Jean-Pierre Bacri

Acting

Jean-Pierre Bacri

Born 1951-05-24 · Bou Ismaïl, Algeria

Jean-Pierre Bacri is a French actor, screenwriter and playwright, born May 24, 1951 in Bou Ismaïl (formerly Castiglione) in Algeria and died January 18, 2021 in Paris 6th. In 2005, he sponsored the Devoirs de Mémoires collective. Jean-Pierre Sauveur Bacri was born in Algeria into a Sephardic Jewish family from Algeria. When Algeria gained independence in 1962, the family arrived in Cannes. At 23, he left his position at Société Générale, went to Paris, and trained as an actor at the Simon course and the Jean Périmony course, while writing plays, including Le Doux Visage De L'Amour for which he received the Fondation de la vocation prize in 1979. The same year, he played his first role in the cinema in Le Toubib. His performance as a pimp in Le Grand Pardon by Alexandre Arcady in 1982 made him known to the public. He then multiplied supporting roles, with several directors: Diane Kurys, Claude Lelouch, Claude Pinoteau, Luc Besson, Jean-Michel Ribes, Tony Gatlif, Gérard Krawczyk, Jean-Pierre Mocky, Pierre Tchernia, Jean-Marie Poiré, Yves Boisset and Yves Robert. In 1986, his name began to appear at the top of the bill: for Mort Un Dimanche De Pluie by Joël Santoni, then L'Été En Pente Douce by Gérard Krawczyk in 1987. He played the same year in the play L'Anniversaire, directed by Jean-Michel Ribes, alongside his future colleague and companion Agnès Jaoui. In 1993, he starred in the comedy Cuisine Et Dépendances, for which he also wrote the script. Then he co-wrote the screenplay with Agnès Jaoui of Smoking / No Smoking by Alain Resnais (César for best original screenplay 1994). In 1996, the duo exploded onto the general public with Un Air De Famille, directed by Cédric Klapisch (César for best original screenplay 1997). The same year, Jean-Pierre Bacri was in the comedy Didier by Alain Chabat. Then, in On Connaît La Chanson by Alain Resnais, for which Bacri co-signed the screenplay. (César for best original screenplay and César for best supporting actor). In 1998, he appeared with Catherine Deneuve in Place Vendôme by Nicole Garcia. In 1999 in Kennedy Et Moi, by Sam Karmann. In 2000, he played in the film Le Goût Des Autres, directed by Agnès Jaoui (César for best screenplay). He participated in the script of Asterix and Obelix, Mission Cleopatra by Alain Chabat and narrated the film. He continued his films with A Maid, by Claude Berri. In 2003, in Les Sentiments by Noémie Lvovsky. In 2004, in Comme Une Image, by Agnès Jaoui, (Screenplay Prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival). This will be followed in 2006 According to Charlie by Nicole Garcia, in 2008 Speak to Me About the Rain by Agnès Jaoui. In 2009, Farewell Gary by Nassim Amaouche. In 2011, Before Dawn by Raphaël Jacoulot. In 2012, he played in Chercher Hortense by Pascal Bonitzer. In 2013, he reunited with Agnès Jaoui for a sixth feature film Au Bout Du Conte. In 2015 he was in The Very Private Life of Monsieur Sim by Michel Leclerc. In 2016, in Tout De Immediate Now by Pascal Bonitzer. The following year, he headlined Grand Froid and Le Sens De La Fête. He also makes an appearance in Santa et Cie by Alain Chabat. In 2018, in Place Publique by Agnès Jaoui, then he played in Photo De Famille. Jean-Pierre Bacri died of cancer on January 18, 2021 in Paris 6th at the age of 69.

Acting credits

Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra poster
7.4

History's favorite Gauls assist Queen Cleopatra when she wagers that the Egyptian people can build a palace for Julius Caesar in just three months.

Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra

2002

Subway poster
6.5

Fred, a raffish safe blower, takes refuge in the Paris Metro after being chased by the henchmen of a shady businessman from whom he has just stolen some documents. While hiding out in the back rooms and conduits of the Metro, Fred encounters a subterranean society of eccentric characters and petty criminals.

Subway

1985

C'est la vie! poster
7.0

Max is a battle-weary veteran of the wedding-planning racket. His latest — and last — gig is a hell of a fête, involving stuffy period costumes for the caterers, a vain, hyper- sensitive singer who thinks he's a Gallic James Brown, and a morose, micromanaging groom determined to make Max's night as miserable as possible. But what makes the affair too bitter to endure is that Max's colleague and ostensible girlfriend, Joisette, seems to have written him off, coolly going about her professional duties while openly flirting with a much younger server. It's going to be a very long night… especially once the groom's aerial serenade gets underway.

C'est la vie!

2017

Feelings poster
5.9

Two seemingly happily married French couples are forced to contend with a number of issues.

Feelings

2003

Kitchen with Apartment poster
7.0

Jacques and Martine, an ordinary bourgeois couple, invite to dinner a friend whom they have not seen the last ten years. Since then he has become a media star and everything has to go just right at dinner.

Kitchen with Apartment

1993

Christmas & Co. poster
6.3

Christmas is on its way and with it disaster. The 92,000 responsible for manufacturing children's toys all become sick at the same time! It's a tough moment for Santa, better known as Father Christmas. He's left no choice: he must make an emergency trip to Earth with his reindeer to search for a remedy. When he arrives, he must find some allies to save the magic of Christmas.

Christmas & Co.

2017

La Galette du roi poster
4.5

In this conventional, broadly comic farce of greed and royal matrimony, nearly bankrupt businessman Victor Harris is marrying Maria-Helena, a princess who comes with a dowry that is made up of one half of her island kingdom. Her father, the cowardly King Arnold III is counting on the money this marriage will bring him. The country is now almost bankrupt because of the king's gambling debts. As Harris and the king look forward to their illusory profits from the royal merger, other characters add some liveliness to the otherwise predictable story.

La Galette du roi

1986

The Taste of Others poster
6.9

Unpolished and ultra-pragmatic industrialist Jean-Jacques Castella reluctantly attends Racine's tragedy "Berenice" in order to see his niece play a bit part. He is taken with the play's strangely familiar-looking leading lady Clara Devaux. During the course of the show, Castella soon remembers that he once hired and then promptly fired the actress as an English language tutor. He immediately goes out and signs up for language lessons. Thinking that he is nothing but an ill-tempered philistine with bad taste, Clara rejects him until Castella charms her off her feet.

The Taste of Others

2000

Fear City: A Family-Style Comedy poster
7.5

A second-class horror movie has to be shown at Cannes Film Festival, but, before each screening, the projectionist is killed by a mysterious fellow, with hammer and sickle, just as it happens in the film to be shown.

Fear City: A Family-Style Comedy

1994

Didier poster
6.1

Jean-Pierre Costa is a football manager upon whom fate appears not to be smiling. First, a friend, Annabelle, dumps a pet Labrador named Didier on him whilst she goes off to make a report in Los Angeles. Next, one of his star players is injured, leaving him one player short for a crucial match. As if things could not get any worse, Costa wakes up one morning to find that that Didier has been transformed into a man...

Didier

1997

Place Vendôme poster
6.2

The story of a woman that remained distracted for a long time from her life, from the passions that made her feel alive. The importance of true love is compared with the material value of diamonds. Only one truly lasts forever. She's got to find the thing that values most for her, the thing that gives psychical stability and real happiness again to her life.

Place Vendôme

1998

Follow My Gaze poster
6.2

A long parade of actors and actresses pop up in an unconnected series of skits, vignettes, and sight gags in this comedy anthology by Jean Curtelin. Among the sketches performed is one with Jean Carmet playing a man from the sticks woefully burdened with the challenge of getting through a dog food commercial on less than one tank of intelligible French. Another skit shows a silent duel between an airport custodian and an automatic door, while another with the renowned Michel Galabru sets up a strange teacher-student exchange.

Follow My Gaze

1986

He Died with His Eyes Open poster
5.6

Police Inspector Staniland is investigating the death of a pianist. While conducting his investigation and looking through the victim's apartment, he meets Barbara, the mistress of the murder victim. Barbara confesses to the crime, but Staniland, based on his observations and experience, does not believe her. He then sets out to find the truth.

He Died with His Eyes Open

1985

C'est La Vie poster
6.0

A story is about young teenage girl, with sister and brothers, a pleasant uncle and aunt, an annoying nanny, a young boy interested in kissing her, a close relationship with the imaginary addressee of her daily diary and her parents' disintegrating marriage - all this in a rented house in a summer resort.

C'est La Vie

1990

Bonjour l'angoisse poster
6.1

Anxious and shy, Michaud works for a company that specializes in alarms, safes and other security devices.

Bonjour l'angoisse

1988

Adieu Gary poster
6.0

Au milieu de nulle part, une cité ouvrière vidée de sa population depuis quelques années déjà. Pourtant, certains habitants ont décidé d'y rester, plus par choix que par nécessité, parce que c'est là qu'ils sont nés et qu'ils ont grandi. Parmi eux il y a Francis, l'ouvrier consciencieux qui continue d'entretenir la machine sur laquelle il a travaillé toute sa vie ; Samir, son fils.

Adieu Gary

2009

Entre Nous poster
6.7

In 1942 in occupied France, a Jewish refugee marries a soldier to escape deportation to Germany. Meanwhile a wealthy art student loses her first husband to a stray Resistance bullet; at the Liberation she meets an actor, gets pregnant, and marries him. Lena and Madeleine meet at their children's school in Lyon in 1952 and the intensity of their relationship strains both their marriages to the breaking point.

Entre Nous

1983

L'été en pente douce poster
6.5

When he inherits the family house and property after his mother's death, aspiring novelist Fane returns home with his bimbo girlfriend Lilas. He must care for his idiot brother Mo and contend with a greedy garage owner who covets Fane's property to expand his business. When efforts to buy the property are fruitless, the mechanic incites the townsfolk against the strange trio.

L'été en pente douce

1987

États d'âme poster
7.0

In this political drama, five left-leaning friends gradually lose heart in the Socialist government elected in 1981 in France. One of the five men is a television broadcaster; the others are a teacher about to become an academic inspector, a tax man, the director of a cultural center, and a sociologist who is about to step into a ministerial position. Their interlocking lives are told in alternating vignettes over a four-year period, and the professions director Jacques Fansten has chosen for his main characters seem to be a comment on the media, education, budget or finance, the arts, and government bureaucracy under Socialist rule.

États d'âme

1986

Peut-être poster
5.3

Arthur is invited to a New Year's Eve party to celebrate the year 2000. His girlfriend Lucie would like a baby from him but he refuses. Through the ceiling of the toilets, he discovers a passage leading to this futurist Paris. There, he meets an old man Ako who affirms he is his son and that he wants to exist. Otherwise he will vanish into the air. Arthur is still hesitant because his life is an unfulfilled one: a has a little lucrative job, is uncertain about his future and things are getting out of hand when Ako discovers the passage and interferes in the party.

Peut-être

1999

My Best Pals poster
6.3

They are the best friends of the world. Five friends who shared everything: may 68, hippies years, the rock and their love for Bernadette. This Bernadette has left them to become a rock-star, and is back 15 years later for a weekend. Jean-Marie Poire describes with this movie the portrait of a generation with lots of humor served by excelent actors.

My Best Pals

1989

The Seventh Target poster
6.0

Bastien Grimaldy, a man driven to heightened anxiety as the plot against him begins to take effect. Bastien's personal relationships give him enough cause for anxiety -- between his new lover Laura and a feisty mother, life provides its own insecurities. When he goes to the police with his problems, Bastien is assigned an off-beat inspector to protect him but is still faced with skepticism about his dilemma.

The Seventh Target

1984

Edith and Marcel poster
5.7

This tragic musical drama chronicles the star-crossed love between beloved French singer Edith Piaf and World Middleweight boxing champion Marcel Cerdan who died in a plane crash. The tumultuous affair is paralleled by the love affair of a French POW and his young pen pal who get engaged after writing to each other for four years and having never met. Their romances are framed by the sad, torchy songs of Piaf.

Edith and Marcel

1983

Chère canaille poster
5.5

Francis Lebovic, an ex-voyou turned sex worker, is not lacking in charm or elegance. David, his thirteen-year-old godson, accepts Francis' proposal to record a record without much enthusiasm. His voice, combined with his physique, gives rise to hope. Francis will be able to pay off his debts; Lino and Daisy, David's parents, will be able to do some work in their café. Everything would be just fine if Frédérique Henriot, a young lawyer, hadn't come to live in the house where they all live, in this village in the center of Paris called the Marais.

