Margaret Menegoz, the pioneering producer who was a central figure in France’s film industry during a career spanning decades, has died. She was 83.

The Hungarian-born German-French producer served as president of Les Films du Losange from 1975 until 2021, and was president of Unifrance from 2003 to 2008.

During a career that included a key role at the Cesar Academy, Menegoz produced films for directors such as Eric Rohmer, Barbet Schroeder, Wim Wenders, Andrzej Wajda, Agnieszka Holland and Michael Haneke, including the latter’s Palme d’Or-and Oscar-winning Amour in 2012.

After her tenure at Les Films du Losange ended, Menegoz handed over the...

Margaret Menegoz, the pioneering producer who was a central figure in France’s film industry during a career spanning decades, has died. She was 83.

The Hungarian-born German-French producer served as president of Les Films du Losange from 1975 until 2021, and was president of Unifrance from 2003 to 2008.

During a career that included a key role at the Cesar Academy, Menegoz produced films for directors such as Eric Rohmer, Barbet Schroeder, Wim Wenders, Andrzej Wajda, Agnieszka Holland, and Michael Haneke, including the latter’s Palme d’or-and Oscar-winning Amour in 2012.

After her tenure at Les Films du Losange ended, Menegoz handed over the...

“I’m a big admirer of Gerard Depardieu,” said Emmanuel Macron candidly on the set of C’est à vous, the primetime TV magazine, when asked to comment on the downfall of Depardieu, the revered French actor who’s facing new sexual assault accusations and has crystallized a new tide of #MeToo in France.

“He’s an immense actor, who has delivered some of the most beautiful texts. He made France known, our greatest authors, our greatest characters, across the world,” said Macron. “I’ll say it as France president but also as a citizen, he makes France proud.”

Depardieu was indicted on Dec. 16, 2020 regarding allegations of rape and sexual assault tied to a 2018 lawsuit filed by actor Charlotte Arnould, but it took a bombshell investigative documentary, Complement d’Enquête, to provoke real outrage in France. In the documentary, which aired on Dec. 7, Depardieu is seen making crude, sexual and misogynistic jokes on footage,...

The fallout follows an incendiary investigative documentary Gerard Depardieu: The Fall Of The Ogre that aired earlier this month.

French actor Gerard Depardieu has been stripped of honours in France and abroad, and faces a new rape allegation from a Spanish author and journalist.

The fallout follows documentary Gerard Depardieu: The Fall Of The Ogre which aired in France on December 7 and featured footage of the actor making lewd comments to women in North Korea in 2018 and multiple accusations of sexual assault.

The Musée Grevin in Paris has removed a wax likeness of the actor that had been on display...

Emmanuelle Debever, a French actress who accused actor Gérard Depardieu of sexual assault, has died by an apparent suicide.

According to French newspaper Libération, Debever died after jumping into the Seine River in Paris. Her death was confirmed by French authorities on December 7th, who classified it as a suicide.

Debever was reported missing on November 29th after leaving behind a worrying note. After jumping into the river, she was briefly revived by paramedics, but passed away at a hospital.

Debever’s death was announced on the same day as the airing of a television documentary about the allegations made against Depardieu by multiple women, including by Debever.

In 2019, Debever accused Depardieu of assaulting her on the set of the 1982 film Danton.

Debever appeared in several French film and television series in the 1980s, but left the industry in 1989.

If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or know someone who is,...

Emmanuelle Debever, the first actor to have accused Gerard Depardieu of sexual assault, died in an apparent suicide after jumping from a bridge into the Seine river in Paris. Her death was announced in the media on Dec. 7, the day that a bombshell investigative documentary about Depardieu aired on French broadcaster France 2.

An investigation has been opened by Paris’ prosecutors to determine the causes of Debever’s death, Variety has confirmed. In a statement sent to Variety, the Paris’ prosecutors office said, “Debever was reported missing by her partner on Nov. 29 after leaving their home with a worrying note … The police was later alerted about a woman who jumped from a bridge into the Seine … She was found by paramedics who revived her and brought her to the hospital. The exact date of Debever’s death has not been revealed, but the prosecutors says it was “announced by the media on Dec.

