René Clément

Director

March 18, 1913 (82 years)

† March 17, 1996

Bordeaux, Gironde, France

Biography

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 t…

Filmography

7.6

Purple Noon

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.

7.8

Forbidden Games

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.

7.2

Is Paris Burning?

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.

7.5

Beauty and the Beast

The story of a gentle-hearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a key, telling her that if she doesn't return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief. She is unable to return the key on time, but it is revealed that the Beast is the genuinely handsome one. A simple tale of tragic love that turns into a surreal vision of death, desire, and beauty.

6.5

Joy House

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.

6.7

Gervaise

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.

6.3

Rider on the Rain

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.

4.3

The Babysitter

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.

6.4

And Hope to Die

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.

5.5

The Deadly Trap

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.

5.8

The Glass Castle

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.

6.9

The Battle of the Rails

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.

6.5

The Walls of Malapaga

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.

6.8

The Day and the Hour

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.

5.9

The Damned

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.

6.2

The Joy of Living

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.

6.0

Monsieur Ripois

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.

6.1

This Angry Age

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.

6.5

Mr. Orchid

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.

6.0

Caesar among the Gauls

Vercingétorix and Caesar meet again...