Pierre Salvadori
- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Born on November 8, 1964 in Tunisia, Pierre Salvadori studied
literature and cinema at the Censier site of the New Sorbonne
University of Paris. He also followed a training in drama. He wrote his
first screenplay in 1989 which, four years later, became the basis of
Cible émouvante (1993), his first
feature. About ten films followed, which confirmed qualities already
present in "Cible émouvante" : sympathy for antiheroes, lightness often
mixed with gravity (a lesson learned from his master Ernst Lubitsch),
finely chiseled dialogs, the use of great actors who serve the text
wonderfully (François Cluzet, Marie Trintigant, Guillaume Depardieu,
José Garcia, Daniel Auteuil, Nathalie Baye, Catherine Deneuve)... His
films, which vary from ultralight comedy
(Hors de prix (2006)) to the darkest
of films noirs
(Les marchands de sable (2000))
all explore themes which are close to his heart : friendship and
betrayal, truth and lies, seduction and devotion, adjustment or not to
society... His last work to-date
(Dans la cour (2014) synthesizes to
perfection the various trends that cross his work. Deftly mixing comedy
(Antoine's offbeat behavior) with drama (Mathilde and Antoine's
distress), lightness (the subtle dialogs) with gravity (how to fit into
a decaying society), social commentary (France's economic situation)
with zaniness (the eccentric neighbors), interpreted by two great
actors (Catherine Deneuve in the difficult role of a woman who loses
her balance and Gustave Kenvern as the depressed caretaker who tries to
help her), Salvadori's masterpiece succeeds in every department and
augurs well for the second part of his career.