Emmanuelle Debever, the French actress who was the first to accuse Gérard Depardieu of sexual assault, has died by suicide aged 60.

She passed away on December 7 after jumping into the Seine river, according to local news reports that were later confirmed by police officials, who have classified the death as suicide. Her death came on on the same day that a TV show documenting the sexual assault allegations against Depardieu was broadcast.

The program, part of France 2’s investigative news show Complément d’Enquête, included allegations from Debever. She accused Depardieu of assault during the filming of Andrzej Wajda’s 1982 period drama Danton.

This wasn’t the first time she’d made the allegations. In 2019, Debever wrote a short message on Facebook, accusing Depardieu of “sliding his fat paw under my skirt” as they rode in a carriage on set, adding: “I didn’t allow it to happen.”

Debever appeared in...

French actress Emmanuelle Debever, the first entertainer to accuse Gérard Depardieu of sexual assault, died by suicide Dec. 7, after jumping into the Seine river in Paris. She was 60.

First reported by the French newspaper Libération, Debever’s death has been confirmed by French authorities, who have classified it as a suicide.

Debever died on the same day as the TV broadcast of an investigative documentary into the various sexual assault allegations against Depardieu. The show, from the investigative news program Complément d’Enquête, teased the report last week with clips from an interview with actress Hélène Darras, who has filed an official complaint against Depardieu, claiming the French star sexually assaulted her on the set of the 2007 film Disco.

The TV documentary also included allegations from Debever, who accused Depardieu of assaulting her on the set of the 1982 film Danton, a period drama directed by Andrzej Wajda, in which Depardieu played Georges Danton.

In honor of Bastille Day, July 14, France’s independence day, here is a list of five top French Revolution films (in no particular order). Not all the films are French and not all have to do with The Revolution. but all celebrate French patriotism or the revolutionary ideals of Liberté, Égalité et Fraternité.

Oddly, there are not a lot of great French films on the Revolution, although it certainly seems a ripe subject for an epic. Still, all these are great films, in the spirit of the day. Vive La France!

Danton (1983)

The great French actor Gerard Depardieu stars as Danton, one of the early leaders of the Revolution but who fell from power as revolutionary leaders became more radical, in this excellent French film from Polish director Andrzej Wajda. It is considered one of the best films on the Revolution, but it was also a covert jab at the...

The 6th Annual Governors Awards took place on Saturday, November 8, 2014 in The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, CA.

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Harry Belafonte, Honorary Award recipient Hayao Miyazaki, Honorary Award recipient Jean-Claude Carrière and Honorary Award recipient Maureen O’Hara were honored by their peers during the evening.

The Honorary Award, an Oscar statuette, is given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, also an Oscar statuette, is given “to an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.”

Pictured (left to right): Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient Harry Belafonte, Honorary Award recipient Hayao Miyazaki, Honorary Award recipient Jean-Claude Carrière and Honorary Award recipient Maureen O’Hara

Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs introduces the 2014 Governors Awards

Carrière,...

Our 2014 Honorary Oscar tribute series continues with a two-part look at the long fascinating career of Jean-Claude Carrière. Here's Tim with Part Two.

Yesterday, Amir did a wonderful job of introducing us to the supremely gifted and abnormally prolific Jean-Claude Carrière, focusing on his iconic collaboration with Luis Buñuel. As important as that work was for both men, it tells only a fraction of the tale. With nearly a hundred screenplays to his credit in a career that’s still holding steady, 54 years on, it’s simply not possible to reduce the full scope of Carrière’s contribution to cinema to his work just one collaborator.

And so we now turn to Carrière's writing in the years following Buñuel’s death. Given the transgressive, ultra-modern nature of their films together, it’s perhaps a bit surprising that Carrière’s output from the ‘80s to the present would be dominated by...

