Jean-Pierre Mocky


Jean-Pierre Mocky, pseudonym of Jean-Paul Adam Mokiejewski, was a French film director, actor, screenwriter and producer.
WWW jpierre-mocky.fr

Early life and education

Mocky was born on 6 July 1929 in Nice, France, to Polish immigrant parents, Jeanne Zylinska and Adam Mokiejewski. His father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic.

Career

Mocky appeared as an actor in the 1955 film Gli Sbandati and in many other movies, including some of those he also directed. 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, Jean Cocteau's Orphée and Bernard Borderie's The Mask of the Gorilla. 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 and Federico Fellini on La strada, he wrote his first film, La Tête contre les murs 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.
As early as the 1960s, he was able to reach a wide audience with crazy comedies such as A Funny Parishioner and La Grande Lessive. After May 1968, he turned to darker films with Solo, in which he shows a group of young anarchists, then L'Albatros 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 and a comedy denouncing the hypocrisy around the pilgrimage to Lourdes. 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 pretends to be the lover of the lesbian Caroline in order to save her inheritance from her homophobic relatives.
Mocky's cinema, often satirical, is generally inspired by the truth of society. He worked with few resources and filmed very quickly. He worked with Bourvil, Fernandel, Michel Simon, Michel Serrault, Francis Blanche, Jacqueline Maillan, Jean Poiret and with the stars Catherine Deneuve, Claude Jade, Jane Birkin, Jeanne Moreau and Stéphane Audran.

Awards and recognition

In 2010, he received the Prix Henri-Langlois for his entire career, and in 2013 was awarded the Alphonse Allais Prize.
The International Festival of Film Entrevues in Belfort in 2012 and the Cinémathèque française in 2014 dedicated full retrospectives to him.
Mocky was described as a "perpetual guest" of the Festival Polar de Cognac, and was given a Polar lifetime achievement award in 2015.

Death

He died on 8 August 2019.

Filmography (as director)

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

  • 2011 : Crédit pour tous
  • 2011 : Les Insomniaques
  • 2011 : Le dossier Toroto
  • 2013 : Le Mentor
  • 2012 : À votre bon cœur, mesdames
  • 2013 : Dors mon lapin
  • 2013 : Le Renard jaune
  • 2014 : Le Mystère des jonquilles
  • 2014 : Calomnies
  • 2015 : Tu es si jolie ce soir
  • 2015 : Les Compagnons de la pomponette
  • 2015 : Monsieur Cauchemar
  • 2016 : Le Cabanon rose
  • 2016 : Rouges étaient les lilas
  • 2017 : Vénéneuses
  • 2017 : Votez pour moi
  • 2019 : ''Tous flics !''

Filmography (as actor)

The Eternal Husband God Needs Men Wedding Night I vinti Stain in the Snow The Big Flag Le Comte de Monte-Cristo Gli Sbandati Le rouge est mis La Tête contre les murs Solo À mort l'arbitre! Vidange