Cahiers du cinéma n°122 - August 1961 (1961-08)Cahiers du cinéma
Meet the actors
Though Cahiers du cinéma mainly paid homage to the moviemaker, especially on the cover, the inner pages also welcomed the familiar faces of movie actors loved by Cahiers and its readers. Spotlight on five French cinema icons.
1. Jean-Pierre Léaud
Jean-Pierre Léaud played the unforgettable Antoine Doisnel for François Truffaut in The 400 Blows (1959), and gave New Wave cinema a nervous, insolent, and deliberately theatrical face.
The Departure (1967)Cahiers du cinéma
He also played Marc in the brilliant The Departure by Jerzy Skolimowski (1967).
Cahiers du cinéma n°509 - January 1997 (1997-01)Cahiers du cinéma
Lucas Belvaux: "Jean-Pierre has a unique quality; as soon as he enters the frame, he wants to bolt. Stage direction with him involves doing everything possible to keep him in the frame. And when we force him to stay in the frame, he acts unpredictably."
Cahiers du cinéma No. 171 - October 1965 (1965-10)Cahiers du cinéma
In the 1960s, Jean-Paul Belmondo predominantly filmed with Jean-Luc Godard (Breathless, Pierrot Goes Wild) before moving toward more popular cinema in comedy or film noir, most notably in Philippe de Broca's movie (The Man from Acapulco).
Cahiers du cinéma n°124 - October 1961 (1961-10)Cahiers du cinéma
In the movie Léon Morin, Priest by Jean-Pierre Melville he plays against type in the title role.
Cahiers du cinema n°501 - April 1996 (1996-04)Cahiers du cinéma
A supporter of naturalistic rather than technical acting, Alain Delon embodied the idea of French glamor, particularly for his roles in Purple Noon and The Swimming Pool alongside Romy Schneider.
He also had a brilliant career in Italy, specifically in The Eclipse by Michelangelo Antonioni, Rocco and His Brothers by Luchino Visconti, and The Leopard by the same director.
4. Michel Piccoli
Cahiers du cinéma n°607 - December 2005 (2005-12)Cahiers du cinéma
Also a theater actor trained at the Cours Simon theater school, Michel Piccoli is the unforgettable face of Paul Javal in Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt, but also one of the four main characters in the scandalous The Big Feast (1973) by Marco Ferreri, who he made eight movies with.
Cahiers du cinéma n°341 - November 1982 (1982-11)Cahiers du cinéma
Michel Piccoli in A Room in Town by Jacques Demy.
Cahiers du cinéma n°503 - juin 1996 (1996-06)Cahiers du cinéma
Mathieu Amalric rose to fame in the role of Paul Dedalus in My Sex Life ... or How I Got into an Argument, which marked the beginning of a long collaboration with Arnaud Desplechin. He's also filmed with Otar Iosseliani, the Larrieu brothers, and Wes Anderson.
Cahiers du cinéma n°766 - May 2020 (2020-05)Cahiers du cinéma
Mathieu Amalric is also a director. His movie Barbara won him the Louis Delluc Prize in 2017. In 2023, he made a three-part documentary, Zorn I, II, and III, about the eponymous composer.
Cahiers du cinéma n°691 - July/August 2013 (2013-08)Cahiers du cinéma
