- Born
- Died
- Georges Franju is a figure of immense importance in the history of French cinema, not primarily for his films (exceptional though many of these are) but for being the co-founder, with Henri Langlois, of the Cinematheque Française in 1937--France's most famous and important film archive.
He worked primarily as a film archivist until 1949, when he made his solo directorial debut with the shocking yet lyrical slaughterhouse documentary Le sang des bêtes (1949). More documentary shorts followed before his feature debut, La tête contre les murs (1959) in 1958, which established his uniquely poetic and visually striking style (his films were generally characterized by unforgettable images that owed a great deal to early cinema in general and German Expressionism in particular). His reputation was strengthened with the bizarre plastic surgery horror film Les yeux sans visage (1960); Judex (1963), a tribute to French film serial pioneer Louis Feuillade in 1963; and the Jean Cocteau adaptation Thomas l'imposteur (1965), though in the last 15 years of his life he was sadly neglected.- IMDb mini biography by: Michael Brooke <michael@everyman.demon.co.uk> (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)
- SpouseDominique Johansen
- Children
- He often cast Edith Scob in a supporting role
- Great cinematographic eye
- Suggestive night shots
- Franju had a long history of friendship with well-known surrealists including André Breton, and the influence of this movement is evident in his works.
- Co-founder, with Henri Langlois, of the French Cinematheque in 1936.
- Resigned (30th March 1981) as artistic director of the Cinémathèque due to conflictions within its organisation.
- Brother-in-law of director Patrice Molinard.
- [on Edith Scob] She is a magic person. She gives the unreal reality.
- [describing his style] I'm led to give documentary realism the appearance of fiction. Kafka becomes terrifying from the moment it is documentary. In documentary I work the other way round.
- I admit I'm much more sensitive to the scenic than the dynamic. When I was tiny I saw a fire for the first time, and afterwards I saw the façade with nothing behind. I've kept the vision of something very artificial and strange- a façade with nothing behind. And what was in front of it? Space..now haunted..
- Surrealism had taught me that reason comes after creation, and creation is a true deflagration when confronted, not with a solution, but an obstacle.
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