Celebrity Biographies
Jean Pierre Mocky
A born provocateur, he directed titles like “À mort l’arbitre!” or “The Miracle”. The death of Jean-Pierre Mocky, on Thursday, August 8, 2019, shocked the world of cinema in France. For example, Gerard Depardieu asked his followers to attend the funeral at the Church of Saint Sulpice in Paris (although he himself was not present afterwards) and Jean-Paul Belmondo sent a wreath.
Born on July 6, 1933, in Nice, in the south of the country, into a family of Jewish origin, Jean-Paul Adam Mokiejewski –his full name– studied law before becoming interested in dramatic art. He debuted as an actor, first in the play “Les Casse-pieds” (1948) by Jean Dréville, but later moved to the cinema, with titles such as Orfeo (1950) by Jean Cocteau , Le Gorille vous salue bien (1957) by Bernard Borderie , and The Vanquished , by Michelangelo Antonioni , with which he achieved some popularity, especially in Italy.
After acting as assistant director to Luchino Viscont i in Senso (1954) and to Federico Fellini in La strada (1954), he made his debut as a screenwriter with La cabeza contra la pared (1959) which he did not direct himself, because against his wishes, the producer decided to enlist Georges Franju . Despite everything, he shoots his debut, Les dragueurs , the following year.
Jean-Pierre Mocky achieves success in his country with the comedies Un drôle de paroissien and La Grande Lessive . But after May 1968, her cinema deepens, with titles like Solo , where she portrays young terrorists from the extreme left, Bonsoir , where a lesbian pretends to have a boyfriend to save her inheritance from her homophobic relatives, À mort l’arbitre , about soccer violence, and El milagro , which denounces scammers who take advantage of those who make the pilgrimage to Lourdes. In these last two he recruits Michel Serrault , his fetish actor, as the protagonist.
Starting in the 1990s, his films hardly had an impact, but he shot at a good pace, sometimes four or five titles a year. He continues to act as an actor in titles such as Mal genio , from 2017. He became a regular on television sets, as a left-wing commentator in colloquiums. In 1994 he bought Le Brady, his own movie theater, where he mostly screened his own works. In 2010 he received the prix Henri-Langlois for his entire career and the prix Alphonse-Allais in 2013.