a beautiful young aristocrat, is in love with Henri de Guise, but her hand in marriage is promised to the Prince of Montpensier.

The Princess of Montpensier

2010

The Princess of Montpensier poster
6.3

Set in the high courts of 16th Century France, where the wars of religion between Catholics and Protestants are raging. Marie de Mézières, a beautiful young aristocrat, is in love with Henri de Guise, but her hand in marriage is promised to the Prince of Montpensier.

The Princess of Montpensier

2010

Coup de Torchon poster
7.0

A pathetic police chief, humiliated by everyone around him, suddenly wants a clean slate in life, and resorts to drastic means to achieve it.

Coup de Torchon

1981

Coup de Torchon poster
7.0

A pathetic police chief, humiliated by everyone around him, suddenly wants a clean slate in life, and resorts to drastic means to achieve it.

Coup de Torchon

1981

Spoiled Children poster
6.2

Successful writer/director Bernard Rougerie is at a creative dead end and decides to isolate himself from his wife in order to complete the script for his next film. Bernard moves into an apartment building whose tenants are in the midst of a revolt against their abusive landlord. Reluctant at first, he joins their cause and then becomes involved in an affair with young, unemployed resident Anne.

Spoiled Children

1977

Spoiled Children poster
6.2

Successful writer/director Bernard Rougerie is at a creative dead end and decides to isolate himself from his wife in order to complete the script for his next film. Bernard moves into an apartment building whose tenants are in the midst of a revolt against their abusive landlord. Reluctant at first, he joins their cause and then becomes involved in an affair with young, unemployed resident Anne.

Spoiled Children

1977

D'Artagnan's Daughter poster
5.7

It is 1654, in the South of France. When horsemen follow a runaway slave into the convent where he's taken sanctuary and kill both the fugitive and the Mother Superior, they little realise that one of the novices is the spirited daughter of retired musketeer D'Artagnan.

D'Artagnan's Daughter

1994

Daddy Nostalgia poster
7.2

A half English, half French screenwriter visits her parents on the Riviera after her father's heart surgery. Once there, she begins to connect with him in a way she never did before, as each member of the family tries to cope with his imminent death.

Daddy Nostalgia

1990

Daddy Nostalgia poster
7.2

A half English, half French screenwriter visits her parents on the Riviera after her father's heart surgery. Once there, she begins to connect with him in a way she never did before, as each member of the family tries to cope with his imminent death.

Daddy Nostalgia

1990

Death Watch poster
6.3

In a future world where the disease has been finally defeated and everything can be sold, even the crude spectacle of death, the rare case of a dying woman becomes the morbid theme of a revolutionary reality show, broadcast through the curious eyes of a peculiar camera.

Death Watch

1980

Death Watch poster
6.3

In a future world where the disease has been finally defeated and everything can be sold, even the crude spectacle of death, the rare case of a dying woman becomes the morbid theme of a revolutionary reality show, broadcast through the curious eyes of a peculiar camera.

Death Watch

1980

Safe Conduct poster
6.5

During the Nazi occupation of France, two filmmakers try to build a career without compromising their ideals.

Safe Conduct

2002

Safe Conduct poster
6.5

During the Nazi occupation of France, two filmmakers try to build a career without compromising their ideals.

Safe Conduct

2002

Holy Lola poster
5.8

The story of a young couple, Pierre and Geraldine, and their desire for a child, which leads them on a journey of initiation to Cambodia. On their difficult and transformative adventure, they must contend with obstructive authorities and the jealousies and mistrust of a small community of would-be adoptive parents.

Holy Lola

2004

Holy Lola poster
5.8

The story of a young couple, Pierre and Geraldine, and their desire for a child, which leads them on a journey of initiation to Cambodia. On their difficult and transformative adventure, they must contend with obstructive authorities and the jealousies and mistrust of a small community of would-be adoptive parents.

Holy Lola

2004