The Paper's reporter Cheng Xiaojun
François Letrier
According to French media reports, French actor Francois Leterrier, who starred in the classic film "Death Row Prisoner Escape", passed away on December 4 at the age of 91.
Born on 26 May 1929 in the small French town of Marni le Compière, famous for the capture of Joan of Arc, Letrier studied philosophy and served in morocco. In 1956, with no acting experience, he was photographed by the great director Robert Bresson to play the protagonist Oftean in "Death Row".
Inspired by real events, Fontaine, part of the French underground resistance organization, was captured by the German Nazis during World War II and imprisoned in the Monluc prison in Lyon. As a result, he relied on his extraordinary perseverance and determination to successfully escape from prison and regain his freedom.
Stills from "Death Row Escape"
Unlike the Hollywood prison break movies we are familiar with, Bresson's "Death Row Escape" has minimalist characteristics in terms of story and film form, but the carefully planned black and white pictures and the excellent use of voiceover make the whole film a hundred minutes without cold field, always gripping. At the 1957 Cannes Film Festival in France, Bresson won the Best Director Award for his victory over Bergman ("The Seventh Seal"), Fellini ("Night of Cabria"), And wada ("Sewerage").
After this, Letrier, who had nothing to do with the film industry, decided to make it his lifelong career. He started as an assistant director and has worked on Louis Mahler's masterpieces The Elevator to the Gallows and Lovers. In 1960, at the age of 31, Letrier made his debut directorial film "Bad Things" starring Simone Signoret.
Although he cooperated with art film directors to enter the industry, after Lightrier directed independently, his main shooting was not art films, but comedies and commercial films for the general public, including "Goodbye Emmanuel" and "Wild Summer Vacation". In 1974, he made a cameo appearance in the biopic "Stawiski" directed by Aaron René, playing the role of the famous writer André Malraux, which was his only actor other than "Death Row Escape".
In life, his wife, Catherine Leterrier, who is thirteen years younger than him, is a well-known costume designer in the French film industry, who has designed costumes for films such as "Time and Space Turn", "Cloud Storm", "Fashion Pioneer Chanel", "Love" and has worked with her husband three times. Their son, Louis Leterrier, inherited his father's business and is known for films such as the "Desperate Express" series and "The Amazing Thief".
Editor-in-charge: Cheng Yu
Proofreader: Ding Xiao