René Clément

Directing

René Clément

Born — Died

1913-03-18 — 1996-03-17

Place of birth

Bordeaux, Gironde, France

Known for

Directing

Credits

43 titles

René Clément (March 18, 1913, Bordeaux – March 17, 1996, Monte Carlo, Monaco) was a French film director and screenwriter. Clément studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. In 1936, he directed his first film, a 20 minute short written and featuring Jacques Tati. Clément spent the latter part of the 1930s making documentaries in parts of the Middle East and Africa. In 1937, he and archaeologist Jules Barthou were in Yemen making preparations to film a documentary, the first ever of that country and one that includes the only known film image of Imam Yahya. Almost ten years passed before Clément directed a feature but his French Resistance …

Known for

Film credits

Series credits

Behind the camera

Purple Noon poster
7.6

Tom Ripley is a talented mimic, moocher, forger and all-around criminal improviser; but there's more to Tom Ripley than even he can guess.

Purple Noon

1960

Purple Noon poster
7.6

Tom Ripley is a talented mimic, moocher, forger and all-around criminal improviser; but there's more to Tom Ripley than even he can guess.

Purple Noon

1960

Is Paris Burning? poster
7.2

Near the end of World War II, General Dietrich von Choltitz receives orders to burn down Paris if it becomes clear the Allies are going to invade, or if he's unable to maintain control of the city. After much contemplation, Choltitz ignores orders, enraging the Germans and giving hope to various resistance factions that the city will be liberated. Choltitz, alongside Swedish diplomat Raoul Nordling, helps a leader organise his forces.

Is Paris Burning?

1966

Forbidden Games poster
7.8

Orphaned after a Nazi air raid, Paulette, a young Parisian girl, runs into Michel, an older peasant boy, and the two quickly become close. Together, they try to make sense of the chaotic and crumbling world around them, attempting to cope with death as they create a burial ground for Paulette's deceased pet dog. Eventually, however, Paulette's stay with Michel's family is threatened by the harsh realities of wartime.

Forbidden Games

1952

Forbidden Games poster
7.8

Orphaned after a Nazi air raid, Paulette, a young Parisian girl, runs into Michel, an older peasant boy, and the two quickly become close. Together, they try to make sense of the chaotic and crumbling world around them, attempting to cope with death as they create a burial ground for Paulette's deceased pet dog. Eventually, however, Paulette's stay with Michel's family is threatened by the harsh realities of wartime.

Forbidden Games

1952

Rider on the Rain poster
6.4

Melancolie Mau is a lonely woman on the French seaside who falls victim to a horrific rape, but she manages to turn the tables and kill her attacker. She chooses not to tell anyone and dumps the body, but it comes back to haunt her when a U.S. colonel arrives, mysteriously armed with full knowledge about her ordeal. However, he seems to have his own agenda, and it may concern Melancolie's absent husband.

Rider on the Rain

1970

Joy House poster
6.4

A small-time con man on the run from his girlfriend's gangster husband hides out in a strange, brooding mansion run by two mysterious women, where he finds himself trapped in deception between the two.

Joy House

1964

Joy House poster
6.4

A small-time con man on the run from his girlfriend's gangster husband hides out in a strange, brooding mansion run by two mysterious women, where he finds himself trapped in deception between the two.

Joy House

1964

The Deadly Trap poster
5.5

Jill's husband has been distant since they moved to Paris. He's pressured at work to engage in illegal activities but he refuses. Soon after, when their children disappear while in Jill's care, her mental health comes into question.

The Deadly Trap

1971

The Walls of Malapaga poster
6.6

After murdering his mistress and being hunted by the authorities in France, Pierre stows away aboard a ship bound for Genoa. Though he's immediately robbed after arriving, things look up for Pierre when he meets kindhearted Cecchina, who introduces him to her mother, Marta. Pierre and Marta fall in love, but police are closing in and the new couple may not have much time left.

The Walls of Malapaga

1949

The Battle of the Rails poster
6.9

During the Second World War, many French railway workers participated in the resistance. Daily acts of sabotage, spectacular derailments: the railway network took many actions against Nazi occupation. Stationmanager Camargue and his deputy, Athos, risk their lives in managing the network in their sector.

The Battle of the Rails

1946

The Battle of the Rails poster
6.9

During the Second World War, many French railway workers participated in the resistance. Daily acts of sabotage, spectacular derailments: the railway network took many actions against Nazi occupation. Stationmanager Camargue and his deputy, Athos, risk their lives in managing the network in their sector.

The Battle of the Rails

1946

The Day and the Hour poster
6.7

In the midst of World War II, a French widow falls for a U.S. captain whom she hides from the Nazis and helps escape to Spain.

The Day and the Hour

1963

The Babysitter poster
4.3

Michelle, a French sculptor living in Rome, is informed of a job babysitting a rich man's son by her new friend Ann, an actress. However, upon arrival, Michelle makes a horrifying discovery.

