# Olivier Assayas

Olivier Assayas (French:; born 25 January 1955) is a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. Assayas is known for his eclectic filmography, consisting of slow-burning period pieces, psychological thrillers, neo-noirs, and comedies. He has directed French, Spanish, and English-language films with international casts. The son of filmmaker Jacques Rémy, Assayas began his career as a critic for Cahiers du Cinéma. There he wrote about world cinema and its film auteurs, who later influenced his work. Assayas made several short films, and made his feature debut with Disorder in 1986.
He continued directing feature films, with Cold Water (1994) considered a breakthrough film in his career. It was his first film to screen at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section. His followup film, Irma Vep (1996), also screened at Cannes, while Sentimental Destinies (2000), Demonlover (2002), and Clean (2004) all officially competed for the Palme d'Or. In 2006, he contributed a short film to the anthology film Paris, je t'aime (2006).
Assayas gained acclaim for his dramas Summer Hours (2008), Clouds of Sils Maria (2014), and Personal Shopper (2016); the latter won him the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director. He also directed the comedy Non-Fiction (2018) and the spy thriller Wasp Network (2019).

## Life and career

Assayas was born in Paris, France, the son of French director/screenwriter Raymond Assayas, alias Jacques Rémy, and Catherine de Károlyi, a fashion designer. His father was of Turkish-Jewish origin and had settled in Italy before France. His mother was Protestant and of Hungarian origin.
Assayas started his career in the industry by helping his father. He ghostwrote episodes for TV shows his father was working on when his health failed. In a 2010 interview, Assayas said his main political influences when growing up were Guy Debord and George Orwell. Of the 1968 May uprising to overthrow Charles de Gaulle, Assayas said: "I was defined by the politics of May '68, but for me May '68 was an anti-totalitarian uprising. People seemed to forget that at the occupied Odéon theater, you had crossed flags-black and red, and I was on the side of the black element."
Assayas's biggest hit to date is Irma Vep, starring Maggie Cheung. It is a tribute to both French director Louis Feuillade and Hong Kong cinema.
While working at Cahiers du cinéma, Assayas wrote lovingly about both European and Asian film directors he admired. He has made a documentary, HHH: A Portrait of Hou Hsiao-hsien, about Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien.
Assayas married Cheung in 1998. They divorced in 2001, but their relationship remained amicable. In 2004, she starred in his film Clean.
He met actress-director Mia Hansen-Løve when Hansen-Løve, 17 at the time, starred in Assayas's 1998 feature Late August, Early September. He has said they "didn't get together until [she] was 20". They separated in 2017.
In 2009 and 2010, Assayas signed two petitions in support of director Roman Polanski, who had been detained in Switzerland while traveling to a film festival in relation to his 1977 sexual abuse charges in the United States and had long been in exile from the U.S. The first petition argued that the detention would undermine the tradition of film festivals as a place for works to be shown "freely and safely". It said that arresting filmmakers traveling to neutral countries could open the door "for actions of which no-one can know the effects".
Assayas directed and co-wrote the 2010 French television miniseries Carlos, about the life of the terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez. Venezuelan actor Édgar Ramírez won the César Award for Most Promising Actor in 2011 for his performance as Carlos.
In April 2011, it was announced that Assayas would be a member of the jury for the main competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
Assayas's 2012 film Something in the Air was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival. Assayas won the Osella for Best Screenplay at Venice. His 2014 film Clouds of Sils Maria was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
Sils Maria won the Louis Delluc Prize and garnered six César Award nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. Kristen Stewart won a César Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In 2016, Assayas won Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival) for Personal Shopper, which also starred Stewart.
In June 2017, it was announced that Assayas would preside over the 2017 Locarno Film Festival.

## Style and influences

In an interview with Nick Pinkerton of Reverse Shot, Assayas talked about his influences:
   That radicality in cinema involved just being outside of the world of modern images, and the key to it was the work of Robert Bresson, who has been by far the most important influence in my work, and intellectually it's been the influence of Guy Debord—basically, you know, it's been Debord–Bresson, Bresson–Debord, the things that've always defined my framework, the way I look at the world.
In the 2012 Sight & Sound directors' poll, Assayas listed his ten favorite films as 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Ludwig, A Man Escaped, Mirror, Napoléon, Playtime, The Rules of the Game, The Tree of Life, and Van Gogh.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Director | Screenwriter | Distribution |
| 1986 | Disorder | Yes | Yes | Forum Distribution |
| 1989 | Winter's Child | Yes | Yes | Ciné Classic |
| 1991 | Paris Awakens | Yes | Yes | Pan-Européenne |
| 1993 | A New Life | Yes | Yes | Pyramide Distribution |
| 1994 | Cold Water | Yes | Yes | Pan-Européenne |
| 1996 | Irma Vep | Yes | Yes | Haut et Court |
| 1998 | Late August, Early September | Yes | Yes | PolyGram Film Distribution |
| 2000 | Sentimental Destinies | Yes | Yes | Pathé Distribution |
| 2002 | Demonlover | Yes | Yes | SND Films |
| 2004 | Clean | Yes | Yes | ARP Sélection |
| 2006 | Paris, je t'aime | Yes | Yes | Segment: "Quartier des Enfants Rouges" La Fabrique de Films |
| 2007 | Boarding Gate | Yes | Yes | ARP Sélection |
| 2008 | Summer Hours | Yes | Yes | MK2 Films |
| 2012 | Something in the Air | Yes | Yes | MK2 Films |
| 2014 | Clouds of Sils Maria | Yes | Yes | Les Films du Losange |
| 2016 | Personal Shopper | Yes | Yes | Les Films du Losange |
| 2018 | Non-Fiction | Yes | Yes | Ad Vitam Distribution |
| 2019 | Wasp Network | Yes | Yes | Netflix |
| 2024 | Suspended Time | Yes | Yes | |
As a writer only
* Passage secret (1985)
* Rendez-vous (1985)
* L'Unique (1986)
* Scene of the Crime (1986)
* Avril brisé (1987)
* Filha da Mãe (1990)
* Alice and Martin (1998)
* Based on a True Story (2017) - Co-written with Roman Polanski

