Chéreau, Patrice

(1944- )

   Actor, director, and screenwriter. Patrice Chéreau started his career in theater, serving as the director of the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre. He made the transition to cinema in the 1970s, and although he continued to work in the theater, the cinema became his primary focus. His early films include La chair de l'orchidée (1975), Judith Therpauve (1978), and Hôtel de France (1987). He first came to prominence with his adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's historical novel La Reine Margot (1994), which starred Isabelle Adjani and Daneil Auteuil. The film won the Jury Prize at Cannes and established Chéreau as a powerful director. His later films include Ceux qui m'aiment prendront le train (1999), which also received critical acclaim and won a César for Best Director, Son frère (2003), which won the Silver Berlin Bear in 2003, and Gabrielle (2005). He directed Intimacy (2001), based on stories by Hanif Kureishi, in English. This won the Golden Berlin Bear.

   Quite apart from his directing, Chéreau has proven himself an accomplished film actor. He had roles in Andrzej Wajda's Danton (1982), Youssef Chahine's Adieu Bonaparte (1985), Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Claude Berri's Lucie Aubrac (1997), Tonie Marshall's Au plus près du paradis (2002), and Michael Haneke's Le temps du loup (2003). He was also the narrator of Raoul Ruiz's Le temps retrouvé (1999). His screenwriting has also been acclaimed. He won the César for his writing of L'homme blessé in 1984.