A French director who rose through the production ranks and even has acted and written songs, Benoit Jacquot is known for a flashy style and for investigating the innate impulses of human beings in his films. He began working in features in the late 1960s as an assistant director, often associated with Marguerite Duras, with whom he collaborated on such films as "Sweet Hunters" (1969) and "India Song" (1975). By 1975, he had directed his first feature, "L'Asassin Musicien", but real notice did not come until "Corps et biens/With All Hands" (1986), about a man (Lambert Wilson) who remarries after murdering his wife but is drawn to his former sister-in-law (Dominique Sanda) who suspects his crime. The film speculated on animal attraction and the lure of the unsavory. "Les Mendiants" (1987) starred Sanda and its narratives interwove tales of children, lovers, and criminals and suggested the similarities of their behavioral patterns. In 1995, Jacquot made his seventh feature, "La Fille seule/A Single Girl", in which a woman (Virginie Ledoyen) discovers she is pregnant by her boyfriend on the day she begins work as a maid at a hotel. Through her observations of the hotel guests, she decides to leave her beau and raise the child on her own.Never prone to see human attributes as a case of the positive outweighing the negative, Jacquot cannot always find financing for his concepts and occasionally has worked writing screenplays for others. In 1983, he wrote "La Guerre des demoiselles/The Young Ladies' War", about a real event in France. He also wrote the songs for "Le Navire nuit" (1979) and has acted in small roles in a number of the films since the late 70s, including "Le Theatre des matieres" (1977), and "La Memoire Courte/Short Memory" (1979).
Profession(s):
director, screenwriter, Actor, assistant director, songwriter
Sometimes Credited As:
2001 Directed a film version of the opera "Tosca"
2000 Directed Isabelle Huppert in "La Fausse suivante"
2000 Helmed the period biopic "Sade", starring Daniel Auteuil
1998 Helmed the Cannes-screened "L'Ecole de la chair/The School of Flesh", starring Isabelle Huppert
1996 Reunited with Ledoyen for the telefilm "Marianne/La Vie de Marianne"
1995 Directed and wrote "La Fille seule/A Single Girl" starring Virginie Ledoyen and Benoit Magimel
1993 Made the documentary films "Ecrire" and "La Mort du jeune aviateur anglais"
1990 Helmed "La Disenchantee", starring Judith Godreche
1988 Reunited with Sanda on "Les Mendiants"
1985 Directed Dominique Sanda and Lambert Wilson in "Corps et Bien"
1982 Helmed first TV program, "Un Villa aux Environs de New York"
1979 Wrote songs for "Le Navire"
1977 Played small role in film "Le Theatre des matieres"
1975 Wrote and directed first feature film, "L'Assassin Musicien"
1965 Began career as a stagiere on "Angelique et le Roy" directed by Bernard Borderie
Early work included as an assistant director, particularly associated with director Marguerite Duras