The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Tuesday night (August 26) to present Honorary Awards to Jean-Claude Carrière, Hayao Miyazaki and Maureen O’Hara, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Harry Belafonte.

All four awards will be presented at the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 8, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center.

“The Governors Awards allow us to reflect upon not the year in film, but the achievements of a lifetime,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “We’re absolutely thrilled to honor these outstanding members of our global filmmaking community and look forward to celebrating with them in November.”

Carrière, who began his career as a novelist, was introduced to screenwriting by French comedian and filmmaker Pierre Étaix, with whom he shared an Oscar for the live action short subject “Heureux Anniversaire (Happy Anniversary)” in 1962. He...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced recipients of the 2014 Honorary Oscars, to be presented at the annual Governors Awards ceremony in November. Writer and actor Jean-Claude Carrière ("The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie," "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"), Japanese animation titan Hayao Miyazaki ("My Neighbor Totoro," "Spirited Away") and actress Maureen O'Hara ("The Parent Trap," "The Quiet Man") will receive Honorary Awards, while, singer/songwriter, actor and social activist Harry Belafonte will receive the organization's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Carrière, a frequent collaborator with Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel, has been nominated by the Academy as a screenwriter on three occasions. He won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short alongside comedian Pierre Étaix for 1963's "Happy Anniversary." He has also collaborated with filmmakers such as Andrzej Wajda ("Danton"), Jean-Luc Godard ("Every Man for Himself") and one of this year's Telluride tributees, Volker Schlöndorff ("The Tin Drum"). Miyazaki,...

Harry Belafonte will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and Jean-Claude Carrière, Hayao Miyazaki and Maureen O’Hara will receive Honorary Awards at the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards November 8 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland. The Academy’s Board of Governors did not award the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, which is given out periodically. The last recipient was Francis Ford Coppola in 2010. Deadline’s Pete Hammond will give his take later today. The full release follows:

Los Angeles, CA —The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Tuesday night (August 26) to present Honorary Awards to Jean-Claude Carrière, Hayao Miyazaki and Maureen O’Hara, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Harry Belafonte. All four awards will be presented at the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 8, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center®.

“The...

Film, opera and stage director known for La Reine Margot and his Ring cycle at Bayreuth in 1976

Unusually for a director, Patrice Chéreau, who has died of lung cancer aged 68, had more or less equally prestigious careers in the theatre, cinema and opera. Although he was internationally known from films such as La Reine Margot (1994) and his groundbreaking production of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle at Bayreuth (1976), he was renowned in his native France mostly for his "must-see" stage productions, especially during his long stints as co-director of the Théâtre National Populaire (1971-77) and the Théâtre des Amandiers (1982-90).

At these two subsidised theatres, in Villeurbanne, near Lyons, and Nanterre, in western Paris, respectively, Chéreau was able to introduce modern plays and bring a freshness to bear on the classics, particularly Marivaux, whose La Dispute he directed to acclaim at the Tnp in three different versions in the 1970s. At the Amandiers,...

Amour, Haneke, veterans Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant: The 38th Prix César Austrian-based filmmaker Michael Haneke's French-language drama about love, aging, illness, and death, Amour, won a total of five Césars earlier this evening at a ceremony held at Paris' Théâtre du Châtelet: Best Film, Best Actress for veteran Emmanuelle Riva, Best Actor for the equally veteran Jean-Louis Trintignant, Best Director for Haneke, and Best Original Screenplay (written by Haneke himself). [Pictured above: Best Actress César winner Emmanuelle Riva, looking radiant.] "I'm very lucky at this stage in my life to experience such a wonder," said Riva, who became an international film personality after the release of Alain Resnais' classic Hiroshima Mon Amour in 1959. Haneke was no present at the ceremony, for, at least according to one report, he's working on a production of the opera Cosi Fan Tutte, which debuts on Saturday in Spain. (As per other reports, the filmmaker is in Los Angeles for the Academy Awards.

