About

Known credits:
52
Birthday:
1912-04-12
Place of birth:
Fougères, Ille-et-Vilaine, France
Website:
N/A

Georges Franju

Overview

Georges Franju was a French filmmaker. He was born in Fougères, Ille-et-Vilaine. Before working in French cinema, Franju had several different jobs. Franju was also briefly in the military in Algeria and was discharged in 1932. On his return, Franju studied to become a set designer and later created backdrops for music halls including Casino de Paris and the Folles Bergère.

In the mid-thirties, Franju and Henri Langlois met through Franju's twin brother Jacques Franju. As well as creating the 16 mm short film Le Métro, Langlois and Franju also started a short-lived film magazine and created a film club called Le Cercle du Cinema with 500 francs he borrowed from Langlois' parents. The club showed silent films from their own collections followed by an informal debate about them amongst members. From Le Cercle du Cinema, Franju and Langlois founded the Cinématheque Française in 1936.

Franju ceased to be closely related with the Cinématheque Française as early as 1938, and only became associated with it strongly again in the 1980s when he was appointed as the honorary artistic director of the Cinématheque.

In 1949, Franju began work on a series of nine documentary films. The Nazi occupation of Paris and the industrialism following World War II influenced Franju's early works. With Head Against the Wall (French:La tête contre les murs) in 1958, Franju turned toward fiction feature films. His second feature was the horror film Eyes Without a Face (French:Les Yeux sans Visage) about a surgeon who tries to repair his daughter's ruined face by grafting on to it the faces of beautiful women. His 1963 film Judex was a tribute to the silent film serials Judex and Fantomas. In Franju's later years his film work became less frequent. Franju occasionally directed for television and in the late seventies he retired from filmmaking to preside over the Cinématheque Française. In her study of French cinema since the French new wave, Claire Clouzot described Franju's film style as "a poignant fantastic realism inherited from surrealism and Jean Painlevé science cinema, and influenced by the expressionism of Lang and Murnau". Franju's focus was on the visual aspect of filmmaking, which he claimed marked a director as an auteur. Franju claimed to "not have the story writing gift" and was focused on what he described as the "putting into form" of the film.

Franju was also extremely influenced by surrealism. He used elements of surrealism and shock horror within his films in order to “awaken” his audience. Franju had a long history of friendship with well-known surrealists including Andre Breton, and the influence of this movement is extremely evident in his works. Franju uses these elements to link horror, history, and an ironic commentary on modernity’s ideal of progress. Franju is quoted as having said “It’s the bad combination, it’s the wrong synthesis, constantly being made by the eye as it looks around, that stops us from seeing everything as strange.”

Description above from the Wikipedia article Georges Franju , licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known for

Acting
2019 Aznavour by Charles Actor Self - Filmmaker (archive footage) 59
Average
2019 The Story of French Fantasy Cinema Actor Self (archive footage) 58
Average
1998 Georges Franju - Le visionnaire Actor Self (archive footage) 59
Average
1987 Franju, l'avion et la DS Actor Self N/A
N/A
1966 Rendez-vous avec Fantômas Actor Self N/A
N/A
1964 La nouvelle vague par elle-même Actor Self 59
Average

Directing
1979 Le Dernier Mélodrame Directing Director N/A
N/A
1978 La Discorde Directing Director N/A
N/A
1975 L'Homme sans visage Directing Director N/A
N/A
1975 L'Homme sans visage Directing Director 69
Fair
1974 Shadowman Directing Director 59
Average
1973 The Shadow Line Directing Director 59
Average
1970 The Demise of Father Mouret Directing Director 58
Average
1967 Le magicien du fer Directing Director N/A
N/A
1967 Amiens, Ville Ouverte Directing Director N/A
N/A
1966 Rendez-vous avec Fantômas Directing Director N/A
N/A
1965 The Moment of Peace Directing Director N/A
N/A
1965 Thomas the Impostor Directing Director 59
Average
1963 Judex Directing Director 60
Fair
1962 Therese Directing Director 59
Average
1961 Spotlight on a Murderer Directing Director 59
Average
1960 Eyes Without a Face Directing Director 69
Fair
1959 Head Against the Wall Directing Director 59
Average
1958 The First Night Directing Director 59
Average
1957 Notre Dame - cathédrale de Paris Directing Director N/A
N/A
1956 Le Théâtre National Populaire Directing Director N/A
N/A
1956 Monsieur et Madame Curie Directing Director 58
Average
1956 Sur le pont d’Avignon Directing Director N/A
N/A
1955 Mon chien Directing Director 58
Average
1955 About a River Directing Director N/A
N/A
1953 Dust of Life Directing Director 58
Average
1952 Hôtel des Invalides Directing Director 58
Average
1952 Le Grand Méliès Directing Director 59
Average
1950 Passing through Lorraine Directing Director 59
Average
1949 Blood of the Beasts Directing Director 61
Fair
1934 Le métro Directing Director 59
Average

Writing
1973 The Shadow Line Writing Writer 59
Average
1970 The Demise of Father Mouret Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1965 Thomas the Impostor Writing Scenario Writer 59
Average
1962 Therese Writing Writer 59
Average
1961 Spotlight on a Murderer Writing Writer 59
Average
1959 Head Against the Wall Writing Adaptation 59
Average
1957 Notre Dame - cathédrale de Paris Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1956 Sur le pont d’Avignon Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1955 About a River Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1955 Mon chien Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1953 Dust of Life Writing Writer 58
Average
1952 Le Grand Méliès Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1950 Passing through Lorraine Writing Writer 59
Average

Sound
1975 L'Homme sans visage Sound Music N/A
N/A
1974 Shadowman Sound Original Music Composer 59
Average

Crew
1956 Le Théâtre National Populaire Crew Script N/A
N/A