Xavier Beauvois

Xavier Beauvois
Period: 1990-1990
Profession: Filmmaker Born on March 20, 1967, Xavier Beauvois spent his childhood in northern France, consumed by a passion: cinema. Although he was destined for a working-class life, he clung on to what really made him exist, against all odds. At a university lecture given by Jean Douchet, Beauvois meets this film historian and contemporary of the Nouvelle Vague, who takes a keen interest in the young aspiring director’s feverish personality. He helped Beauvois take his first steps in Paris, and met personalities such as Serge Daney, who helped confirm the young man’s cinematic desires. Xavier Beauvois directed a short prison film, Le matou, in 1986, then worked as an assistant for André Téchiné (Les innocents) and Manoel de Oliveira. After starring in Le ciel de Paris, Michel Béna’s first and only film, Xavier Beauvois was awarded the lead role in his first film, , a dark and painful chronicle of an adolescence torn apart by the father’s alcoholism and an incestuous desire for the mother. This semi-autobiographical film received rave reviews from critics, won an award at the Montreal Film Festival and was nominated for a César. A secretive, taciturn man, Xavier Beauvois was the embodiment of young French cinema, with a demanding approach that met with little response. Away from the schools and fashions, far from the media crowd, he continued his discreet but tenacious career as an actor, notably with Michel Deville (Aux petits bonheurs), before turning his attention to directing a new film in 1994, N’oublie pas que tu vas mourir. This wandering tale of a young man (again played by himself) who discovers he is HIV-positive and embarks on a journey between darkness (drugs) and light (the love of a young girl in sunny Italy) was presented in the Official Selection at Cannes 1994, but was poorly received by critics, who criticized its adolescent romanticism, and then by audiences. Xavier Beauvois continued to act, notably under the direction of Jacques Doillon (in Ponette, he is the father of the little girl), Bernard-Henri Lévy (Le jour et la nuit) and Philippe Garrel (Le vent de la nuit). He has now returned to directing with his third film, Selon Matthieu, and the first in which he does not appear. Filmography as an actor: 1990 – Le ciel de Paris (Béna) 1993 – Aux petits bonheurs (Michel Deville) 1994 – Les amoureux (Corsini) 1995 – Ponette (Jacques Doillon) 1996 – Le jour et la nuit (Lévy) 1997 – Disparus (Bourdos) 1998 – Le vent de la nuit (Garrel) Filmography as a director: 1991 – Nord 1995 – N’oublie pas que tu vas mourir 2000 – Selon Matthieu 2005 – Le Petit Lieutenant 2010 – Des hommes et des dieux Films presented at Cannes 2010 – Des hommes et des dieux – En Compétition Direction, Scénario & Dialogues 1995 – N’oublie pas que tu vas mourir – En Compétition Direction, Scénario & Dialogues, Interprète Le Palmarès 2010 – Grand Prix – DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX – Feature film 1995 – Prix du Jury – N’ OUBLIE PAS QUE TU VAS MOURIR – Feature film Filmography as director :