French film director Bertrand Blier dies aged 85

French film director Bertrand Blier in 2013.

The French film director Bertrand Blier, the creator of cult and provocative films such as Les Valseuses, Buffet Froid, and Tenue de Soirée, has died. The veteran filmmaker, celebrated for his daring and unconventional storytelling, was behind some of France's most iconic arthouse successes of the 1970s and 1980s. He was also instrumental in launching the international career of French actor Gérard Depardieu.

Blier, who was born in 1939, died peacefully at home Monday night in Paris, surrounded by his wife and children, his son Leonard Blier, said.

Several French personalities praised his career, noting that his works were firmly rooted in a bygone era.

"In films that captured the spirit of their time, he gave iconic roles to some of the greatest actors. Bertrand Blier was a remarkable and unconventional filmmaker, passionately devoted to the freedom of creation," wrote French Culture Minister Rachida Dati.

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"Both a writer and a filmmaker – cynical yet provocative, moralistic yet jaded – Bertrand Blier loved women, but he made them suffer at the hands of his male characters," Gilles Jacob, a former president of the Cannes Film Festival, added.

Depardieu's career

He followed in his father's footsteps, starting in cinema as an assistant director. In 1963, he directed his father Bernard Blier, in his first feature, "If I Were A Spy".

The title, which means testicles in French slang, was rather primly translated as "Going Places" for its American release.

Regarded as something of a modern classic, the New York Times called it an "exceptionally rich romantic comedy".


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