Patrice Chéreau

Directing

Patrice Chéreau

Born 1944-11-02 · Lézigné, Maine-et-Loire, France

Patrice Chéreau (November 2, 1944 – October 7, 2013) was a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor and producer. In France he is best known for his work for the theatre, internationally for his films La Reine Margot and Intimacy, and for his staging of the Jahrhundertring, the centenary Ring cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in 1976.

Acting credits

The Last of the Mohicans poster
7.4

In war-torn colonial America, in the midst of a bloody battle between British, the French and Native American allies, the aristocratic daughter of a British Colonel and her party are captured by a group of Huron warriors. Fortunately, a group of three Mohican trappers comes to their rescue.

The Last of the Mohicans

1992

Resistencia Cultural poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Resistencia Cultural

2021

Time of the Wolf poster
6.1

A middle-class family flees an unspecified disaster that has struck the city and takes refuge in their country home. They think this will allow them to escape the chaos, but they soon realize that getting away won’t be so easy.

Time of the Wolf

2003

Danton poster
6.9

Danton and Robespierre were close friends and fought together in the French Revolution, but by 1793 Robespierre was France's ruler, determined to wipe out opposition with a series of mass executions that became known as the Reign of Terror. Danton, well known as a spokesman of the people, had been living in relative solitude in the French countryside, but he returned to Paris to challenge Robespierre's violent rule and call for the people to demand their rights. Robespierre, however, could not accept such a challenge, even from a friend and colleague, and he blocked out a plan for the capture and execution of Danton and his allies.

Danton

1983

Die Macht des Rings poster
6.5

No synopsis available yet.

Die Macht des Rings

2026

Nearest to Heaven poster
5.1

People and life can be cruel, and in their face, Fannette is cool: toward an old acquaintance, to her daughter, to colleagues. Beneath the surface, she roils with passion for a lost love, Philippe. She watches "An Affair to Remember" again and again, and when she receives a letter from Philippe asking her to meet him atop the Empire State Building, she swoons. She's writing a book on an aged painter, so she organizes a trip to New York ostensibly to secure photographs of some of his pieces. The publisher assigns her a photographer, Matt, on the surface spontaneous and flip, but also aggressive about his attraction to her. Will she be with the one she loves? Will she smile? Written by

Nearest to Heaven

2002

Lucie Aubrac poster
6.4

A love story or a tale of the resistance, this poignant movie tells both the haunting story of a French resistance cell in Lyon but also the love of Lucie Aubrac for her husband...

Lucie Aubrac

1997

Adieu Bonaparte poster
5.9

This big-budget historical epic from acclaimed Egyptian director Youssef Chahine features a crazed turn by Patrice Chereau as Napoleon Bonaparte. The film, an Egyptian-French co-production, deals with Napoleon's occupation of Alexandria and its effect on a typical Egyptian family. Michel Piccoli leads the cast as a general in Napoleon's army who tentatively befriends a local poet and falls in love with two young Egyptian brothers, reflecting complex themes of colonial desire, affection, and personal connection.

Adieu Bonaparte

1985

No artwork available
8.0

Bernard Nissille’s little gem imagines a love triangle between the director, the Queen, and the Bear during a staging of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. An actor who appeared with Bulle Ogier in Olivier Assayas’s Irma Vep, Nissille enlisted the brilliant opera and film director Patrice Chéreau to appear in the film opposite Ogier, Michel Piccoli, and Emmanuelle Salinger, the star of Arnaud Desplechin’s The Sentinel.

Bête de scène

1994

Patrice Chéreau - France's Theatre Genius poster
7.0

Perhaps the most important director of his generation, Patrice Chéreau left an indelible mark on theatre, film and opera. This documentary traces the French artist’s life and work ten years after his death.

Patrice Chéreau - France's Theatre Genius

2023

Patrice Chéreau, Pascal Greggory, une autre solitude poster
10.0

A look at the entire process of creating and developing Patrice Chéreau’s third staging of "In the Solitude of Cotton Fields" by Bernard Marie Koltès with Pascal Greggory and Chéreau himself. From the first reading around the table through the first contact with the performance space, rehearsals and lighting to opening night, the entire creative process unfurls in front of our eyes. The film shows us the evolving and ongoing dialogue between Greggory and Chéreau, a dialogue full of crises and magical moments of harmony and insight via which the truth, intensity, complexity, mystery and depth of Koltès’ text gradually emerge to form an implicit bond between these two men. The film also shows Chéreau directing rehearsals for Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" in Salzburg, revealing both the unity of and profound differences between his opera and theater work.

