Jean-Claude Brisseau

Directing

Jean-Claude Brisseau

Born 1944-07-17 · Paris, France

Jean-Claude Brisseau (17 July 1944 – 11 May 2019) was a French filmmaker best known for his 2002 film Secret Things ("Choses Secrètes") and his 2006 film The Exterminating Angels ("Les Anges exterminateurs"). His film Céline was nominated for the Golden Bear Award at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival. At the Cannes Film Festival, he was awarded the France Culture Award in 2003 for Secret Things; in 1988 he was awarded the Special Award for the Youth. In 2002, Brisseau was arrested on charges of sexual harassment after three women came forward accusing him of cajoling them into performing sexual acts on camera by promising them a film role. He was eventually found guilty, fined and given a suspended one-year prison sentence. Brisseau made a semi-autobiographical film in 2006 about this incident, Les Anges Exterminateurs. He was formerly a professor at La Fémis in Paris. Brisseau died in Paris on 11 May 2019 at the age of 74. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jean-Claude Brisseau, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Médiumnité poster
4.0

A young woman unsatisfied with her life and her marriage discovers gifts of medium.

Médiumnité

1978

The Black Angel poster
5.4

Stephane, the wife of a prominent magistrate, shoots and kills a man in her home and claims he tried to rape her. While investigating her case, her lawyer becomes hopelessly enmeshed in a web of lies and subterfuges concerning her past.

The Black Angel

1994

Tempting Devils poster
4.6

A woman discovers curious erotic messages on a lost cell phone in the train. When she meets the owner of the phone, a liberated young woman, the two of them embark on an erotic journey.

Tempting Devils

2018

Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle poster
7.4

Two young girls meet, Reinette from the countryside and Mirabelle from Paris, and decide to take a flat together in Paris where they attend University. Four successive stories about their daily lives illustrate the very different views, characters and relation to the world of these two friends.

Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle

1987

A Brutal Game poster
6.2

A strict father imposes impossible guidelines on his disabled daughter which reflect his secret and tortured life.

A Brutal Game

1983

The Girl from Nowhere poster
5.7

Michel, a retired math teacher, has lived alone since his wife’s death and occupies his time writing an essay about the beliefs that shape daily life. One day he comes across Dora, a young homeless woman, who shows up injured on his doorstep, and puts her up until she recovers. Her presence brings something new to Michel’s life, but gradually the apartment becomes the site of mysterious happenings.

The Girl from Nowhere

2013

La Croisée des chemins poster
4.6

The peregrinations of a group of boys and girls from Paris. Two girls swap the capital for the countryside near Montpellier. One of the girls hesitates between dream world and reality.La croisée des chemins marks the start of a significant oeuvre and is a film in which reality and dream are mixed. Jean-Claude Brisseau shot this film on Super8 in 1975. Screened in Studio 43 in Paris, the film was noticed and admired by Eric Rohmer, who attached the name of his production company Les Films du Losange to several films by Brisseau: Un jeu brutal, De bruit et de fureur en Noce blanche.

La Croisée des chemins

1976

No artwork available
NR

Director Jean-Claude Brisseau discusses the making of his film Les anges exterminateurs (2006) in an interview.

Le cinéma selon Brisseau

2007

No artwork available
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Bâtons d'encens pour Mizoguchi

2004

My Own Way poster
NR

From 2016 to 2021, Laurent Achard directed four portraits of filmmakers: Vecchiali, Brisseau, Stévenin, and Mazuy. The fifth (Carax), begun in 2023 at the Villa Medici, remained unfinished. He nicknamed it “The Chairs.” “When we consider how familiar death is, and how complete our ignorance is, and that there has never beenany escape, we must admit that the secret is well kept!” (Jankelevitch)

My Own Way

2026

On Sunday Afternoon poster
3.2

A voice, warm and heartbreaking, that of Brisseau himself, coils over black and white images. The tone was set very quickly: "To wake up is to be born again in the world of despair." 'On Sunday afternoon' is a film all at once clinical and theoretical on melancholy in the strong sense of the famous "black bile" of the Greeks whose author seems to want to make a complete turn, from his tragic dimension to his psychological dimension, even ending his film with a long quote from Freud's 'Mourning and Melancholia'.

