Film Forum

For over 70 years, Michel Piccoli (born 1925) has been omnipresent in French film, whether starring as Brigitte Bardot’s husband or Romy Schneider’s lover, or (always) leading the supporting cast; whether yearning, tentative nice guy; most insinuating of dirty old men; tormented existential hero (?); and even befuddled Pope; working along the way with a checklist of just about every French director from Godard and Melville to Rivette and Carax, as well as non-Gallic auteurs Manoel de Oliveira, Mario Bava, Marco Ferreri, Buñuel and Hitchcock — he has been so convincing as to seem typecast in each of these varied guises.

Presented with support from the George Fasel Memorial Fund for Classic French Cinema.

Reviews

“The Film Forum retrospective highlights movies in which the legendary French actor simply, unfussily commands our attention… How could such a quietly robust screen presence ever cease to exist? So far, he hasn’t — and even when he inevitably does, these indelible performances will surely endure.”
– Mike D’Angelo, The Village Voice

Films in this Series