Henri-Georges Clouzot

Biography: life and films

Although he made just 11 full-length films spanning a 27 year period, Henri-Georges Clouzot is regarded as among the greatest of French film directors. His suspense thrillers are particularly highly regarded, with an enduring popular appeal that places him beside Alfred Hitchcock as a master of the genre.

Clouzot was born on 20th November 1907, in Niort, in the French region of Deux-Sèvres. The eldest of three sons, he belonged to a typical middle class family, his father making a living from his bookshop and his photography. From an early age, he was encouraged to take an interest in reading and music.

Clouzot's ill-health and myopia prevented him from pursuing the naval career he had wanted. Instead, in 1925, he went to Paris to study law and politics, with the intention of becoming a diplomat. His first job was as a secretary to a right-wing politician, but he soon abandoned that and opted instead for a career as a writer.

In 1931 he started working as a scriptwriter for the film producer Adolphe Osso, on Gallone's film Un soir de rafle. It was at about this time that he made his first film, a short entitled La Terreur des Batignolles. Clouzot then worked for a while as a supervisor for a German film production company, which was to serve as his apprenticeship in film making.

In 1934 a tuberculosis-related illness compelled him to enter a sanatorium, where he stayed for the next four years, pursuing his passion for reading: French literature and detective thrillers. Having recovered, Clouzot resumed his screen-writing career in 1938, working on such films as Le Dernier des Six and Les Inconnus dans la maison.

At the time of the German occupation of France, in 1942 (when French cinema was entirely under Germany control, at least in theory) he made his first full-length film, L'assassin habite au 21. Clouzot followed this with Le Corbeau, a magnificent film, but one which unleashed a storm of controversy which resulted in the film being banned and Clouzot being forbidden from making another film for several years.

In 1947, Clouzot emerged from his four-year exile with his film Quai des Orfèvres, an impressive detective thriller which restored the director's reputation and his popularity.

By the early 1950s, Clouzot was an established and successful film director in his own country. In 1953, his film suspense-laden masterpiece Le Salaire de la peur (which starred a young debutant, Yves Montand) earned him international fame. This success was easily consolidated by his next film, Les Diaboliques (1955), which, with its mounting suspense and heavy atmosphere is probably his most popular film. This was followed by a few less well-known, but highly regarded works, including Le mystère Picasso (1956) and La vérité (1960).

Clouzot's striving for perfection in all of his films earned him a reputation as a tyrant, often driving his actors to the point of exhaustion to achieve exactly the effect he was after. It was his desire to have complete control over his films that caused him to reject several lucrative offers from Hollywood-based film companies. His eye for deal and total mastery of the medium of film is reflected in virtually all of his films and at least partly explains why his films are so compelling and believable.

From the mid-1960s, Clouzot struggled to continue making films, but ill-health compelled him to abandon a number of projects. He died on 12th January 1977, in Paris.

Filmography