Editor's Note: You may have figured out over the years that The Film Experience is more than a little fond of France and French cinema. Sadly I've never been to France. This year I've asked my friend in Paris, Julien to keep us up to date so he sent in the following article about this year's nominations. You should follow Julien Kojfer on Twitter because he's great. Just pretend you understand French whenever he goes there! - Nathaniel R

Julien takes it from here.

Three Films that also made waves Stateside

Here’s one for all you francophiles out there. France’s very own AMPAS, the César Academy, revealed its own set of nominees this morning. Since I’m guessing a lot of you won’t be familiar with most of the anointed films and performers, I’ll guide you through the major categories - a usual mixed bag of auteurist fare,...

Wealthy taxpayers' desire to flee tough fiscal policy has sparked a debate about patriotism and personal gain

Graphic: the high profile figures leaving France

France is discovering that, when it comes to wealthy taxpayers, you win some – and you lose some.

As the country's celebrities have lined up to defend or denigrate actor Gérard Depardieu following his self-imposed fiscal exile in neighbouring Belgium, the French have just welcomed back prize-winning author Michel Houellebecq after more than a decade living abroad.

The tax row sparked by Depardieu's departure has divided France – and not simply along traditional left-right, north-south or rich-poor lines. Fans and critics have spent the last week fretting over the morality of his decision and whether concepts of patriotism and solidarity outweigh those of personal gain and perceived greed.

Even after weeks of speculation, the announcement a fortnight ago that Depardieu, 63, was moving to Belgium to take refuge...

Mammuth star is the honourable descendent of Parisian pugs from Lino Ventura to Vincent Cassel

We can all agree that this has been a terrible few weeks for French masculinity – thanks not only to the off-duty actions of former Imf chief and alleged "rutting chimpanzee" Dominique Strauss-Kahn, but also to the moronic, insulting rationalisations offered de haut en bas by highly placed apologists such as Bernard-Henri Lévy and Jack Lang, who've sounded like scheming bourgeois misogynists from some mid-period Claude Chabrol movie.

Before this grotesque episode, Dsk had always reminded me of the great burly, barrel-chested, ugly-beautiful stars of French gangster movies; you could just imagine him blackmailing Lino Ventura, whom he strongly resembles (all the more so in handcuffs) or beating up Yves Montand in some Pigalle pissoir.

Luckily, we can still turn to Gérard Depardieu to redeem this fine tradition of Gallic movie sex symbols resembling bison who've...

Although the French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière has collaborated with Tati, Buñuel and Schlöndorff, he is the invisible man of film

To read the newly published This Is Not the End of the Book, a conversation between Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carrière, is to eavesdrop on two highly erudite minds. Digressive, anecdotal and humorous, they reflect on their love of the printed word and where the destiny of the book might lie, ranging from neglected French poetry of the 16th century to a forthcoming first edition of Waiting for Godot in the revived Nahuatl language of the Aztecs. But while Eco is internationally famous for his bestselling historical novels, Carrière has a relatively low profile even in his native France. Low, that is, for someone whose career as a dramatist has encompassed collaborations with an unparalleled array of directorial talent from film and theatre, and 50 books, in addition to the 80 screenplays,...

Polish film was an early frontrunner, before occupation forced wave after wave of talent abroad. Its fortitude is embodied by Andrzej Wajda – still going strong 50 years after his first feature

There aren't many traces on the internet of the early Polish pioneers: people such as Kazimierz Prószyński and Bolesław Matuszewski who were operating at the turn of the century, turning out silent short docos called things like Ślizgawka w Łazienkach (Skating-rink in the Royal Baths). (Prószyński was also a pioneering camera inventor, developing a model called a pleograph in 1894, and a handheld effort called an aeroscope in 1909.) Nor is there any link for Anton in Warsaw for the First Time, Poland's legendary first feature film, directed by and starring Antoni Fertner in 1908.