### Television

| Year | Title | Director | Screenwriter | Notes |
| 1982 | Étoiles et toiles | | Yes | Documentary |
| 1994 | Tous les garçons et les filles de leur âge... | Yes | Yes | TV series |
| 1997 | Cinéma, de notre temps | Yes | Yes | Episode: HHH - Un portrait de Hou Hsiao-hsien |
| 2006 | Noise | Yes | | Documentary |
| 2007 | To Each His Own Cinema | Yes | Yes | Segment: "Recrudescence" |
| 2007 | Stockhausen / Preljocaj Dialogue | Yes | | Documentary |
| 2008 | Eldorado | Yes | | Documentary |
| 2010 | Carlos | Yes | Yes | TV miniseries |
| 2022 | Irma Vep | Yes | Yes | TV miniseries |

### Short films

| Year | Title | Director | Screenwriter | Notes |
| 1978 | Nuit féline | | Yes | Short film |
| 1979 | Copyright | Yes | | Short film |
| 1980 | Rectangle - Deux chansons de Jacno | Yes | | Short film |
| 1980 | Scopitone | Yes | Yes | Short film |
| 1982 | Laissé inachevé à Tokyo | Yes | Yes | Short film |
| 1984 | Winston Tong en studio | Yes | | Short documentary |
| 1998 | Man Yuk: A Portrait of Maggie Cheung | Yes | | Short documentary |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Project | Result |
| 1991 | Prix Jean Vigo | Prix Jean Vigo | Paris Awakens | Won |
| 2000 | Cannes Film Festival | Palme d'Or | Sentimental Destinies | Nominated |
| 2002 | Cannes Film Festival | Palme d'Or | Demonlover | Nominated |
| 2004 | Cannes Film Festival | Palme d'Or | Clean | Nominated |
| 2008 | Boston Society of Film Critics | Best Foreign Language Film | Summer Hours | Won |
| 2008 | Los Angeles Film Critics Association | Best Foreign Language Film | Summer Hours | Won |
| 2008 | National Society of Film Critics Award | Best Foreign Language Film | Summer Hours | Won |
| 2008 | New York Film Critics Circle Award | Best Foreign Language Film | Summer Hours | Won |
| 2008 | Toronto Film Critics Association | Best Foreign Language Film | Summer Hours | Won |
| 2010 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series | Carlos | Nominated |
| 2010 | César Award | Best Director | Carlos | Nominated |
| 2010 | European Film Award | Best Director | Carlos | Nominated |
| 2010 | Lumières Award | Best Film | Carlos | Nominated |
| 2010 | Lumières Award | Best Director | Carlos | Nominated |
| 2010 | Los Angeles Film Critics Association | Best Director | Carlos | Won |
| 2010 | Globes de Cristal Award | Best Television Film or Television Series | Carlos | Won |
| 2012 | Venice International Film Festival | Golden Osella for Best Original Screenplay | Something in the Air | Won |
| 2012 | Venice International Film Festival | Fondazione Mimmo Rotella Award | Something in the Air | Won |
| 2012 | Venice International Film Festival | Golden Lion | Something in the Air | Nominated |
| 2014 | Louis Delluc Prize | Louis Delluc Prize | Clouds of Sils Maria | Won |
| 2014 | Cannes Film Festival | Palme d'Or | Clouds of Sils Maria | Nominated |
| 2014 | César Award | Best Film | Clouds of Sils Maria | Nominated |
| 2014 | César Award | Best Director | Clouds of Sils Maria | Nominated |
| 2014 | César Award | Best Original Screenplay | Clouds of Sils Maria | Nominated |
| 2016 | Cannes Film Festival | Best Director | Personal Shopper | Won |
| 2016 | Zurich Film Festival | A Tribute To... Award | Lifetime Achievement | Won |