Claude Berri or the thwarted destiny of a furrier’s son and grandson
Levy, Ophir
Claude Berri or the thwarted destiny of a furrier’s son and grandson - 2024.
47
In many ways, the career of director-producer Claude Berri is reminiscent of the founders of the great Hollywood studios. The son of a Jewish immigrant couple from Poland and Romania, Claude Beri Langmann was born in Paris in 1934. Breaking away from the professional environment of many modest Jews in Paris, including his father, Claude Berri drew on his own personal experience (hiding as a child during the war, spending his teenage years in his father’s fur workshop, torn between conformity to Jewish tradition and the pleasures of modern life) to make his first films : Le vieil homme et l’enfant (1967), Mazel Tov ou Le Mariage (1968), Le Cinéma de Papa (1970). Alongside his successful career as a filmmaker (Tchao Pantin, Jean de Florette, Manon des sources, Germinal), he became, through his company Renn Productions, the producer of films by leading auteurs (Garrel, Pialat, Polanski, Chéreau, Demy, Forman, Sautet) as well as huge popular successes (L’Ours, Les Trois frères, Astérix, Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis). While hoping to contribute to a better understanding of the extraordinary career of the famous filmmaker-producer, to whom no monograph has yet been devoted, this article highlights the importance of his Jewishness in his artistic and professional career.
Claude Berri or the thwarted destiny of a furrier’s son and grandson - 2024.
47
In many ways, the career of director-producer Claude Berri is reminiscent of the founders of the great Hollywood studios. The son of a Jewish immigrant couple from Poland and Romania, Claude Beri Langmann was born in Paris in 1934. Breaking away from the professional environment of many modest Jews in Paris, including his father, Claude Berri drew on his own personal experience (hiding as a child during the war, spending his teenage years in his father’s fur workshop, torn between conformity to Jewish tradition and the pleasures of modern life) to make his first films : Le vieil homme et l’enfant (1967), Mazel Tov ou Le Mariage (1968), Le Cinéma de Papa (1970). Alongside his successful career as a filmmaker (Tchao Pantin, Jean de Florette, Manon des sources, Germinal), he became, through his company Renn Productions, the producer of films by leading auteurs (Garrel, Pialat, Polanski, Chéreau, Demy, Forman, Sautet) as well as huge popular successes (L’Ours, Les Trois frères, Astérix, Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis). While hoping to contribute to a better understanding of the extraordinary career of the famous filmmaker-producer, to whom no monograph has yet been devoted, this article highlights the importance of his Jewishness in his artistic and professional career.
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