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René Clément

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René Clément
Clément in 1995
Born(1913-03-18)18 March 1913
Bordeaux, France
Died17 March 1996(1996-03-17) (aged 82)
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Alma materÉcole des Beaux-Arts
OccupationsFilm director, screenwriter
AwardsSee below

René Clément (French: [ʁəne klemɑ̃]; 18 March 1913 – 17 March 1996) was a French film director and screenwriter, active from the 1930s through the 1970s. He was considered one of his country's leading filmmakers of the post-World War II era, and continued to work steadily through the New Wave era. He won five prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, including two Best Director Awards. To date, he is the most-awarded French filmmaker at the festival.[1]

Two of his films — The Walls of Malapaga (1949) and Forbidden Games (1952) — won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Clément's other notable films included Gervaise (1956), Purple Noon (1960), Is Paris Burning (1966), Rider on the Rain (1970), and And Hope to Die (1972). He received the Honorary César in 1984.

Clément was a co-founder and President of the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques and a President of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Early life

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Born and raised in Bordeaux, Clément studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. In 1936, he directed his first film, a 20-minute short written by 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 to film a documentary, the first ever of that country and one that includes the only known film image of Imam Yahya.

Career

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Clément directed numerous short films during the 1930s and early 1940s. He was also Jean Cocteau's technical director on Beauty and the Beast (1946). Almost ten years passed before Clément directed a feature but his French Resistance film, La Bataille du rail (1945), gained much critical and commercial success. At the inaugural Cannes Film Festival, Clément was nominated for the Palme d'Or and won the Best Director Award. It was the first of five prizes (from 10 total nominations) Clément would receive at the festival. He was a member of the feature film jury at the 1964 festival.[2] As of 2026, Clément remains the most-awarded French filmmaker at the festival.[1]

From there, Clément became one of his country's most successful and respected directors, garnering numerous awards including two films that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the first in 1950 for The Walls of Malapaga (Au-delà des grilles) and the second time two years later for Forbidden Games (Jeux interdits). He launched the career of Alain Delon with his 1960 thriller Purple Noon, based on Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. Clément had international success with several films, but his star-studded 1966 epic Is Paris Burning?, written by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola, was a costly box office failure.

He began directing Play Dirty (a.k.a. Written in the Sand), but quit early in production due to disputes with the film's producer, Harry Saltzman.[3] He directed the thriller Joy House (1964), with Delon and Jane Fonda.

In 1973 he was a member of the jury at the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.[4] Clément continued to make a few films until his retirement in 1975, including an international success with Rider on the Rain that starred Charles Bronson and Marlène Jobert. In 1984 the French motion picture industry honored his lifetime contribution to film with a special César Award.

Clement was a founding member and a President of the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques in 1968. He was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1985, and served as its president in 1990.[5]

Personal life

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Clément's second wife was Irish screenwriter Johanna Harwood, whom he had met on the set of his 1954 film Monsieur Ripois.[6]

Sexual harassment allegation

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In May 2023 on Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen, Fonda alleged that Clément sexually harassed her during the film's production telling her that the film involved a love scene and that she needed to sleep with him so that he could judge her orgasm. During the production he was 51 and she was 27.[7]

Death

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Clément died in Monaco on 17 March 1996, a day before his 83rd birthday. He was buried in the local cemetery in Menton on the French Riviera, where he had spent his years in retirement.

Critical appraisal

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Clément's work was often criticized by the young filmmakers of the French New Wave.[8] François Truffaut in particular often called out Clément as indicative of the Tradition de qualité ("Tradition of Quality") that the New Wave sought to break from.[8] Clément himself believed that the criticism, like that of his fellow luminaries Jean Delannoy and Claude Autant-Lara, hurt his career in his later years.[8]

Conversely, Truffaut's Cahiers du Cinéma colleague André Bazin was less critical.[9] Other critics have noted Clément's versatility across multiple genres, and his use of location filming.[8] His oft-collaborator Alain Delon considered him a mentor figure, and dedicated his 1982 directorial effort Le Battant to him.[8]

One critic summarized his career by saying "Among the great classic French filmmakers, René Clément has two particularities: he is the director who achieved the most success with the general public over three decades, and yet he is the least appreciated by critics, film buffs, and the general public alike."[5]

Retrospective

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Clément received a retrospective at the Cinémathèque française in 2013.[10]

