François Ozon
{{short description|French film director and screenwriter}}
{{BLP sources|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = François Ozon
| image = François Ozon at Berlinale 2022 cropped.jpg
| caption = Ozon in 2022
| birthname =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1967|11|15|df=y}}
| birth_place = Paris, France
| occupation = Filmmaker
| alma_mater = La Femis, Panthéon-Sorbonne University
| years_active = 1988–present
| website = {{url|www.francois-ozon.com}}
}}
François Ozon ({{IPA|fr|fʁɑ̃swa ozɔ̃|lang}}; born 15 November 1967) is a French film director and screenwriter.
Ozon is considered one of the most important modern French filmmakers.https://francetoday.com/culture/francois-ozon-one-of-frances-most-prolific-directors/
His films are characterized by aesthetic beauty, sharp satirical humor and a free-wheeling view of human sexuality. Recurring themes in his films are friendship, sexual identity, different perceptions of reality, transience and death.https://movingimage.org/programs/francois-ozon/https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/2677/
Ozon has achieved international acclaim for his films 8 femmes (2002) and Swimming Pool (2003). He is considered one of the most important directors in the new "New Wave" in French cinema, along with Jean-Paul Civeyrac, Philippe Ramos, and Yves Caumon, as well as a group of French filmmakers associated with a cinema du corps ("cinema of the body").{{cite journal |url=http://www.uncwil.edu/filmstudies/faculty/documents/PalmerJFVarticle.pdf |title=Style and Sensation in the Contemporary French Cinema of the Body |author=Palmer, Tim |journal=Journal of Film and Video |issue=Fall 2006 |access-date=2010-05-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602235125/http://www.uncwil.edu/filmstudies/faculty/documents/PalmerJFVarticle.pdf |archive-date=2010-06-02 }}
Life and career
Ozon was born in Paris, France.{{cite book|title=501 Movie Directors|editor-first=Steven Jay|editor-last=Schneider|publisher=Cassell Illustrated|location=London|year=2007|page=621|isbn=9781844035731|oclc=1347156402}} Having studied directing at the French film school La Femis, Ozon made several short films such as A Summer Dress (Une robe d'été, 1996) and Scènes de lit (1998). His motion picture directing debut was Sitcom (also 1998), which was well received by both critics and audiences.
After the Fassbinder adaptation Water Drops on Burning Rocks (Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes, 2000) came the film which made his name outside France, 8 Women (8 femmes, 2002), starring Catherine Deneuve, Fanny Ardant, Isabelle Huppert and Emmanuelle Béart. With its quirky mix of musical numbers and murder mystery and a production design harking back to 1950s Hollywood melodramas such as those directed by Douglas Sirk, the film became a huge commercial success.
In 2003, Swimming Pool, starring Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier, was released. Ozon considered it a very personal film that gives insight into the difficult process of writing a novel or screenplay.
In 2004, he directed the film 5x2. His next film, Time to Leave (Le temps qui reste) (which one critic said explored the question "how does a frivolous person deal with his own mortality?"){{cite magazine|url=http://www.vmagazine.com/feature_article.php?n=158 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108171445/http://www.vmagazine.com/feature_article.php?n=158 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-01-08 |author=Thomas, Christopher |magazine=V Magazine |title=Director François Ozon discusses his summer release|year=2006 |access-date=20 June 2024}} screened at film festivals worldwide in 2005, and in 2006 it was distributed in the U.S.
Ozon's first full English-language production, Angel, starring Romola Garai, was released in 2007. The film, based on a novel by British writer Elizabeth Taylor, follows the story of a poor girl who climbs Edwardian England's social ladder by becoming a romance writer. The film was shot at Tyntesfield House and Estate near Bristol, at other UK locations and in Belgium.
While filming Angel, Ozon developed a strong friendship with Garai and called her his "muse".
His film The Refuge had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2009.
Ozon was on the jury for the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, held in February 2012.{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/presse/pressemitteilungen/alle/Alle-Detail_11861.html |title=Berlinale 2012: International Jury |date=2011-12-19 |access-date=2011-12-21 |work=berlinale.de |archive-date=2012-01-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118192826/http://www.berlinale.de/en/presse/pressemitteilungen/alle/Alle-Detail_11861.html |url-status=dead }}
His 2013 film Young & Beautiful (Jeune & Jolie) was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.{{cite web|url=http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/article/59652.html |title=2013 Official Selection|date=18 April 2013|access-date=18 April 2013|work=Cannes}} Ozon was voted best screenwriter at the 2013 European Film Awards for his 2012 film In the House.{{cite web|url=http://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/en_EN/efanight/winners |title=Winners 2013 |work=European Film Awards |publisher=European Film Academy |access-date=9 December 2013}}
His 2014 film The New Girlfriend premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2014.{{cite web |url=http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/toronto/toronto-2014-unveils-first-wave/5075454.article |title=Toronto film festival 2014 unveils first wave; Little Chaos to close |access-date=22 July 2014 |work=Screen Daily}}
His film Peter von Kant, a gender-flipped reinterpretation of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1972 film The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, premiered at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival.Manori Ravindran, [https://variety.com/2022/film/global/francois-ozon-peter-von-kant-berlin-1235152222/ "Francois Ozon’s ‘Peter Von Kant’ to Open Berlin Film Festival"]. Variety, January 12, 2022.