The Babysitter

1975

The Babysitter poster
4.3

Michelle, a French sculptor living in Rome, is informed of a job babysitting a rich man's son by her new friend Ann, an actress. However, upon arrival, Michelle makes a horrifying discovery.

The Babysitter

1975

And Hope to Die poster
6.3

Young pilot Tony Cardot goes on the run after inadvertently crashing his plane into a group of Gypsy children. He reaches Montreal and crosses paths with American gangster Charley Ellis, who forces him to join in his gang's latest scheme.

And Hope to Die

1972

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 Damned poster
6.0

In April 1945, a group of Nazis and collaborators gather in Oslo to board a submarine headed for South America, aiming to avoid justice. Kidnapped Doctor Guilbert is forced to accompany them.

The Damned

1947

The Damned poster
6.0

In April 1945, a group of Nazis and collaborators gather in Oslo to board a submarine headed for South America, aiming to avoid justice. Kidnapped Doctor Guilbert is forced to accompany them.

The Damned

1947

The Glass Castle poster
5.8

Evelyne, the young wife of Judge Bertal, falls in love with Remy, who lives in Paris, on holiday in Italy. After following him in the lovers city, she realises Remy is whom she really loves, and decides to return home to inform her husband – but her plane crashes.

The Glass Castle

1950

The Glass Castle poster
5.8

Evelyne, the young wife of Judge Bertal, falls in love with Remy, who lives in Paris, on holiday in Italy. After following him in the lovers city, she realises Remy is whom she really loves, and decides to return home to inform her husband – but her plane crashes.

The Glass Castle

1950

This Angry Age poster
6.1

20-year-old Joseph and his 16-year-old sister Suzanne live in the merciless conditions of an intemperate foreign land with their widowed mother. Their mother attempts to exert a hold on her children by involving them in the family's run-down rice plantation. However, the siblings seek liberation, and look for this in their romantic lives. Suzanne becomes involved with Michael and Joseph finds a love interest in Claude.

This Angry Age

1957

This Angry Age poster
6.1

20-year-old Joseph and his 16-year-old sister Suzanne live in the merciless conditions of an intemperate foreign land with their widowed mother. Their mother attempts to exert a hold on her children by involving them in the family's run-down rice plantation. However, the siblings seek liberation, and look for this in their romantic lives. Suzanne becomes involved with Michael and Joseph finds a love interest in Claude.

This Angry Age

1957

The Joy of Living poster
6.2

1821 Rome: Ulysses enrolls in the Italian Fascist party because he cannot find any employment. The first task entrusted to him leads Ulysses to the printer Fossati, where he's hired as an apprentice.

The Joy of Living

1961

The Joy of Living poster
6.2

1821 Rome: Ulysses enrolls in the Italian Fascist party because he cannot find any employment. The first task entrusted to him leads Ulysses to the printer Fossati, where he's hired as an apprentice.

The Joy of Living

1961

Watch Your Left poster
5.9

Roger, son of a farmer, wants to be a boxer, and gets his chance by filling in for a boxer's sparring partner. However, Roger does not know how to box and reads a rule book while in the ring.

Watch Your Left

1936

Monsieur Ripois poster
6.0

While his wife, Catherine, is finalizing their divorce, serial philanderer Andre invites his latest conquest, Catherine’s best friend, Patricia, over for dinner. Over the course of the evening, Andre shares his entire romantic history since first coming to London as a young man, including his liaisons with his former boss, a marriage-minded young girl and a kindhearted Frenchwoman.

Monsieur Ripois

1954

Mr. Orchid poster
6.5

In the Charente, during the Nazi occupation, 51-year-old apparent pacifist Edouard Martin is in fact the leader of a resistance network, using his hobby of orchid growing to hide radio equipment.

Mr. Orchid

1946

Aude, belle inconnue poster
NR

A documentary on Aude and the river that also bears its name.

Aude, belle inconnue

1937

Caesar among the Gauls poster
6.0

Vercingétorix and Caesar meet again...

Caesar among the Gauls

1931

No artwork available
NR

An imprisoned man looks back on his encounter with a woman.

Évasion

1935

No artwork available
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Ceux du rail

1943

L'Arabie interdite poster
8.5

Documentary made in Yemen (and first film ever shot in this country) under the leadership of archaeologist Jules Barthou. During the adventure of this film, René Clément will serve four days in prison for having concealed a camera under his clothes, then will be captured by rebels and threatened with being shot. The majority of the negatives will be seized by the guards of Imam Yahia, and it is with the remaining rushes that Clément will edit what becomes The Forbidden Arabia, a film entrusted to the Musée de l’Homme in 1965 where it is forgotten until that ethnologist Claudie Fayein unearths it and has it restored.

L'Arabie interdite

1937