Patrice Chéreau, Pascal Greggory, une autre solitude

1996

Francois Simon the Presence poster
NR

The work of legendary actor François Simon, son of Michel Simon.

Francois Simon the Presence

1986

Des Amandiers aux Amandiers poster
7.6

A free and intimate portrait behind the scenes of Valeria Bruni Tedeschi's creation. In front of the camera, she transmits to today’s young actors the memory of the 1980s.

Des Amandiers aux Amandiers

2022

Wagner: The Making of The Ring poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Wagner: The Making of The Ring

1983

Patrice Chéreau, the body at work poster
NR

In this documentary, Stéphane Metge, friend and collaborator of Patrice Chéreau, offers a portrait of the artist through archives of his plays, films, and interviews.

Patrice Chéreau, the body at work

2010

Il était une fois… « La Reine Margot » poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Il était une fois… « La Reine Margot »

2013

Trotsky poster
5.0

Story of the life of an extraordinary man, who with Lenin, was the symbol of the Revolution of 1917.

Trotsky

1967

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

René Clair, tout entre nous n'était qu'un jeu

2021

No artwork available
NR

Patrice Chéreau has chosen fragments of two plays by Shakespeare, Richard III and Henri VI, to offer them to student actors in a class at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Paris. The purpose is a show, presented at the Manufacture des Œillets. Without comment nor interview, Stéphane Metge follows this work, from the first readings to the "general".

Un atelier de Patrice Chéreau à la Manufacture des Œillets

1999

No artwork available
NR

Benoît Jacquot films "In the Solitude of Cotton Fields" by Bernard-Marie Koltès, performed and directed by Patrice Chéreau, at the Théâtre des Amandiers.

dans la solitude des champs de coton

1991

Behind the camera

Intimacy poster
6.2

Failed musician Jay abandoned his family and now earns a living as head bartender in a trendy London pub. Every Wednesday afternoon, a woman comes to his house for graphic, almost wordless, sex. One day, Jay follows her and learns about her. This eventually disrupts their relationship.

Intimacy

2001

Intimacy poster
6.2

Failed musician Jay abandoned his family and now earns a living as head bartender in a trendy London pub. Every Wednesday afternoon, a woman comes to his house for graphic, almost wordless, sex. One day, Jay follows her and learns about her. This eventually disrupts their relationship.

Intimacy

2001

Queen Margot poster
7.2

Paris, Kingdom of France, August 18, 1572. To avoid the outbreak of a religious war, the Catholic princess Marguerite de Valois, sister of the feeble King Charles IX, marries the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre.

Queen Margot

1994

Queen Margot poster
7.2

Paris, Kingdom of France, August 18, 1572. To avoid the outbreak of a religious war, the Catholic princess Marguerite de Valois, sister of the feeble King Charles IX, marries the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre.

Queen Margot

1994

Flesh of the Orchid poster
5.5

A disturbed young woman is kept prisoner in a castle by her aunt for her money. The game-keeper, her guardian, tries to rape her but she escapes. In her flight she meets a man also running away, from two killers.

Flesh of the Orchid

1975

Flesh of the Orchid poster
5.5

A disturbed young woman is kept prisoner in a castle by her aunt for her money. The game-keeper, her guardian, tries to rape her but she escapes. In her flight she meets a man also running away, from two killers.

Flesh of the Orchid

1975

The Wounded Man poster
5.7

A fleeting encounter in a train station draws a withdrawn young man into a shadowy world of desire and danger. As obsession deepens, innocence destroyed, and an irreversible transformation begins.

The Wounded Man

1983

The Wounded Man poster
5.7

A fleeting encounter in a train station draws a withdrawn young man into a shadowy world of desire and danger. As obsession deepens, innocence destroyed, and an irreversible transformation begins.

The Wounded Man

1983

Hôtel de France poster
5.4

A French family is shown as they go through the daily routines of life. Arguing, feasting, crying, and yearning for love are just some of the human emotions encountered. The mood wavers between excessive noise to silence while those not participating in the conversations eavesdrop.

Hôtel de France

1987

Hôtel de France poster
5.4

A French family is shown as they go through the daily routines of life. Arguing, feasting, crying, and yearning for love are just some of the human emotions encountered. The mood wavers between excessive noise to silence while those not participating in the conversations eavesdrop.

