Jean Paul Belmondo, the splendor of French cinema – current events

“The seventh art loses one of the most famous characters, an actor who knew how to do everything, without taking himself too seriously, from action films to the most beautiful hours of authors’ cinema,” added the French news agency, referring to Pebble. He was known for his “devastating smile, boxer nose and unmatched agility”.

Belmondo was a symbol of the “New Mystery” novelty in films like Jean-Luc Godard’s “Harassment” and “Mad Pedro,” but he was also the gangster in Borsalino, the action movie agent. They became box office champions.

His portrayal of Michel Boicard, the petty criminal character from the founding film of “Mysterious Nouvelle”, who turns murderous and remains on the run, is a provocative anti-hero, contrary to the Hollywood stereotypes Godard inspired. Himself, as explained by the Spanish agency Efe, in the biography of the actor.

In the latest feature film, “Un homme et son chien” by Francis Hoster, filmed in 2008, nearly 50 years later, Belmondo, who is physically ill, plays an old man without a home, trying to survive with his dog in the Dilemma between life and death.

Portuguese film Joao Benard da Costa, former president of the Portuguese Cinematheca, celebrated being remembered among the characters “There is a lot of home”, along with actress Anna Karina, in “Uma Mulheir Uma Mulher”. Writer Mario Dionisio was sensitive to the actor in “Pedro, the Madman,” “The Man Who Rebels to Dismemberment.”

Jean-Paul Belmondo was born on April 9, 1933 in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, and grew up preferring amateur boxing over distinguished college classes, until he entered the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Paris, paving the way for a career that did not abandon the theater but was dominated by cinema and lasted nearly half a century .

Before The Teasers premiered in 1960, he played the supporting characters of Anuela, VIDEO, and George Bernard Shaw in theater and film. A small role in “Un Drôle de Dimanche” by Marc Allegret, seen by then-Cahiers critic Jean-Luc Godard, opened the door to the feature film that marked the emergence of the much-claimed “New Mystery”. As one of the main faces of French cinema.

This was followed by other films such as “Woman is a Woman” and “Mad Pedro” by Godard, “The Thief of Paris” by Louis Malle, “Syrene of Mississippi” by François Truffaut, who wrote the screenplay “Harassment”, and the encounter with actresses such as Jean Seberg, Anna Karina and Catherine Deneuve, Claudia Cardinale and Sophia Loren.

In the 1970s, action movies were the norm. There is “Borsalino” by Jack DeRay, next to Alain Delon, followed by “Professional”, “Fear of the City”, “Rotten”, “Stubborn”, “Police or Thief”, “Aces of Aces”, “Outlaw”, ” The Brave”, “The Coup of Genius”.

In 1988, he received the Cesar Award for Best Actor, for his performance in Claude Lelouch’s “Itinerário de um vida”, his last major success. It was his only nomination and achievement at the French Academy Awards, despite the actor’s popularity.

In the 1990s, he played Jean Valjean in Lelouch’s Les Miserables, and entered the 2000s with a meditation on “The Actors,” directed by Bertrand Blair, shortly before his 2001 stroke, far from stage and screens. I will be back in 2008, for “Un homme et son chien”.

In 2011, the Cannes Film Festival awarded him the Honorary Palme d’Or, and in 2016, the Venice Film Festival in Italy awarded him the Career Golden Lion.

In 2017, exhausted, Cesar received honorary César, to applause from his peers that lasted for minutes and paused only to hear him invoke his mother, painter Sarah Renaud Richard, and the way he was able to weather initial criticism, for a face alien to beauty standards: “You’ve got to be brave,” advice Belmondo confirmed that he had followed her. “I have never lacked courage, which is why I am here.”

Belmondo’s death “turns an important page in French cinema”, say industry professionals, cited by agencies, recalling actor Jean Dujardin, who considered him “one of the last heroes”, and Steven Spielberg, who acknowledged his inspiration in Belmondo’s ordeals in “The Magnificent” By Philip De Broca for Indiana Jones.

The Venice Festival evoked, “with great affection and admiration”, the original interpreter of the “new mystical” spirit of modernity.

“His generosity as a man and as an actor has created some of the greatest moments in the history of cinema,” Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Frémaux said on his Twitter account, adding, “Thank you Jean Paul. A wonderful farewell.”