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Michel Blanc, the legendary French actor best known for his roles in the Les Bronzés films and Monsieur Hire, has died. He was 72.

He died early Friday morning at a Parisian hospital after suffering a heart attack the previous night, according to Agence France-Presse (Afp).

France’s President Emmanuel Macron also paid tribute to Blanc on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “He made us cry with laughter and moved us to tears. A monument of French cinema, Michel Blanc has gone. Our thoughts go out to his loved ones and his acting accomplices.”

Born on April 16, 1952, in Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine), France, Blanc had a passion for classical music from a young age. But he later changed direction and co-founded the Le Splendid troupe, a café-théâtre company, in the 1970s with his friends, Christian Clavier, Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko, Marie-Anne Chazel, Bruno Moynot and Claire Magnin.

As for his film projects,...

Michel Blanc, the French actor known for the “Les Bronzés” films and crime drama “Monsieur Hire,” has died. He was 72.

Blanc died early Friday morning after suffering a heart attack the previous night, according to Agence France-Presse (Afp).

Blanc was known for his role as the awkward bachelor Jean-Claude Dusse in the 1978 film “Les Bronzés” (“French Fried Vacation”), directed by Patrice Leconte. He starred in the 1979 and 2006 follow-up films to the cult French comedy.

Blanc was also revered for his dramatic performances in film, including in Leconte’s 1989 crime thriller “Monsieur Hire,” where he played the titular character. In 2012, Blanc received the César for best supporting actor for “L’Exercice de l’État” (“The Minister”), written and directed by Pierre Schoeller.

Blanc directed, co-wrote and starred in the 1984 film “Marche à l’ombre” and 2002’s “Summer Things.” Additional film credits include “Les Filles de Malemort” (1974), “Let Joy Reign Supreme” (1975), “The Best...

Catering directly to my interests, the Criterion Channel’s January lineup boasts two of my favorite things: James Gray and cats. In the former case it’s his first five features (itself a terrible reminder he only released five movies in 20 years); the latter shows felines the respect they deserve, from Kuroneko to The Long Goodbye, Tourneur’s Cat People and Mick Garris’ Sleepwalkers. Meanwhile, Ava Gardner, Bertrand Tavernier, Isabel Sandoval, Ken Russell, Juleen Compton, George Harrison’s HandMade Films, and the Sundance Film Festival get retrospectives.

Restorations of Soviet sci-fi trip Ikarie Xb 1, The Unknown, and The Music of Regret stream, as does the recent Plan 75. January’s Criterion Editions are Inside Llewyn Davis, Farewell Amor, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and (most intriguingly) the long-out-of-print The Man Who Fell to Earth, Blu-rays of which go for hundreds of dollars.

See the lineup below and learn more here.

Back By Popular Demand

The Graduate,...

Iconic French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier, known for such award winning works as A Sunday In The Country, Round Midnight, Capitaine Conan, It All Starts Today and Life And Nothing But, has died at the age of 79. The news was confirmed by France’s Lumière Institute in Lyon of which Tavernier was president.

The organization tweeted: “With his wife Sarah, his children Nils and Tiffany and his grandchildren, the Lumière Institute and Thierry Frémaux are saddened and pained to inform you of the disappearance, today, of Bertrand Tavernier.”

Avec son épouse Sarah, ses enfants Nils et Tiffany et ses petits-enfants, l'Institut Lumière et Thierry Frémaux ont la tristesse et la douleur de vous faire part de la disparition, ce jour, de Bertrand Tavernier. pic.twitter.com/apVuXzYgmS

— Institut Lumière (@InstitutLumiere) March 25, 2021

A cause of death has not yet been confirmed, although Tavernier’s friend and fellow filmmaker Claude Lelouch told France...

“At the Pathé Journal, I saw a guy next to me open a can of peas, heat it up, and eat it,” recalls Bertrand Tavernier with a survivor’s perverse pride as he describes the widely mythologized Paris movie houses of the 1950s in My Journey Through French Cinema, his smart and gregarious personal tour through the first four or so decades of French sound film. Tavernier himself is one of the most skillful and, in this country, underappreciated French writer-directors of the generation that came after the revolutionary New Wave. In America, he’s probably best known for the Jim Thompson adaptation Coup De Torchon, a film that showcases his dark wit, though his historical dramas (including Captain Conan, Let Joy Reign Supreme, and The Judge And The Assassin) really belong in a class of their own. The best guides to film history are generally opinionated and very personal ...

Actress, director and screenwriter Nicole Garcia is to preside over the Jury for this year’s Caméra d’or award for the best debut film at Cannes.

Garcia, who has presented a total of seven films at Cannes as both actress and director, first came to attention in Bertrand Tavernier’s Let Joy Reign Supreme in 1975 and subsequently worked with directors Henri Verneuil (Body of My Enemy, 1976) and Laurent Heynemann (The Question, 1977).

In 1979, her performance in Philippe de Broca’s Practice Makes Perfect earned her popular acclaim and a César award for best supporting actress. She went on to work with the greats of French cinema including Alain Resnais (My American Uncle, 1980), Bertrand Blier (Stepfather, 1981), Claude Lelouch (Bolero: Dance of Life, 1981), Pierre Schoendoerffer (A Captain’s Honor, 1982), Claude Sautet (Waiter!, 1983) and Claude Miller (Little Lili, 2003).

She made her behind-the-camera debut with Every Other Weekend in 1990, followed by The Favorite Son in 1994. She has directed seven films, of...

Updated through 5/18.

"When Bertrand Tavernier embarked on his first period piece, Let Joy Reign Supreme, some 35 years ago, he produced a stunning portrait of life at the court of the Bourbons in early 18th century," writes Dan Fainaru in Screen. "This time he goes back in time another 150 years, to one of the darkest, most tormented, periods of French history, using for his backdrop the brutal wars waged by the Catholic court against the Protestant dissidents, and doing his best to integrate a powerfully emotional love story into the course of history, and do justice to both. It is an impossible mission at which he almost — if not quite — succeeds."...

PARIS -- Organizers of the first International Festival of Cinema and Gastronomy, to take place Nov. 17-21 in the Burgundy capital of Dijon, on Monday announced a mouthwatering lineup of food-related movies and culinary events. The fest opens, appropriately, with Bertrand Tavernier's 1974 picture Que la Fete Commence (Let the Party Begin), followed by Gabriel Axel's 1987 film about a sumptuous banquet, Babette's Feast. After the evening screening, some 200 invitees will attend a re-enactment of the banquet in the celebrated Burgundy winery Chateau du Clos Vougeot, whose wine was served in the film. The first edition has only a smattering of international talent on the guest list, including Italian helmer Ettore Scola, who is due in town for a screening of his film Le Diner. Part of a day will be dedicated to Italian cuisine, and Mexican director Alfonso Arau will accompany his tale of love and cookery Like Water for Chocolate.