Hôtel de France

1987

Wozzeck poster
10.0

Franz Woyzeck, a lowly soldier stationed in a mid-nineteenth century provincial German town, is the father of an illegitimate child by his mistress Marie.

Wozzeck

1994

Lest We Forget poster
7.0

A compilation of 30 French filmmakers, Alain Resnais and Jean Luc Godard among them, who use film to make a plea on behalf of a political prisoner. Jean Luc Godard and Anne Marie Mieville's film concerns the plight of Thomas Wanggai, West Papuan activist who has since died in prison. The short films were commissioned by Amnesty International.

Lest We Forget

1991

Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train poster
6.2

A group of mourners travels by train to bury a recently deceased artist in Limoges. As they journey, secrets and desires unfold, with relationships shifting, past loves resurfacing, and personal connections revealed. At the funeral and afterward, tensions rise among the group, leading to further emotional complexities at the artist’s family home.

Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train

1998

Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train poster
6.2

A group of mourners travels by train to bury a recently deceased artist in Limoges. As they journey, secrets and desires unfold, with relationships shifting, past loves resurfacing, and personal connections revealed. At the funeral and afterward, tensions rise among the group, leading to further emotional complexities at the artist’s family home.

Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train

1998

Persecution poster
4.3

A solitary man and his partner share a tense love/hate relationship. Their lives are disrupted when a stranger enters, gradually insinuating himself into their world. The stranger’s persistence creates strain, leaving the man with lingering questions about his motivations and the impact on his life.

Persecution

2009

Persecution poster
4.3

A solitary man and his partner share a tense love/hate relationship. Their lives are disrupted when a stranger enters, gradually insinuating himself into their world. The stranger’s persistence creates strain, leaving the man with lingering questions about his motivations and the impact on his life.

Persecution

2009

Peer Gynt poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Peer Gynt

1981

Judith Therpauve poster
6.4

A former hero of the French anti-Nazi resistance is approached by old comrades to lead a financially struggling liberal newspaper. Initially reluctant, she takes on the challenge, mortgaging her house to keep it afloat. As conservative forces intensify their opposition, she is eventually forced to sell the paper, seeing it as a personal failure.

Judith Therpauve

1978

Judith Therpauve poster
6.4

A former hero of the French anti-Nazi resistance is approached by old comrades to lead a financially struggling liberal newspaper. Initially reluctant, she takes on the challenge, mortgaging her house to keep it afloat. As conservative forces intensify their opposition, she is eventually forced to sell the paper, seeing it as a personal failure.

Judith Therpauve

1978

Strauss: Elektra poster
8.0

The great singing actress Nina Stemme gives a heart-wrenching performance in the title role of Strauss’s blazing one-act drama, adapted from the ancient Greek myth. Patrice Chéreau’s acclaimed production—the last staging he worked on before his death in 2013—also stars Waltraud Meier as Klytämnestra, Elektra’s nightmare-haunted mother, Adrianne Pieczonka as Chrysothemis, her sister, and Eric Owens as Orest, their brother, whose return home brings their family story to a terrifying climax. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the monumental and highly influential score.

Strauss: Elektra

2016

Gabrielle poster
5.8

Wealthy but arrogant writer Jean Hervey comes home one day to find that his wife, Gabrielle, has left him for another man. Realizing her mistake, Gabrielle returns, and the pair begin a merciless analysis of their marriage as the relationship comes undone.

Gabrielle

2005

Gabrielle poster
5.8

Wealthy but arrogant writer Jean Hervey comes home one day to find that his wife, Gabrielle, has left him for another man. Realizing her mistake, Gabrielle returns, and the pair begin a merciless analysis of their marriage as the relationship comes undone.

Gabrielle

2005

Gabrielle poster
5.8

Wealthy but arrogant writer Jean Hervey comes home one day to find that his wife, Gabrielle, has left him for another man. Realizing her mistake, Gabrielle returns, and the pair begin a merciless analysis of their marriage as the relationship comes undone.

Gabrielle

2005

His Brother poster
5.3

After years of estrangement due to difficulties accepting his brother's sexuality, a man diagnosed with a terminal illness decides to reconnect. As the brothers grow closer, their renewed bond starts to alienate their partners, leading to emotional turmoil and strained relationships.

His Brother

2003