Jean-Claude Carrière

Jean-Claude Carrière has worked as a cartoonist, novelist, actor, and director, but more importantly established himself as one of France's foremost screenwriters. Beginning his film career with director Pierre Etaix, Carrière went on to collaborate with the likes of Milos Forman, Jacques Deray, Jean-Luc Godard, Volker Schlondorff, Philippe de Broca, and Bertrand Tavernier. His most fruitful professional association was with Luis Buñuel; his scripts for Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) and That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) earned him Academy Award nominations. Still another Oscar nomination came his way for his work on Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Carrière's own directorial career thus far consists of a 1968 short subject and the 1985 feature L'Unique. As an actor, he has appeared in Buñuel's Diary of a Chambermaid and The Milky Way, as well as the 1994 feature Night and the Moment. Also in 1994, Jean-Claude Carrière published his autobiography, The Secret Language of Film.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide