Like Marcel Pagnol and René Allio before him, he anchors his films in social reality. His films are strongly marked by the local and regional environment of the city of Marseille, and in particular L'Estaque (north-west Marseille), for example in "Marius et Jeannette." His 2011 film "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.