On Sunday Afternoon

1967

Brisseau, 251 rue Marcadet poster
NR

Jean-Claude Brisseau receives a film crew and some friends at his home to talk about cinema, childhood, time passing by…

Brisseau, 251 rue Marcadet

2018

Shadows poster
8.3

The life of an ordinary working class family in Bagnolet's block of council flats, Paris' suburb. "I've spent 17 years here. I sacrificed myself for you. Now it's over. " says the mother, who dreams of being a singer. Between a pre-teen rocker brother and a disillusioned father, daughter Nathalie brings balance into this breaking-down family.

Shadows

1982

Death in the Afternoon poster
4.9

A man stabbed to death is haunted by his memories and fantasies while dying alone.

Death in the Afternoon

1968

The Afternoon of a Bored Young Man poster
4.0

Paris, Latin Quarter, May 1968. Images of barricades and police movements in the street. In his bedroom, on his bed, a young man indulges in daydreams that invade the whole space.

The Afternoon of a Bored Young Man

1968

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

L’ange et la femme: le cinéma de Jean-Claude Brisseau

2008

Behind the camera

The Exterminating Angels poster
5.3

A filmmaker holds a series of boundary-pushing auditions for his latest project: a thriller on the subject of female pleasure.

The Exterminating Angels

2006

The Exterminating Angels poster
5.3

A filmmaker holds a series of boundary-pushing auditions for his latest project: a thriller on the subject of female pleasure.

The Exterminating Angels

2006

White Wedding poster
6.6

A philosophy professor has an illicit affair with one of his students, a bright yet troubled girl who lives alone.

White Wedding

1989

White Wedding poster
6.6

A philosophy professor has an illicit affair with one of his students, a bright yet troubled girl who lives alone.

White Wedding

1989

Secret Things poster
5.8

Two young women find themselves struggling to survive in Paris, street-wise Nathalie, a stripper, and naïve Sandrine, a barmaid. Together, they discover that sex can be used to their advantage, and pleasure.

Secret Things

2002

Secret Things poster
5.8

Two young women find themselves struggling to survive in Paris, street-wise Nathalie, a stripper, and naïve Sandrine, a barmaid. Together, they discover that sex can be used to their advantage, and pleasure.

Secret Things

2002

Médiumnité poster
4.0

A young woman unsatisfied with her life and her marriage discovers gifts of medium.

Médiumnité

1978

The Black Angel poster
5.4

Stephane, the wife of a prominent magistrate, shoots and kills a man in her home and claims he tried to rape her. While investigating her case, her lawyer becomes hopelessly enmeshed in a web of lies and subterfuges concerning her past.

The Black Angel

1994

The Black Angel poster
5.4

Stephane, the wife of a prominent magistrate, shoots and kills a man in her home and claims he tried to rape her. While investigating her case, her lawyer becomes hopelessly enmeshed in a web of lies and subterfuges concerning her past.

The Black Angel

1994

The Black Angel poster
5.4

Stephane, the wife of a prominent magistrate, shoots and kills a man in her home and claims he tried to rape her. While investigating her case, her lawyer becomes hopelessly enmeshed in a web of lies and subterfuges concerning her past.

The Black Angel

1994

À l'aventure poster
4.9

Fed up with her present lifestyle, and more particularly sexually unsatisfied by her boyfriend Fred, Sandrine decides to find a new way in life. Intrigued by her friend Sophie, who tells her about her sexual experimentations, she will find, through various encounters, new pleasures and new experiences, whether physical or spiritual.

