Jean-Pierre Mocky
Biography
Jean-Pierre Mocky (6 July 1929 – 8 August 2019), pseudonym of Jean-Paul Adam Mokiejewski, was a French film director, actor, screenwriter and producer.
Mocky was born in Nice, France to Polish immigrant parents, Jeanne Zylinska and Adam Mokiejewski. His father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic.
Mocky appeared as an actor in the 1955 film Gli Sbandati and in many other movies, including some of those he also directed (Solo, L'albatros, L'Ombre d'une chance, Un Linceul n'a pas de poches). His 1987 film Le Miraculé was entered into the 37th Berlin International Film Festival.
He began as an actor in the cinema and theater. In particular, he played in Jean Dréville's Les Casse-pieds (1948), Jean Cocteau's Orphée (1950) and Bernard Borderie's The Mask of the Gorilla (1957). But it was especially in Italy that he became famous, thanks to his role in I vinti by Michelangelo Antonioni.
After working as an assistant with Luchino Visconti on Senso (1954) and Federico Fellini on La strada (1954), he wrote his first film, La Tête contre les murs (1959) and planned to direct it himself, but the producer preferred to entrust the task to Georges Franju. He went on to direct the following year with Les Dragueurs (1959). Since then, he has never stopped shooting.
As early as the 1960s, he was able to reach a wide audience with crazy comedies such as A Funny Parishioner (1963) and La Grande Lessive (1968). After May 1968, he turned to darker films with Solo (1969), in which he shows a group of young terrorists of the extreme left, then L'Albatros (1971) which shows the corruption of politicians.
In the 1980s, he returned to success with a film denouncing, a year before the drama of Heysel, the excesses of some football fans (À mort l'arbitre, 1984) and a comedy denouncing the hypocrisy around the pilgrimage to Lourdes (Le Miraculé, 1987). In the 1990s and 2000s, his films met with less success, but Mocky continued to shoot with much enthusiasm.
In the beginning, his films were dedicated to the uprising against the restrictions imposed by society. Later, he concentrated on farce, as in Bonsoir where the homeless Alex (Michel Serrault) pretends to be the lover of the lesbian Caroline (Claude Jade) in order to save her inheritance from her homophobic relatives.
Mocky's cinema, often satirical and pamphleteer, is generally inspired by the truth of society. He worked with few resources and filmed very quickly. He worked with Bourvil (A Funny Parishioner, The City of Unspeakable Fear, La Grande Lessive and The Stallion), Fernandel (The Exchange and Life), Michel Simon (The Red Ibis), Michel Serrault (twelve films including Le Miraculé), Francis Blanche (five films including The City of Unspeakable Fear), Jacqueline Maillan (five films), Jean Poiret (eight films) and with the stars Catherine Deneuve (Agent Trouble), Claude Jade (Bonsoir), Jane Birkin (Noir comme le souvenir), Jeanne Moreau (Le Miraculé) and Stéphane Audran (The Seasons of Pleasure).
In 2010, he received the Prix Henri-Langlois for his entire career and the 2013 Alphonse Allais Prize. The International Festival of Film Entrevues in Belfort in 2012 and the Cinémathèque française in 2014 dedicated full retrospectives to him.
He died on 8 August 2019.
Source: Article "Jean-Pierre Mocky" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Acting (85 movies)
The Vanquished
1953
Senso
1954
Jean-Pierre Mocky, libre et sentimental
2023
The Story of French Fantasy Cinema
2019
Stéphane Guillon - Portraits au vitriol (1ère salve)
2008
The Unsewing Machine
1986
No Pockets in a Shroud
1974
The Albatross
1971
Litan
1982
Droit de Réponse
1981
Take Your Bible and Get the Fuck Out of Here!
2023
The Big Flag
1954
Kill the Referee
1984
Long Live Liberty
1946
The Eternal Husband
1946
Ville à vendre
1992
Vidange
1998
Queen's Necklace
1946
Dreams of Love
1947
La Cabane aux souvenirs
1947
Orpheus
1950
The Spice of Life
1948
Head Against the Wall
1959
The Hell of Lost Pilots
1949
Keep an Eye on Amelia
1949
At the Grand Balcony
1949
Portrait of a Murderer
1949
A Night at a Honeymoon
1950
Speaking of Murder
1957
Éternel espoir
1952
Two Pennies Worth of Violets
1951
Abandoned
1955
Snobs!
