RIP Bertrand Tavernier .

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RIP #BertrandTavernier

One of the all-time great French directors, and an affable, endearing, accessible film historian, who taught the world.

Sadly, I caught up with him towards the end with his seminal (and, uh, honestly, a "cheat" for someone like me) My Journey Through French Cinema. That was the springboard for me to seek out his films, and idiot that I am, I sorta lapsed after his most well-known ones.

It's a never a good idea to judge anyone by their "greatest" hits, but I was so taken in by the ones that I saw, focused on the characters, letting the story develop organically, until the end when you realise you've been taken on an incredible emotional journey without even realising it. The work of a true master, no fancy pyrotechnics, just a seamless world that we felt we were just peeking into.

Now that those pesky variants are circulating, and it may not be bad idea to stay at home a little while longer, why not do yourself the favour of grabbing a cup of tea, some biscuits, plunking down on the sofa, turning on the Criterion Channel, and watching his movies, even, gasp, the less "mainstream" ones, I know I will…

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#RIP #Bertrand #Tavernier #French #France #film #movie #cinema #director #historian #teacher #legend

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A Sunday in the Country (1984)
'Round Midnight (1986)
Coup de Torchon (1981)
Death Watch (1980)
The Clockmaker of St. Paul (1974)
My Journey Through French Cinema (2016)
Journeys Through French Cinema (2017)
The Princess of Montpensier (2010)
Daddy Nostalgia (1990)
L.627 (1992)
Life and Nothing But (1989)
The Judge and the Assassin (1976)
In the Electric Mist (2009)
A Week's Vacation
Safe Conduct (2002)
The Bait (1995)
It All Starts Today
A Week's Vacation (1980)
It All Starts Today (1999)
Holy Lola (2004)
Histoires de vies brisées (2001)
It All Starts Today (1999)
Revenge of the Musketeers (1994)
Spoiled Children (1977)
50 Years of American Cinema (1995)
American Friends (Amis Americains) (2019)

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