À l'aventure

2009

À l'aventure poster
4.9

Fed up with her present lifestyle, and more particularly sexually unsatisfied by her boyfriend Fred, Sandrine decides to find a new way in life. Intrigued by her friend Sophie, who tells her about her sexual experimentations, she will find, through various encounters, new pleasures and new experiences, whether physical or spiritual.

À l'aventure

2009

The Interchange poster
5.3

A young boy moves with his mother into rent-controlled housing in a new banlieue. He begins sixth grade and meets a mysterious classmate. Produced for the "Contes pour enfants" television series that aired on former network Antenna-2.

The Interchange

1982

The Interchange poster
5.3

A young boy moves with his mother into rent-controlled housing in a new banlieue. He begins sixth grade and meets a mysterious classmate. Produced for the "Contes pour enfants" television series that aired on former network Antenna-2.

The Interchange

1982

Céline poster
6.9

After the death of her father, 22-year-old Céline inherits most of his estate, but gives it to her stepmother, causing her greedy fiancé to leave her. Following several failed suicide attempts, Céline is hospitalized and comes to the attention of a nurse, Genevieve, who has struggled with depression. Under her personal care, Céline gradually recovers, and the two women grow close.

Céline

1992

Céline poster
6.9

After the death of her father, 22-year-old Céline inherits most of his estate, but gives it to her stepmother, causing her greedy fiancé to leave her. Following several failed suicide attempts, Céline is hospitalized and comes to the attention of a nurse, Genevieve, who has struggled with depression. Under her personal care, Céline gradually recovers, and the two women grow close.

Céline

1992

Céline poster
6.9

After the death of her father, 22-year-old Céline inherits most of his estate, but gives it to her stepmother, causing her greedy fiancé to leave her. Following several failed suicide attempts, Céline is hospitalized and comes to the attention of a nurse, Genevieve, who has struggled with depression. Under her personal care, Céline gradually recovers, and the two women grow close.

Céline

1992

Tempting Devils poster
4.6

A woman discovers curious erotic messages on a lost cell phone in the train. When she meets the owner of the phone, a liberated young woman, the two of them embark on an erotic journey.

Tempting Devils

2018

Tempting Devils poster
4.6

A woman discovers curious erotic messages on a lost cell phone in the train. When she meets the owner of the phone, a liberated young woman, the two of them embark on an erotic journey.

Tempting Devils

2018

Tempting Devils poster
4.6

A woman discovers curious erotic messages on a lost cell phone in the train. When she meets the owner of the phone, a liberated young woman, the two of them embark on an erotic journey.

Tempting Devils

2018

A Brutal Game poster
6.2

A strict father imposes impossible guidelines on his disabled daughter which reflect his secret and tortured life.

A Brutal Game

1983

A Brutal Game poster
6.2

A strict father imposes impossible guidelines on his disabled daughter which reflect his secret and tortured life.

A Brutal Game

1983

Sound and Fury poster
6.6

This drama depicts the misery of neglected children in big cities. 13 years old Bruno is of a good family, but since the death of his grandmother he spends most of his time alone, in a phantasy world, while his mother is away at work. But then he befriends the violent Jean-Roger, who's from a severely disturbed family, where nobody cares what he's doing. In school Jean-Roger drives their teacher into despair just for fun. To separate the two boys, she starts to stimulate Bruno's interests by giving him extra lessons. When Jean-Roger fears loosing his one and only friend, he becomes even more aggressive.

Sound and Fury

1988

Sound and Fury poster
6.6

This drama depicts the misery of neglected children in big cities. 13 years old Bruno is of a good family, but since the death of his grandmother he spends most of his time alone, in a phantasy world, while his mother is away at work. But then he befriends the violent Jean-Roger, who's from a severely disturbed family, where nobody cares what he's doing. In school Jean-Roger drives their teacher into despair just for fun. To separate the two boys, she starts to stimulate Bruno's interests by giving him extra lessons. When Jean-Roger fears loosing his one and only friend, he becomes even more aggressive.

Sound and Fury

1988