Filmography

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Feature films

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Year Original title English title Functioned as Notes
Director Writer
1946 La Bataille du rail Battle of the Rails Yes Yes
Le Père tranquille Mr. Orchid Yes No
1947 Les Maudits The Damned Yes Yes
1949 Au-delà des grilles The Walls of Malapaga Yes No
1950 Le Château de verre Glass Castle Yes Yes
1952 Jeux interdits Forbidden Games Yes Yes
1954 Knave of Hearts Knave of Hearts Yes Yes
1956 Gervaise Gervaise Yes No
1957 This Angry Age This Angry Age Yes Yes
1960 Plein soleil Purple Noon Yes Yes Also actor; as "Waiter"
1961 Quelle joie de vivre The Joy of Living Yes Yes Also actor; as "General"
1963 Le Jour et l'Heure The Day and the Hour Yes Yes
1964 Les Félins Joy House Yes Yes
1966 Paris brûle-t-il? Is Paris Burning? Yes No
1969 Le Passager de la pluie Rider on the Rain Yes No
1971 La Maison sous les arbres The Deadly Trap Yes Yes
1972 La Course du lièvre à travers les champs And Hope to Die Yes No
1975 La Baby-Sitter Wanted: Babysitter Yes Yes

Awards and nominations

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Institution Year Category Work Result Ref.
Bodil Awards 1954 Best European Film Jeux interdits Won
British Academy Film Awards 1955 Best British Screenplay Knave of Hearts Nominated [11]
Cannes Film Festival 1946 Palme d'Or Le Père tranquille Nominated [2]
La Bataille du rail Nominated [2]
Best Director Won [2]
Jury Prize Won [2]
1947 Best Adventure and Crime Film Les Maudits Won [2]
1949 Palme d'Or Au-delà des grilles Nominated [2]
Best Director Won [2]
1954 Palme d'Or Knave of Hearts Nominated [2]
Jury Prize Won [2]
1961 Palme d'Or Quelle joie de vivre Nominated [2]
César Awards 1984 Honorary César —N/a Won [12]
Edgar Awards 1962 Best Foreign Film Plein soleil Won
French Syndicate of Cinema Critics 1947 Best Film La Bataille du rail Won
Venice Film Festival 1952 Golden Lion Jeux interdits Won [13]
1956 Gervaise Nominated [14]
FIPRESCI Prize Won [14]

References

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  1. ^ a b La Rédaction, « Cannes en 69 questions », Studio Ciné Live n° 79,‎ mai 2016, p. 69.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "René CLÉMENT". Festival de Cannes. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  3. ^ "Play Dirty". Filmfacts. 12: 90.
  4. ^ "8th Moscow International Film Festival (1973)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  5. ^ a b "Quinzaines - "Un cinéaste maudit ?"". www.la-nouvelle-quinzaine.fr. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  6. ^ Field, Matthew (2012). "Johanna Harwood Interview". Movie Classics: A Cinema Retro Special Edition Magazine (4). Solo Publishing.
  7. ^ "Jane Fonda Plays Plead The Fifth WWHL". Youtube. 15 May 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  8. ^ a b c d e Chansel, Dominique (2001). L' Europe à l'écran: le cinéma et l'enseignement de l'histoire; projet "apprendre et enseigner l'histoire de l'Europe du 20e siècle". Éducation. Learning and teaching about the history of Europe in the 20th century, Council for Cultural Co-operation (Réimpr ed.). Strasbourg: Éd. du Conseil de l'Europe. ISBN 978-92-871-4529-1.
  9. ^ "Forbidden Games: Death and the Maiden". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  10. ^ "Rétrospective René Clément - La Cinémathèque française". www.cinematheque.fr. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  11. ^ "Film". Bafta. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  12. ^ "Cérémonie des César 1984". Académie des César (in French). Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  13. ^ "Film Forum · René Clément's FORBIDDEN GAMES". Film Forum. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  14. ^ a b Roos, Fred (Spring 1957). "Venice Film Festival, 1956" (PDF). The Quarterly of Film Radio and Television. 11 (3). University of California Press: 249. doi:10.2307/1209744. JSTOR 1209744. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2020. The report began with a few sentences of praise for each of the 14 films [sic], and then selected the Japanese Harp of Burma and the Spanish Calle Mayor as being particularly outstanding. Since the jury was unable to decide which of these two films was the superior, it had decided not to award a grand prix "St. Mark Golden Lion" this year.
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