Bertrand Tavernier died this Thursday at the age of 79.
Many tributes salute the man of cinema, director among others of "the Clockmaker of Saint-Paul", "Coup de torchon", "A Sunday in the countryside" and "Lure".
"It was the film above all"
Nils Tavernier, his son, actor and director
/ LP / Louisette Gouverne
“What he bequeathed to me is this desire for accuracy and freedom, this desire to make films that have meaning.
I hope to be able to keep this as long as possible, to be up to it… To continue, like him, not to be confused by show biz and the star system.
My father made films to serve the cinema, he did not use him.
I don't know where his passion for the seventh art came from: very young, he liked to be in theaters.
He always wanted to make cinoche.
He was truly a man of the cinema.
On a set, he played the film: it was the film above all.
All his life, my father spoke very deeply about the culture and love of cinema with Frédéric Bourboulon, Laurent Heynemann, Philippe Meyer, Thierry Frémaux and Volker Schlöndorff (who was in high school with him).
There he was writing his memoirs, which were not finished.
"
"His way of being was an example for all"
Gilles Jacob, General Delegate then President of the Cannes Film Festival from 1978 to 2014
/ LP / Fred Dugit
"Bertrand was both the great filmmaker we know (" Coup de torchon "," A Sunday in the countryside "," Let the party begin ", etc.), known throughout the world, but also a marvelous ambassador of French cinema and of cinema itself: his authoritative book on American filmmakers, his documentary “Voyage through French cinema” is one of the most beautiful things he has done.
His way of being, his behavior with fellow directors was an example for all.
Those who knew him can testify to his cinephilia, his unbeatable memory as a tireless storyteller, an unimaginable humor, vitality, memory.
He was an artist whose association enriched you and gave you the courage to continue.
He is someone who has been very committed to good fights, and not just cinema and culture, someone whose trace will remain for all the reasons I have just listed and for those that I have. forgotten.
"
"His raw material was the actor"
Bruno Putzulu has toured with Bertrand Tavernier "l'Appât" (1994) and "Holy Lola" (2003)
/ LP / Fred Dugit
“With
l'Appât
, Bertrand gave me my first important role in the cinema.
He had seen me at the theater in
Waiting for Godot
and offered me the film afterwards.
On the set, his raw material was the actor.
Even if the script was written, Bertrand was able to change everything at the last moment depending on the actor.
He always asked us:
How do you see the scene?
And he adapted the technique to the actors.
We met ten years after
L'Appât
on the set of
Holy Lola
.
Here too, Bertrand asked the actors to invent, to propose… Bertrand was not glued to his screen: he was a tall man, but he bent over backwards to be in the setting near the actors and his presence. gave us energy.
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Making a film with Tavernier was also living with him a long time before the film: we went to the cinema together, we ate together… When we arrived on the set, we already knew him a little.
Before the filming of
L'Appât
, with Marie (Gillain) and Olivier (Sitruk), we saw each other at Bertrand's, he gave us film screenings, we went to eat at Fulvio, an Italian restaurant.
One day, he had also said to the boss:
I'll take you in my film!
And he had indeed entrusted him with the role of a bar owner… Bertrand was very intuitive.
And he liked to laugh.
I remember I lied to him when I told him that, like my
Bait character
, I smoked.
One day, during a take, I choked on the smoke.
Bertrand burst out laughing and yelled
cut, cut!
He said to me:
But Bruno, you don't smoke in life?
You had to tell me ...
"