Fertner, though, went on to a respectable career as an actor in the interwar period – you can see him as an old man in Książątko (1937, above) and Gehenna...

Happy birthday to Best Actress winner Joan Fontaine (Suspicion, 1941), also known as the second Mrs. DeWinter. She turns 93 years young today. What on earth was she thinking about when she won the Oscar. This photo to your left fascinates me on account of "who knows?" It seems so much more candid than many Oscar night photos.

I keep the following "still with us!" list, not from any morbid curiousity but from a genuine happiness that some legendary screen stars are still walking the earth even though most of them aren't walking the screens these days. This year has been rough with the losses so maybe I'm going to stop keep this list. My heart was in the right place! We want the following to know that their past accomplishments are acknowledged by new generations.

The Oldest Living Oscar Nominees

All of them were born before the movies even had sound!

tuesday top ten returns! It's for the list-maker in me and the list-lover in you

The Cannes film festival wrapped this weekend (previous posts) and the most recent Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, The Secret in Their Eyes is still in the midst of a successful Us run. That Oscar winning Argentinian film came to us from director Juan Jose Campanella. It's his second film to be honored by the Academy (Son of the Bride was nominated ten years back). The Academy voters obviously like Campanella and in some ways he's a Hollywood guy. When he's not directing Argentinian Oscar hopefuls he spends time making Us television with episodes of Law & Order, House and 30 Rock under his belt.

So let's talk foreign-language auteurs. Who does Oscar love most?

[The film titles discussed in this article will link to Netflix pages -- if available -- should you be curious to see the films]

Best Director winners Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) and Milos Forman

(Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)

Please Note:...

DVD Rating: 3.5/5.0 Chicago – The Criterion Collection expanded by two titles recently and fans of Andrzej Wajda and Roberto Rossellini will be happy to see two of their films in slots #463 and #464 in the most acclaimed series of DVDs in the history of the format. Rossellini’s “Il Generale Della Rovere” and Wajda’s “Danton” might not be as high-profile films as some recent Criterion releases, but they have been given the typically spectacular treatment that this company has been known for over the years.

Rossellini’s “Il Generale Della Rovere” is a transition film from one of the fathers of neorealism’s more human films of the ’40s and ’50s to his historically-based work of the ’60s and ’70s. The director is still most known for that early period with “Rome, Open City” being required viewing for anyone with the guts to call themselves a film historian.

Danton was released...

DVD Playhouse—April 2009

By

Allen Gardner

Milk (Universal) Sean Penn deservedly captured his second Best Actor Oscar (and Dustin Lance Black a statuette for his original screenplay) in director Gus Van Sant’s portrait of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to hold public office in the U.S. Alternately heartbreaking, infuriating and very funny, a film that both captures a bygone era and is still very timely. Fine support from Josh Brolin, Victor Garber, James Franco and Emile Hirsch. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Three featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.

Slumdog Millionaire (20th Century Fox) The Best Picture of 2008 is a kinetic, clever audience-pleaser about a determined lad (Dev Patel) from the slums of Mumbai, who has his chance at literal and financial redemption as a contestant on India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Best Director Danny Boyle dazzles...

DVD Links: DVD News | Release Dates | New Dvds | Reviews | RSS Feed As I am typing this up I am completing my tour of the five most recent James Bond Blu-rays released last week. I have already watched Goldfinger, Moonraker, The World is Not Enough and Quantum of Solace and I am watching Never Say Never Again for the first time with plans of watching Thunderball immediately afterward. I am sure many of you know the story and why I will be watching Thunderball, but for those that don't, stay tuned as it will certainly be part of my Bond Blu-ray Round-Up Part Two. If you missed the first one you can read it here. As for what else is on my plate I just received the new Blu-ray copy of No Country for Old Men as well as Doubt. I am also interested in taking a peek at Cecil B. DeMille's Cleopatra,...