Although he is too easily overlooked today,
Jacques Becker is undoubtedly one of France’s greatest film directors. Responsible
for some of the most beautiful and compelling French films ever made, he was an inspiration
for the New Wave directors such as François Truffaut. Although some
of his films are now regarded as masterpieces, the man himself lives in obscurity.
Who was Jacques Becker?
Jacques Becker was born in 1906 to wealthy
bourgeois French and Scottish parents. He began his film career in the early 1930s
by working as an assistant to the great French film director Jean Renoir on Boudu,
sauvé des eaux (in which Becker appeared as a young poet) and La Marseillaise
. In 1934, he co-directed the short film Le Commissaire est bon enfant with
Pierre Prévert, and in 1935 he then made another short, Tête De Turc,
which he later disowned. In 1939, he started making L'Or de Cristobal, but
abandoned this (the film was completed by Jean Stelli). After this faltering start,
Jacques Becker made his first complete film in 1942, Dernier
atout, a respectable pastiche of the American crime thriller.
Becker’s early successes include Goupi
mains rouge and Falbalas
, which both illustrate the director's unique eye for detail and ability to construct
a captivating and intensely moving drama.
In 1950, Becker made an undisputed masterpiece,
Casque d’or, a tragic turn-of-the-century
romance which starred Simone Signoret and Serge Reggiani. Although poorly received
when it was first released, this film is now widely regarded as one of the classics of
French cinema.
Becker’s next film Touchez
pas au Grisbi is also highly regarded. Starring Jean Gabin, Lino Ventura
and Jeanne Moreau, this gripping gangster film became a template for the popular crime
thrillers which dominated French cinema in the 1950s.
There were also some disappointments. Ali-Baba
et les quarante voleurs (1954) and Les
Aventures d'Arsène Lupin (1957) were Becker’s most ambitious films but
are also among his weakest, lacking the atmosphere and conviction which is so apparent
in his other films.
Likewise Montparnasse
19 (1958) falls short of Becker’s earlier triumphs, although, with a fine performance
by Gérard Philippe, it is nevertheless an attractive film, full of tragic poignancy.
Becker made his final film in 1960, the suspense-laden
escape film Le Trou, which
is often cited as Becker’s best work. The film is certainly Becker’s closest approach
to neo-realism, a surprisingly hard-edged film for a director who had a reputation as
a romanticist.
Shortly before Le Trou was released
in 1960, Becker died. His legacy as a film director lives on in his son, Jean, who
has established his own reputation as a film director.
© James Travers
2002
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