Claude Chabrol is Dead

The French director Claude Chabrol has died at the age of 80 years.  His death was announced by the Deputy Mayor of Culture in Paris, Christophe Girard.  Chabrol was a popular guest on TV shows in his later years, noted for his candor and for his sense of humor.

Yet he will be remembered for his part in the launch of the New Wave, or Nouvelle Vague form of Cinema at the end of the 1950s, alongside the likes of Jaques Rivetter and Francois Truffaut.  At the end of the 1950s he created a production company and then directed his first film, Le Beau Serge in 1959.

He had quite an average – one film a year since 1958, surely making him one of the most prolific modern filmmakers of modern times.  It was not, however until the late sixties that he established fully his signature style and gave the world the adjective Chabrol-esque to describe his (more often than not) suspense thrillers.

He then turned to films which portrayed the French bourgeoisie and discovered the actress Isabelle Huppert.  He will also be remembered for his marvellous France 3 documentary series, If the TV could talk (Si la télé m'était contée).

Claude Chabrol – 1930 - 2010

Image Credit Flickr User Press Indepicarde