Jean-Pierre Mocky

Jean-Pierre Mocky (6 July 1929 – 8 August 2019), pseudonym of Jean-Paul Adam Mokiejewski, was a French film director, actor, screenwriter and producer.
Life and career
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.
Filmography (as director)
1960s
1960 : Les Dragueurs starring Jacques Charrier, Charles Aznavour
1960 : Un couple starring Juliette Mayniel, Francis Blanche
1961 : Snobs ! starring Véronique Nordey, Francis Blanche
1962 : Les Vierges starring Charles Aznavour, Jean Poiret
1963 : Un drôle de paroissien starring Bourvil, Jean Poiret
1964 : La Grande Frousse / La Cité de l'Indicible Peur starring Bourvil, Francis Blanche
1965 : Your Money or Your Life starring Fernandel, Heinz Rühmann
1966 : Les Compagnons de la marguerite starring Claude Rich, Michel Serrault
1968 : La Grande Lessive starring Bourvil, Francis Blanche
1970s
1970 : L'Étalon starring Bourvil, Francis Blanche
1970 : Solo starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Anne Deleuze
1971 : L'Albatros starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Marion Game
1972 : Chut starring Jacques Dufilho, Michael Lonsdale
1973 : L'Ombre d'une chance starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Robert Benoit
1974 : Un Linceul n'a pas de poches starring Jean-Pierre Mocky,
1975 : L'Ibis rouge starring Michel Serrault, Michel Simon
1976 : Le Roi des bricoleurs starring Sim, Michel Serrault
1978 : Le Témoin starring Alberto Sordi, Philippe Noiret
1979 : Le Piège à cons starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Catherine Leprince
1980s
1982 : Litan starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Marie-José Nat
1982 : Y a-t-il un Français dans la salle ? starring Victor Lanoux, Jacques Dutronc
1983 : À mort l'arbitre starring Michel Serrault, Eddy Mitchell
1985 : Le Pactole starring Richard Bohringer, Patrick Sébastien
1986 : La Machine à découdre 1986 : Le Miraculé starring Michel Serrault, Jeanne Moreau
1987 : Agent trouble starring Catherine Deneuve, Richard Bohringer
1987 : Les Saisons du plaisir starring Charles Vanel, Denise Grey
1988 : Une nuit à l'Assemblée Nationale starring Michel Blanc, Jacqueline Maillan
1988 : Nice is Nice (short movie)
1988 : Méliès 88 1988 : Divine enfant starring Laura Martel, Jean-Pierre Mocky
1990s
1990 : Il gèle en enfer starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Laura Grandt
1991 : La Méthode Barnol (short movie)
1991 : La vérité qui tue (short movie)
1991 : Dis-moi qui tu hais (short movie)
1991 : starring Tom Novembre, Michel Serrault
1992 : Le Mari de Léon 1992 : Bonsoir starring Michel Serrault, Claude Jade
1995 : Noir comme le souvenir (Black for Remembrance) with Jane Birkin, Sabine Azema, Mattias Habich
1997 : Robin des mers 1997 : Alliance cherche doigt 1998 : Vidange 1999 : Tout est calme 1999 : La candide madame Duff2000s
2000 : Le Glandeur 2001 : La Bête de miséricorde 2002 : Les Araignées de la nuit 2003 : starring Michel Serrault, Jacques Villeret
2004 : Touristes, oh yes ! 2004 : Les Ballets écarlates 2005 : starring Michel Serrault, Charles Berling
2006 : Le Deal 2007 : starring Michel Serrault, Jean-Claude Dreyfus
2007 : 13 French Street 2007 : Le Diable en embuscade (short movie)
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 (1946)
God Needs Men (1950)
I vinti (1953)
Stain in the Snow (1954)
The Big Flag (1954)
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (1954)
Gli Sbandati (1955)
Le rouge est mis (1957)
La Tête contre les murs (1959)
Solo (1970)
À mort l'arbitre! (1984)
Vidange (1998)
Americano'' (2011)
Bibliography
References
External links
1929 births
2019 deaths
French film directors
French people of Polish-Jewish descent
Male actors from Nice, France
French male screenwriters
French screenwriters
French male film actors
French male television actors
French male stage actors
French National Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni