Jean Aurenche

Writing

Jean Aurenche

Born 1903-09-10 · Pierrelatte, Drôme, France

Jean Aurenche (1903–1992) was a French screenwriter. During his career, he wrote 80 films for directors such as René Clément, Bertrand Tavernier, Marcel Carné, Jean Delannoy and Claude Autant-Lara. He is often associated with the screenwriter Pierre Bost, with whom he had a fertile partnership from 1940 to 1975. In the 1920s and 1930s, Jean Aurenche was friends with some members of the surrealist groups. His sister Marie-Berthe was the wife of Max Ernst and Max Ernst soon became friend with Jean Aurenche. Later, he even appeared in some film commercials directed by Jean Aurenche (for the "Nicolas" Wine, the "Barbes" stores and so on...). Jean Aurenche was also a close friend of Jean Cocteau who helped him publish several of his short stories in the famous "NRF". In 1933, Jean Aurenche co-directed two short documentaries with Pierre Charbonnier: Pirates du Rhône and Bracos de Sologne. He later co-wrote the short film Monsieur Cordon with director Pierre Prévert. He soon turned to screenwriting, writing or co-writing several films like L'affaire du Courrier de Lyon (1936) by Maurice Lehmann and Claude Autant-Lara, L'affaire Lafarge or, more famously, Hôtel du Nord that he co-wrote with Marcel Carné and Henri Jeanson. In 1942, starting with Douce (directed by Autant-Lara), Aurenche formed a longstanding partnership with Pierre Bost. Their method of writing together initially worked as such: Jean Aurenche wrote the treatment of the screenplay (sometimes based on a novel) and Pierre Bost then expanded this outline and wrote the dialogue. But soon, both of them wrote all the script together without any clear division of the writing. Together, Aurenche & Bost wrote several great successes of this time period, often associated with director Claude Autant-Lara : le Diable au corps (1945), l'Auberge rouge (1951), le Rouge et le Noir (1954), la Traversée de Paris (1956). Meanwhile, Aurenche & Bost started a fertile collaboration with Jean Delannoy, writing for him La Symphonie Pastorale (1947) which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Festival of 1947. During this time, they also worked with René Clément (Au-delà des grilles, Jeux interdits and Gervaise). The film Jeux Interdits won the Academy Award on the Best Foreign Film in 1952 and soon became a classic. All these critic and commercial triumph contributed to make of Aurenche one of the most revered screenwriters of his time. ... Source: Article "Jean Aurenche" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Daughters of Destiny poster
4.6

Three stories, very different in space and time. Lysistrata, a dancer from ancient times, Jeanne d'Arc, medieval warrior and Elisabeth, American war widow who comes on pilgrimage in Italy.

Daughters of Destiny

1954

The Hunchback of Notre Dame poster
6.7

In 1482 Paris, Frollo, Chief Justice of benevolent King Louis XI, becomes infatuated by the beauty of Esmeralda, a young Romani girl. The hunchback Quasimodo, Frollo's protégé and bell-ringer of Notre Dame, lives in peace among the bells in the heights of the immense cathedral until he's involved by the twisted magistrate in his malicious plans to free himself from Esmeralda's alleged spell, which he believes to be the Devil's work.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

1956

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

The Oldest Profession poster
5.0

A collection of sketches that tells the story of prostitution through the ages.

The Oldest Profession

1967

Douce poster
7.2

In Paris in 1887, Irène works as a governess to Douce, the grand-daughter of the dowager Countess de Bonafé. Douce believes she is in love with Fabien, the handsome manager of the estate. However she cannot hope to marry him because of their class difference. Douce's widowed father, the Count de Bonafé, has a wooden leg, and is infatuated with Irène. Douce discovers that Fabien is planning to flee to Quebec with Irène, and also finds out that the Count has asked Irène to marry him. So Douce tells Fabien this and convinces him to run away with her, causing consternation in the family.

Douce

1943

Hôtel du Nord poster
7.1

On the meandering Canal St. Martin, at the Parisian Hôtel du Nord, a nearly fatal gunshot separates a dejected young couple. But, amid a sad but beautiful panorama of lively characters, love has the final say. Can life be a fairy tale?

Hôtel du Nord

1938

This Special Friendship poster
7.8

A tale of the tender relationship between a twelve-year-old boy and the fourteen-year-old upperclassman who is the object of his desire, all set within the rigid atmosphere of a Jesuit-run school.

This Special Friendship

1964

Imperial Venus poster
4.1

Pauline Bonaparte, sister of the famous Napoleon, embarks on a series of amourous escapades, including an engagement to the Conventionnel Fréron; her relationship with the comté de Canouville; and her marriage to General Leclerc, whom she follows to Saint-Domingue.

Imperial Venus

1962

Gervaise poster
6.7

Gervaise Macquart is a beautiful Parisian laundress and mother whose lover, Lantier, walks out on her. She eventually marries Henri Coupeau, a roofer who has an unfortunate accident. As her now crippled husband descends into alcoholism, Gervaise tries to make ends meet on her own. Life becomes even more complicated when Lantier returns and befriends Henri. Meanwhile, the man she really loves is sent to prison.

Gervaise

1956

The Stream poster
6.8

When Paul, an officer, discovers Denise, a young orphan escaped from her orphanage, he takes advantage of his naivete to seduce her before changing her mind and sending her to live with her mother while sailing.

The Stream

1938

Way of Youth poster
6.2

This movie is a Marcel Aymé adaptation and it deals with the not-so-glorious side of the Occupation: black market, war profiteers, cracking open bottles of Champagne while most of the Parisians are almost starving.

Way of Youth

1959

A Woman Like Satan poster
5.4

Handsome and rich Spanish gentleman abandons his wife and riches for his love of a young girl of poor stock who taunts and degrades him.

A Woman Like Satan

1958

Love Letters poster
6.4

A plucky businesswoman agrees to receive love letters to a prefect’s wife from a young official, and soon finds herself embroiled in a scandal that inflames a town’s class tensions.

Love Letters

1942

La Traversée de Paris poster
7.3

Two unlikely companions must smuggle four suitcases filled with contraband pork across Nazi-occupied Paris.

La Traversée de Paris

1956

Enough Rope poster
5.8

Two total strangers suspect each other of murdering their own wives. Based on Patricia Highsmith's 1954 novel The Blunderer.

Enough Rope

1963

The Watchmaker of St. Paul poster
6.9

Michel Descombes is a watchmaker who lives in Lyon with his teenage son Bernard. When the police visit and inform him that Bernard has killed a man and is on the run with a girl, Michel realises that he knew far less about his son than he thought.

The Watchmaker of St. Paul

1974

Lady of the Camelias poster
6.1

A young girl from the provinces, comes to Paris with one goal: to become a part of the rich bourgeoisie. To achieve this she will use her unique beauty and charm.

Lady of the Camelias

1981

Potatoes poster
6.3

In a village in the Ardennes, during the German occupation, finding rations is becoming almost impossible. Clovis, an ordinary labourer, decides to cross the occupied zone to bring back enough potatoes to feed his family. His plan is a success but Clovis rapidly becomes obsessed with storing the precious tubers.

Potatoes

1969

The Red Inn poster
6.8

A group of travelers, including a monk, stay in a lonely inn in the mountains. The host confesses the monk his habit of serving poisoned soup to the guests, to rob their possessions and to bury them in the backyard.

The Red Inn

1951

Le Colisée poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Le Colisée

1933

Le Colisée poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Le Colisée

1933

Le Colisée poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Le Colisée

1933

Love Is My Profession poster
6.3

Leading lawyer Andre Gobillot takes the case of Yvette, a young criminal. As he works on her defence, an unexpected romance blooms between them, only to be cut short by a tragedy.

Love Is My Profession

1958

Le Rouge et le Noir poster
6.2

It's no holds barred for Julian in pursuit of upward mobility. Although expected to channel career aspirations into the Church of the post-Napoleonic era, his intensely romantic liaisons propel him forward at a pace he cannot control.

Le Rouge et le Noir

1954