Barbet Schroeder

Barbet Schroeder
Schroeder at the Cannes Film Festival, 2017
Born (1941-08-26) 26 August 1941 (age 83)
Tehran, Iran
CitizenshipSwitzerland
Occupation(s)Director, producer
SpouseBulle Ogier

Barbet Schroeder (born 26 August 1941) is an Iranian-born Swiss film director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working with directors of the French New Wave such as Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer.

Schroeder started his career producing such films as The Bakery Girl of Monceau (1962), Six in Paris (1965), and Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974). He then transitioned into directing films such as More (1969), La Vallée (1972) and Barfly (1987), the last of which was nominated for the Palme d'Or. He also gained recognition for directing the documentary Koko: A Talking Gorilla (1978). He directed what he labeled, "The Trilogy of Evil", which includes the films, General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974), Terror's Advocate (2007) and The Venerable W. (2016).

He directed the drama Reversal of Fortune (1990) and earned a nomination for Academy Award for Best Director. He then directed many big budget Hollywood films, often mixing melodrama with the thriller genre in films like Single White Female (1992), Kiss of Death (1995), Desperate Measures (1998) and Murder by Numbers (2002). He also acted in Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Mars Attacks! (1996) and The Darjeeling Limited (2007).

Early life and education

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Schroeder was born in Tehran, Iran, the son of Ursula, a German physician, and Jean-William Schroeder, a Swiss geologist.[1][2] From ages 6 to 11, he lived in Colombia where his father worked. Both he and his family then left for France, where he studied at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Career

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Schroeder's production company Les Films du Losange, founded by him at age 23, produced some of the best-known films of the French New Wave. His directorial debut, More (1969), about heroin addiction, became a hit in Europe. Pink Floyd wrote music for this movie and released the album, More. They also wrote the soundtrack for his 1972 film La Vallée, released as the album Obscured by Clouds.

He later went on to direct more mainstream Hollywood fare, such as Barfly (1987) starring Mickey Rourke, Single White Female (1992) and Reversal of Fortune (1990), for which Jeremy Irons as Claus von Bülow received an Academy Award. Despite his many commercially successful films, Schroeder continues to be interested in making smaller films with a more limited audience, such as the adaptation of Colombian writer Fernando Vallejo's controversial novel La virgen de los sicarios (2000) or the documentary General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974), featuring extensive interviews with the Ugandan dictator and Terror's Advocate (2007) about terrorism in the last fifty years, seen through the eyes of a lawyer, Jacques Vergès, and his clients.

Schroeder has also made some appearances as an actor: playing one of the 'ghosts' in Jacques Rivette's Céline et Julie vont en bateau (Céline and Julie Go Boating), a cameo as a Porsche driver in Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), as the President of France in Mars Attacks! (1996), as a hair products salesman in Paris, je t'aime (2006) and as the mechanic in The Darjeeling Limited (2007). Today, he resides in France and is married to actress Bulle Ogier.

In 2009, Schroeder signed a petition in support of film director Roman Polanski, calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 charge for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.[3]

Schroeder directed the 12th episode of the third season of the American dramatic television series Mad Men that first aired on 1 November 2009. The episode was entitled "The Grown Ups", and was notable for its depiction of the events of the Kennedy assassination.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
1964 Nadja in Paris No No Yes Directed by Eric Rohmer
1969 More Yes Yes Yes
1972 La Vallée Yes Yes No
1974 General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait Yes Yes No Documentary film
1975 Maîtresse Yes Yes Yes
1978 Koko: A Talking Gorilla Yes Yes Yes Documentary film
1984 Cheaters (Tricheurs) Yes Yes Yes Un joueur (uncredited)
1985 The Charles Bukowski Tapes Yes Yes Yes Documentary film; also editor
1987 Barfly Yes No Yes
1990 Reversal of Fortune Yes No No
1992 Single White Female Yes No Yes
1995 Kiss of Death Yes No Yes
1996 Before and After Yes No Yes
1998 Desperate Measures Yes No Yes
2000 La virgen de los sicarios Yes No Yes
2002 Murder by Numbers Yes No Yes
2007 Terror's Advocate Yes No Yes Documentary film, also narrator
2008 Inju: The Beast in the Shadow Yes Yes Yes
2015 Amnesia Yes Yes Yes
2017 The Venerable W. Yes No Yes
2023 Ricardo and Painting Yes No Yes

As an Actor

Year Title Role Director Notes
1963 The Bakery Girl of Monceau car salesman Eric Rohmer also producer
1965 Six in Paris Jean-Pierre Jean Rouch Segment: "Gare du Nord"
also producer
1971 Out 1 Gian-Reto Jacques Rivette
1972 Out 1: Spectre
1974 Celine and Julie Go Boating Olivier Also producer
1979 Roberta Vittorio Pierre Zucca
La Mémoire courte Un invité au dîner Eduardo de Gregorio
1984 Love on the Ground Audience Jacque Rivette uncredited
1990 The Golden Boat Mean Passer-by Raúl Ruiz
1994 La Reine Margot an advisor Patrice Chéreau
Beverly Hills Cop III Man in Porsche John Landis
1996 Mars Attacks! Maurice, the French President Tim Burton
2004 Ne fais pas ça! Un client du restaurant #1 Luc Bondy
2005 Une aventure Dr. Idelman Xavier Giannoli
2006 Paris, je t'aime Monsieur Henny Christopher Doyle Segment: "Porte de Choisy"
2007 The Duchess of Langeais Duc de Grandlieu Jacques Rivette
The Darjeeling Limited The Mechanic Wes Anderson
2011 L'avocat Jacques Meco Cédric Anger
2012 Le grand soir Jacques Meco Benoît Delépine
Gustave Kervern
2014 Portrait of the Artist Le médecin Antoine Barraud final film role

Television

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Year Title Director Notes
2009 Mad Men Yes Episode: "The Grown-Ups"

References

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  1. ^ Barbet Schroeder Biography (1941-)
  2. ^ Barbet Schroeder Biography - Yahoo! Movies Archived 24 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Le cinéma soutient Roman Polanski / Petition for Roman Polanski". Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (in French). 28 September 2009. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
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