Awards
- 1999: Seattle International Film Festival - Emerging Masters Showcase Award
- 2004: Filmfest Hamburg - Douglas-Sirk-Award
- 2006: Frameline Film Festival - Frameline Award
- 2011: Jameson Dublin International Film Festival - Career Achievement Award
Filmography
=Short film=
| class="wikitable"
! Year ! Title ! width=65 |Director ! width=65 |Writer ! Notes |
| 1988
| Photo de famille | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | Also editor and cinematographer |
| 1988
| Les Doigts dans le ventre | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | Also editor, cinematographer and producer |
| 1990
| Mes parents un jour d'été | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | Also producer |
| 1991
| Une goutte de sang | {{yes}} | | |
| 1991
| Deux plus un | {{yes}} | | |
| 1992
| Thomas reconstitué | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | |
| 1993
| Victor | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | |
| 1994
| Une rose entre nous | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | Also actor |
| 1994
| Truth or Dare | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | Also as editor |
| 1995
| Little Death | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | |
| 1996
| Les Puceaux | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | aka "Scènes de lit. Les Puceaux" |
| 1996
| L'Homme idéal | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | |
| 1996
| {{yes}} | {{yes}} | L.A. Outfest - Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Short Film |
| 1998
| Scènes de lit | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | Also editor |
| 1998
| X2000 | {{yes}} | {{yes}} |Short film |
| 2006
| A Curtain Raiser | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | |
| 2007
| Quand la peur dévore l'âme | {{yes}} | | Also as editor |
Documentary shorts
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Notes |
|---|
| 1991
| Peau contre peau (les risques inutiles) | |
| 1991
| Le Trou madame | |
| 1995
| Jospin s'éclaire | Also editor |
=Feature film=
Awards and nominations
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Asibong, Andrew, François Ozon, Manchester University Press (2008) {{ISBN|0-7190-7423-1}}
- Badt, Karin, "Francois Ozon's New Thriller Gains Applause at Cannes Despite Shallowness," Huffington Post (2017). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/592736c8e4b03296e2d11342
- Cavitch, Max, [https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Cavitch_Sex_after_Death.pdf "Sex After Death: François Ozon's Libidinal Invasions,"] Screen 48.3 (2007), 313-26
- Padva, Gilad. "Undressed Masculinities and Disrupted Sexualities in Une Robe d'été" in Grandena, Florian and Johnston, Cristina (Eds.). Cinematic Queerness: Gay and Lesbian Hypervisibility in Contemporary Francophone Feature Films, vol. 2 (Modern French Identities 98) (pp. 215–225). Oxford and New York: Peter Lang (2011).
- Palmer, Tim, "Style and Sensation in the Contemporary French Cinema of the Body," Journal of Film and Video 58.3 (2006), 22-32
- Rees-Roberts, Nick. French Queer Cinema, Edinburgh University Press (2008) {{ISBN|0-7486-3418-5}}
- Schilt, Thibaut. François Ozon, University of Illinois Press (2011) {{ISBN|0-252-07794-6}}
- Wende, Johannes (Ed.), François Ozon, edition text + kritik (2016) {{ISBN|978-3-86916-511-0}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|0654830|François Ozon}}
- [http://www.francois-ozon.com/ François Ozon's official site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110208213917/http://www.francois-ozon.com/ |date=2011-02-08 }}
- [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2004/great-directors/ozon/ Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database]
- [http://www.vmagazine.com/feature_film_deathandfashion.html Summer 2006 Interview with Ozon]{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- [http://www.facebook.com/potichemovie POTICHE Facebook Page]
{{François Ozon}}
{{European Film Award for Best Screenwriter}}
{{Lumières Award for Best Director}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozon, Francois}}
Category:Best Director Lumières Award winners
Category:European Film Award for Best Screenwriter winners
Category:Film directors from Paris
Category:French film producers
Category:French male non-fiction writers
Category:French male screenwriters
Category:French LGBTQ film directors
Category:French LGBTQ screenwriters
Category:French-language film directors
Category:German-language film directors
Category:Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Category:Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Category:20th-century French male writers
Category:21st-century French male writers
Category:20th-century French screenwriters
Category:21st-century French screenwriters
Category:20th-century French LGBTQ people