Michel Deville - biography

Michel Deville was born on the 13th April 1931, in Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburb of Paris.  He began as an assistant director in the early 1950s and worked with director Henri Decoin on several of his films, notably Dortoir des grandes (1953) and Razzia sur la chnouf (1955).  With Charles Gérard, he co-directed Une balle dans le canon (1958), a run-of-the-mill crime thriller that is best overlooked.   Having created his own film production company Éléfilm in 1961, he began making his own films.

Deville’s solo debut feature, Ce soir ou jamais (1961), was the first in a series of light romantic comedies which were popular with the public and marked the beginning of his collaboration with Nina Companeez, his faithful screenwriter for the next decade.  From Adorable menteuse (1962), a playful game of deception in young love, to Raphaël ou le Débauché (1971), a much darker and more intense study in desire, Deville came to be regarded as one of France’s most promising young directors.  His historical romance Benjamin ou les Mémoires d’un puceau (1968) was a major critical and commercial success and won him the prestigious Prix Louis Delluc.

From the early 1970s, Michel Deville’s films began to take on a much darker hue and showed an increasing interest in stylisation.   Le Dossier 51 (1978), a Kafkaesque néo-polar thriller, distinguishes itself with the use of the subjective camera, an approach that imbues the film with menace and reflected public concern over modern surveillance methods.   Le Paltoquet (1986) is a haunting dream experience which feels like a Raymond Chandler parody of an Agatha Christie play, using and abusing the familiar film noir and murder mystery motifs as it bulldozes filmmaking conventions.   La Maladie de Sachs (1999), arguably Deville’s best film, takes us into the inner worlds of the main protagonist, so that the spectator is forced to experience his self-destructive odyssey. 

Many of Deville’s films are full-frontal assaults on bourgeois double standards, far crueller, far darker than those of his contemporary Claude Chabrol.  These include: Le Mouton enragé (1974), Eaux profondes (1981) and Péril en la demeure (1985) - three of his most compelling films.   One of Deveille’s best-known films is La Lectrice (1988), another distinctive work which explores the interplay of real life and the dream life we inhabit whilst reading.  This film was nominated for nine Césars (including Best Director and best Film) but won only one award, for Best Actor (Patrick Chesnais).

Since this creative high point, Deville’s output has declined, and whilst most of his films have failed to attract the attention of his earlier work, some are worth noting.  Un monde presque paisible (2002) is an engaging portrait of a Jewish family struggling to rebuild their lives after the Holocaust whilst Un fil à la patte (2005) is an agreeable adaptation of a popular Feydeau farce.  Whilst Deville’s films encompass a remarkable diversity of subjects, they are linked by an idiosyncratic approach which suggests, very subtly, the dark and powerful forces that are in play beneath a seemingly placid surface.   This explains why Deville’s cinema is so unsettling - we feel far, far more than we actually see.

© James Travers 2012

Michel Deville directed the following films:
Une balle dans le canon (1958)
Ce soir ou jamais (1961)
Adorable menteuse (1962)
À cause, à cause d’une femme (1963)
L’Appartement des filles (1963)
Lucky Jo (1964)
Martin Soldat (1966)
Il Ladro della Gioconda (1966)
Zärtliche Haie (1967)
Benjamin (1968)
Bye bye, Barbara (1968)
L’Ours et la poupée (1969)
Raphaël ou le débauché (1971)
La Femme en bleu (1973)
Le Mouton enragé (1974)
L’Apprenti salaud (1977)
Le Dossier 51 (1978)
Le Voyage en douce (1980)
Eaux profondes (1981)
La Petite bande (1983)
Péril en la demeure (1985)
Le Paltoquet (1986)
La Lectrice (1988)
Nuit d’été en ville (1990)
Contre l’oubli (1991)
Toutes peines confondues (1992)
Aux petits bonheurs (1994)
La Divine poursuite (1997)
La Maladie de Sachs (1999)
Un monde presque paisible (2002)
Un fil à la patte (2005)

Michel Deville contributed to the screenplay for the following films:
Ce soir ou jamais (1961)
Adorable menteuse (1962)
À cause, à cause d’une femme (1963)
L’Appartement des filles (1963)
Lucky Jo (1964)
On a volé la Joconde (1966)
Benjamin (1968)
Bye bye, Barbara (1968)
L’Ours et la poupée (1969)
L’Apprenti salaud (1977)
Le Dossier 51 (1978)
Le Voyage en douce (1980)
Eaux profondes (1981)
Le Paltoquet (1986)
La Lectrice (1988)
La Divine poursuite (1997)
La Maladie de Sachs (1999)
Un monde presque paisible (2002)