Chère canaille

1989

Behind the camera

Kitchen with Apartment poster
7.0

Jacques and Martine, an ordinary bourgeois couple, invite to dinner a friend whom they have not seen the last ten years. Since then he has become a media star and everything has to go just right at dinner.

Kitchen with Apartment

1993

Kitchen with Apartment poster
7.0

Jacques and Martine, an ordinary bourgeois couple, invite to dinner a friend whom they have not seen the last ten years. Since then he has become a media star and everything has to go just right at dinner.

Kitchen with Apartment

1993

The Taste of Others poster
6.9

Unpolished and ultra-pragmatic industrialist Jean-Jacques Castella reluctantly attends Racine's tragedy "Berenice" in order to see his niece play a bit part. He is taken with the play's strangely familiar-looking leading lady Clara Devaux. During the course of the show, Castella soon remembers that he once hired and then promptly fired the actress as an English language tutor. He immediately goes out and signs up for language lessons. Thinking that he is nothing but an ill-tempered philistine with bad taste, Clara rejects him until Castella charms her off her feet.

The Taste of Others

2000

Smoking poster
7.7

Two actors play eighteen different roles in a story that asks the question: would my life have been different if I had lit a cigarette?

Smoking

1993

Same Old Song poster
7.0

Business executive Odile seeks a new, larger apartment. Her younger sister Camille, having completed her doctoral thesis in history, is a Paris tour guide. Simon is a regular on Camille's tours as he's attracted to her. However, Camille has fallen for Marc, and they begin an affair. Nicolas is also looking for an apartment, since he hopes to eventually have his family join him in Paris.

Same Old Song

1997

Place publique poster
5.5

Revolves around Castro, who was once a very famous TV host, but as he grows old, his popularity is dwindling.

Place publique

2018

Under the Rainbow poster
5.6

Laura is still waiting for Prince Charming at the age of 24. So when Sandro appears at a party, exactly like her Prince would in her dreams, she thinks she's found the right one. But then again, when she meets Maxime, Laura starts to wonder if some Princes could be more charming than others? Of course Sandro has problems of his own : his father, Pierre, just bumped into Madam Irma at his father's funeral and this reminded him of the date of his own death which Madame Irma had predicted ages ago. Now Pierre is unable to make any plans, not with his new partner Eleonore, nor with Sandro. And Maxime has his own problems, and so does Eleonore, Marianne, Jacqueline and many others. But don't worry, in the end, they'll all live happily ever after.

Under the Rainbow

2013

Family Resemblances poster
7.3

An upper middle-class French family celebrates a birthday in a restaurant. In one evening and during one meal, family history, tensions, collective and separate grudges, delights, and memories both clash and coalesce.

Family Resemblances

1996

Let It Rain poster
5.5

Agathe Villanova is a self-centered, workaholic feminist politician who, upon reluctantly returning to her home in the south of France to sort out her mother's affairs, runs for a local election. Upon her arrival, Agathe grudgingly agrees to take part in a documentary being made by the blundering duo of Karim, an aspiring filmmaker, and self-professed "reporter" Michel, on the subject of "successful women." As Agathe's life hilariously unravels, the camera is there to capture it all.

Let It Rain

2008

Smoking / No Smoking poster
6.5

Two actors portray eighteen Yorkshire villagers, who offer several iterations of their lives depending on whether or not they lit a cigarette at a certain point in time.

Smoking / No Smoking

1993

Look at Me poster
6.3

Talented 20-year-old Lolita dreams of a singing career. But her self-esteem is low due to her weight problem and her narcissistic father, Étienne, a literary star with scant interest in his daughter's life. Lolita finds little comfort in the attentions of her vocal coach, suspecting the woman is using her to meet her influential father. Étienne's second wife proves to be Lolita's only trustworthy ally in her private battle to find a sense of worth.

Look at Me

2004

No Smoking poster
7.7

Two actors play eighteen different roles in a story that asks the question: would my life have been different if I hadn't lit a cigarette?

No Smoking

1993