Jean-Jacques Beineix

Second Assistant on The Day the Clown Cried

His first steady work came in 1970 on the third season of the television series Les Saintes cheries, directed by Jean Becker, where he moved from second to first assistant. Over the next decade he assisted Claude Berri, Claude Zidi and Rene Clement. In 1972 he was second assistant director on Jerry Lewis's The Day the Clown Cried. AFP also noted that he first made his name in advertising, and that he directed a television spot for AIDS prevention.

In 1977 he directed a short, Le Chien de M. Michel, which won a prize at the Trouville festival.

Diva at Le Pantheon, 1981

Diva, his first feature, opened in France in 1981 and the Paris critics went after it. The CNC's account says they faulted its imagination as something borrowed from advertising. The opening weeks were poor. Then the film kept running, carried by word of mouth, and at the Toronto festival in 1982 it drew a standing ovation. Pauline Kael called the debut "genuinely sparkling." AFP's obituary states the sequence plainly: Diva became a hit at home only after it had won prizes abroad.

By the time it was done, Diva had passed two million admissions in France and had played for more than a year at Le Pantheon, the Paris cinema owned by its producer Pierre Braunberger. It won four Cesar awards, including best first film. Critics later filed the picture, and Beineix with it, under the label "cinema du look", a group that also took in Luc Besson and Leos Carax. Beineix did not forget the first reviews. He told The Hollywood Reporter years later that "nobody's a prophet in his own country."

The Boos at Cannes for The Moon in the Gutter

His second film, The Moon in the Gutter (1983), was booed at its Cannes premiere and failed at the box office. It took one Cesar, for set design. In 2006, per the Guardian, he described himself as "arrogant, a provocateur."

Cargo Films and the Oscar Nomination for Betty Blue

In 1984 Beineix founded his own production company, Cargo Films. Two years later came Betty Blue, released in France in 1986 under the title 37°2 le matin and adapted from Philippe Djian's novel. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for best foreign language film, and for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. In France it drew nine Cesar nominations.

Asked by The Hollywood Reporter about his influences, he put one name above the rest: "Above everyone is Stanley Kubrick." Asked about Hollywood, he answered, "Hate and love, love and hate." AFP reported that he turned down offers to direct The Avengers, Alien Resurrection and The Name of the Rose.

Yves Montand's Last Film, IP5

Roselyne and the Lions followed in 1989. Then came IP5 (1992), which turned out to be the final film of Yves Montand. Montand died two days after reshoots of the scene in which his character dies, and AFP recorded that some people blamed Beineix for it.

Locked-In Syndrome and the Documentaries

Through the 1990s Cargo Films carried his documentary work: Les Enfants de Roumanie (1992), Place Clichy sans complexe (1994), and Otaku. In 1997 he made Locked-In Syndrome, a documentary about Jean-Dominique Bauby. When the dramatised version of Bauby's story, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, was offered to him, he turned it down. In 2013 he directed another documentary, Les Gaulois au-dela du mythe.

Mortal Transfer and the $2 Million He Put In Himself

His last fiction feature was Mortal Transfer (2001). The Guardian's obituary reports that he put $2 million of his own money into it. In 2009 he looked back on Diva and Mortal Transfer together: "I thought I had made two films for the price of one... My first and my last."

That $2 million is the only money figure any reputable source attaches to Beineix. No outlet in the financial or trade press has published an estimate of his earnings, his stake in Cargo Films, or his estate, and the numbers that appear on celebrity net worth sites cite no inputs. This article therefore gives no net worth figure.

Les Chantiers de la Gloire, 835 Pages

After Mortal Transfer he wrote more than he filmed. A graphic novel, L'Affaire du siecle, came out between 2004 and 2006. His memoir, Les Chantiers de la gloire, ran to 835 pages when it appeared in 2006. He staged a show about Kiki de Montparnasse at the Theatre Le Lucernaire in Paris in the 2015-2016 season, and in 2020 he published a novel, Toboggan.

13 January 2022, Paris

Beineix died at his home in Paris on 13 January 2022, aged 75, after what his family described as a long illness. His brother Jean-Claude announced the death, and the family confirmed it to AFP. He was survived by his wife, Agnes, and a daughter. The CNC, which had once watched the Paris critics turn on Diva, published its own tribute three days later, counting the two million admissions as part of the record.

Sources

• Jean-Jacques Beineix obituary | Film | The Guardian
• Jean-Jacques Beineix Dead: Diva, Betty Blue Director Was 75
• Mort de Jean-Jacques Beineix, réalisateur de 37°2 le matin | CNC
• Tormented 'Betty Blue' director Jean-Jacques Beineix dies | Malay Mail
• Q&A: Jean-Jacques Beineix
• Jean-Jacques Beineix, Director of Betty Blue, Dies at 75
• Scotsman Obituaries: Jean-Jacques Beineix, French film director and writer
• Eye For Film: Jean-Jacques Beineix obituary