Jean Becker

The son of legendary director Jacques Becker , creator of works considered classics such as Paris Underworld , Jean came into contact with the world of cinema from a very young age. Born in Paris on May 10, 1933, the result of his father’s relationship with the actress Françoise Fabian, his son was soon his best disciple. Jean worked as his assistant in several of his films, such as Don’t Touch the Pasta , The Lovers of Montparnasse or The Escape . After this film, Jacques Becker died prematurely at the age of 53 and his son, who was 27 at the time, decided to make the leap into directing alone.

Jean Becker’s first film was the crime drama Un tal La Roca in 1961, which falls within the gangster cinema. Carried out by the charismatic Jean-Paul Belmondo , the actor’s collaboration with the director would last for two other films: the drama A free escape (1964), where he appeared with Jean Seberg and whose title reminded us of the mythical film that both shot at the orders of Jean-Luc Godard ; and the mischievous comedy Dulce hooligan (1966). The previous year he had already tried his hand at the comic genre Pas de caviar pour tante Olga (1965). In 1965 he began directing the series Les Saintes chéries. Over the course of five years, she directed a total of 31 episodes lasting just under half an hour.

Television work must have left him exhausted because Jean Becker then began a fallow period that would last a whopping thirteen years, until he returned in 1983 as director of the feature film Assassin Summer . This mystery drama, adapted from a novel by Sébastien Japrisot , were already big words. It had an excellent reception in Cannes and won several awards, such as 4 César Awards, including one for the best actress Isabelle Adjani . It was worse with Elisa (1995), a risqué drama starring a young Vanessa Paradis .

Lesson learned Jean Becker returned four years later with the comedy for which he will surely be remembered: La fortuna de vivir . It is a comedy of manners, with a bucolic atmosphere and full of humor, with a group of unforgettable characters who maintain an intense friendship in rural France during the First World War. The film, delicious, enchanted the audience and offered stupendous performances by a cast that included Michel Serrault , Jacques Villeret (who a year earlier had made us laugh as much as Mr. Pignon from Dinner for Idiots ) and a surprising Eric Cantona, footballer turned actor. From this film on, Becker’s filmography would already have another tone, where the simple, kind-hearted characters will be the constant in his stories, friendly, often dramatic but with a pleasant sense of humor.

The director would begin the decade with a new collaboration with Jacques Villeret in the smooth black comedy A crime in paradise , about the life of a married couple who kill themselves. And in the five years from 2007 to 2012 Becker would enter a period of enormous creativity that would lead to four formidable films. They all have a similar air: they are about normal people, who live their daily lives looking for happiness. As everyone. They are films of characters that become very close to the viewer, because their sufferings and their desires are those of all people. Becker brings a loving look towards the human being and his small pettiness, also capable of doing great things for the happiness of others.

Conversations with My Gardener (2007) had the leading role of one of the greats of French cinema, Daniel Auteuil , who plays a painter who has entered into a personal crisis after separating from his wife and a life of excesses. In Stop loving me (2008) a man wants to sow discord among his loved ones so that they don’t miss him when he dies, since the doctor has only given him a short time to live. The last two films, My Evenings with Margueritte (2010) and My Meeting with Marilou(2012) are a loving look at old age, with elderly, cultured and refined protagonists who find a way to overcome their loneliness by spending time with other people who have had less luck in life.