1962
Solo
1970
Thank Heaven for Small Favors
1963
Il gèle en enfer
1990
Un risque à courir
2009
The Count of Monte Cristo
1954
Graziella
1954
Le glandeur
2000
Jean Aurenche, écrivain de cinéma
2010
Divine enfant
1989
Shadow of a Chance
1974
Leon's Husband
1993
Americano
2011
Guillaume Depardieu, The Story Of An Enfant Terrible
2017
Tout est calme
2000
Dossier Toroto
2011
Les Insomniaques
2011
La Candide Madame Duff
2000
The Spice of Life
1948
God Needs Men
1950
Godard Mon Amour
2017
Les fleurs maladives de Georges Franju
2009
Les Ballets écarlates
2007
Rise and Fall of a Small Film Company
1986
Bibi Fricotin
1951
Les araignées de la nuit
2002
The Mask of the Gorilla
1958
La parallèle Mocky
2018
The Vertical Smile
1973
Stain on the Snow
1954
La loi de l'albatros
2017
À votre bon cœur, mesdames
2013
Le mystère des jonquilles
2014
Le parapluie de Cherbourg
2000
Tu es si jolie ce soir
2015
Tous flics !
2023
Aznavour by Charles
2019
Vénéneuses
2017
Cocktail Morlock
1981
Votez pour moi !
2017
Les Compagnons de la pomponnette
2015
Monsieur Cauchemar
2015
Calomnies
2014
La bête de miséricorde
2001
Le piège à cons
1979
Robin des mers
1998
Bourvil, un homme vrai
2016
Illicit Motherhood
1953
Catherine Deneuve, belle et bien là
2010
Is There a Frenchman in the House?
1982
Putain de lune
2013
First Name: Carmen
1983
Agent Trouble
1987
Directing (75 movies)
Agent Trouble
1987
Bonsoir
1994
The Red Ibis
1975
Thank Heaven for Small Favors
1963
The Big Wash
1968
The Unsewing Machine
1986
A Couple
1960
Is There a Frenchman in the House?
1982
No Pockets in a Shroud
1974
Miracle Healing
1987
Litan
1982
The Virgins
1963
The Chasers
1959
The Seasons of Pleasure
1988
The Albatross
1971
Le Furet
2003
The Witness
1978
Kill the Referee
1984
Vidange
1998
Ville à vendre
1992
Black for Remembrance
1995
Grabuge!
2005
The Stud
1970
Your Money or Your Life
1966
The Big Scare
1964
Snobs!
1962
Order of the Daisy
1967
Solo
1970
Le Mentor
2013
Le Renard jaune
2013
13 French Street
2007
Le Pactole
1985
Il gèle en enfer
1990
Calomnies
2014
Le Bénévole
2007
Le glandeur
2000
Un risque à courir
2009
Divine enfant
1989
Vis-à-vis d'elle
2000
Alliance cherche doigt
1997
Shadow of a Chance
1974
Leon's Husband
1993
Crédit pour tous
2011
Tout est calme
2000
Dossier Toroto
2011
Le Roi des bricoleurs
1977
Touristes? Oh Yes!
2007
La Candide Madame Duff
2000
Les Insomniaques
2011
Une nuit à l'Assemblée Nationale
1988
Colère
2010
Le Magicien et les Siamois
2015
Le Rustre et le Juge
2015
Agafia
2015
Chut !
1972
Les Ballets écarlates
2007
Les araignées de la nuit
2002
Dors mon lapin
2014
Au-delà des grilles
2013
La bête de miséricorde
2001
Le deal
2007
Vénéneuses
2017
Les Compagnons de la pomponnette
2015
Rouges étaient les lilas
2016
Votez pour moi !
2017
Le piège à cons
1979
Le Cabanon rose
2016
Robin des mers
1998
Monsieur Cauchemar
2015
À votre bon cœur, mesdames
2013
Le mystère des jonquilles
2014
Tu es si jolie ce soir
2015
Tous flics !
2023
Nice is nice
1988
The King of Ads
1991