Good Word News
July 28, 2021
“He died (Tuesday) at the hospital in Neuilly, he fought well,” announced his son Sagamore Stévenin, also an actor.
Director of three films considered as cult (“Passe montagne”, “Double Messieurs” and “Mischka”), Jean-François Stévenin is a prolific actor seen in films as eclectic as “Pocket money” by François Truffaut (he is the teacher, Monsieur Richet), “Une chambre en ville” by Jacques Demy or “Le pacte des loups” by Christophe Gans.
Born in the Jura in 1944, this former student at HEC, with a romantic and treacherous background, discovered film sets during an internship in Cuba… on dairy production. “I didn’t know how to do anything, but I learned to speak Spanish very quickly, and I melted into the team. Incognito, ”he said.
In 1968, he became assistant to Alain Cavalier on the set of “La Chamade”. “For ten years, I was an assistant, I never thought of playing. (…) And in “Out One”, by Jacques Rivette, where Juliet Berto had said: “It’s funny, the assistant looks like Brando, why wouldn’t he play Marlon?” The scene was kept during the editing “, he remembered in 2000 for Liberation.
“A supporting role with an ardent temperament”
His round face and piercing blue eyes quickly made him a familiar figure in French cinema. In the 1980s, he toured under the direction of Jean-Luc Godard (“Passion”), Bertrand Blier (“Notre histoire”) and Catherine Breillat (“36 Fillette”). Then came the more popular films such as “Le Pacte des loups” (2001), where he played with Vincent Cassel and Samuel Le Bihan, or “L’Homme du train” (2002) directed by Patrice Leconte.
In 2018, his work as a filmmaker earned him a Jean-Vigo Honorary Award, which was awarded to him by Agnès Varda. This award distinguishes independence of mind, quality and originality. Because his three films are “out of the ordinary”, qualified as “French baroque, unique in their kind” by the cultural weekly Télérama.
“A supporting role with an ardent temperament, but also director of three superb feature films,” said the National Film Center on Wednesday on its Twitter account.
“Passe Montagne” (1978) gives one of his best roles to Jacques Villeret and follows the meeting between an architect who has broken down and a mechanic, in the depths of the Jura. “Double Messieurs” (1985) retraces the journey of two men, childhood friends, in search of the one who was their short-lived when they were children. And “Mischka” (2002) stages the meeting between a grandfather abandoned by his family on the highway and a nurse in a hospice.
“Deep humanity”
His films, where nature is very present, are marked by the cinema of Cassavetes. Like the American filmmaker, he enjoys filming those close to him, including his children. He has four, all actors: Sagamore, Robinson, Salomé and Pierre. His latest film, “Lost Illusions” by Xavier Giannoli, adapted from Balzac, is due to be screened at the Venice Film Festival in September.
He had also played in the daily soap “Un si grand soleil” of France 2, since the fall. The team paid tribute to him on the soap opera’s Twitter account. “A great man who will have marked us all by his talent but even more by his deep humanity”.
STEVENIN, Jean Francois
Born: 4/23/1944, Lons-le-Saunier, Jura, France
Died: 7/27/2021, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Haut-de-Seine, France
Jean Francois Stévenin’s western – actor:
La rebellion de los colgados – 1986 (Don Severo)
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