Michel Ciment

Ciment was born in the 9th arrondissement of Paris{{cite web |last=Omais |first=Mehdi |date=15 May 2019 |title=Rencontre: l'illustre critique Michel Ciment nous a partagé ses souvenirs de cinéma |trans-title=Interview: Renowned critic Michel Ciment shared with us his cinema memories |url=https://www.konbini.com/popculture/rencontre-lillustre-critique-michel-ciment-nous-a-partage-ses-souvenirs-de-cinema/ |website=Konbini |language=fr |location=Paris |access-date=10 November 2024}} on 26 May 1938, the son of Alexander and Hélène Cziment.{{efn|Ciment's father changed his last name after World War II, when he became a naturalised French citizen.{{cite web |last=Adler |first=Laure |author-link=Laure Adler |date=1 March 2019 |title=Michel Ciment, critique: "Le cinéma n'est pas fait pour être vu sur un portable" |language=fr |trans-title=Michel Ciment, critic: "Cinema wasn't made to be viewed on a mobile phone" |url=https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/michel-ciment-critique-le-cinema-n-est-pas-fait-pour-etre-vu-sur-un-portable-5559026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231113203430/https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/michel-ciment-critique-le-cinema-n-est-pas-fait-pour-etre-vu-sur-un-portable-5559026 |archive-date=13 November 2023 |website=France Inter |location=Paris |access-date=7 November 2024}}}} His father, a Hungarian Jew, had settled in the French capital in the 1920s and narrowly escaped the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1942, fleeing to Normandy where he was later joined by his son. Ciment's French mother was also Jewish, but kept this fact hidden until just before her death{{cite magazine |last=Le Fanu |first=Mark |date=Winter 2023–24 |title=Michel Ciment |magazine=Sight and Sound |volume=34 |issue=1 |location=London |page=33}} (he was baptised and raised as a Catholic).{{cite news |last=Rapiengeas |first=Jean-Claude |date=4 October 2014 |title=Michel Ciment, grand sourcier de la critique |url=https://www.la-croix.com/Culture/Cinema/Michel-Ciment-grand-sourcier-de-la-critique-2014-10-04-1216274 |url-access=subscription |website=La Croix |language=fr |location=Paris |access-date=14 November 2024}} He attended the Lycée Condorcet, then enrolled in a Classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where he was influenced by the teaching of philosopher Gilles Deleuze. He studied English at the Sorbonne, and in 1958–59, was a Fulbright scholar at Amherst College in the United States, where he gained a knowledge of American history.{{cite news |last=Gombeaud |first=Adrien |date=14 November 2023 |title=Michel Ciment (1938-2023): le cinéma au-dessus de tout |url=https://www.lesechos.fr/weekend/weekend/cinema-series/michel-ciment-1938-2023-les-yeux-grands-ouverts-2028698 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115112817/https://www.lesechos.fr/weekend/weekend/cinema-series/michel-ciment-1938-2023-les-yeux-grands-ouverts-2028698 |archive-date=15 November 2023 |language=fr |website=Les Echos |location=Paris |access-date=5 November 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Kaganski |first1=Serge |last2=Lalanne |first2=Jean-Marc |name-list-style=amp |date=14 November 2023 |orig-date=25 October 2014 |title=Michel Ciment: "Aujourd'hui il est de bon ton d'aimer plein de défauts" |url=https://www.lesinrocks.com/cinema/michel-ciment-107149-25-10-2014/ |language=fr |website=Les Inrockuptibles |location=Paris |access-date=7 November 2024}}{{cite magazine |last=Winock |first=Michel |date=May 2012 |title=Michel Ciment, ou l'esprit " Positif " |url=https://www.lhistoire.fr/portrait/michel-ciment-ou-lesprit-«-positif-» |language=fr |magazine=L'Histoire |issue=375 |location=Paris |pages=20–21 |access-date=7 November 2024}}{{cite episode |last=Hakem |first=Tewfix |date=25 May 2023 |title=Michel Ciment, une vie en ciné-textes: 4. L'ami des Américains |url=https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/a-voix-nue/l-ami-des-americains-5583330 |series=À voix nue |network=France Culture |language=French |location=Paris |access-date=11 November 2024}}

Ciment was noted for his love for American film, somewhat unusual in his French cultural environment. He credited his Americophilia to his memories of the liberation of Paris by American soldiers in 1944, when he was a child.

Although Ciment had written about cinema in a student publication,{{cite web |last=Kenny |first=Glenn |date=2 February 2009 |title=Interview: Michel Ciment on "Mavericks and Outsiders: 'Positif' Celebrates American Cinema" |url=https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/interview-michel-ciment-on-mavericks-and-outsiders-positif-celebrates-american-cinema |website=MUBI |location=London |access-date=6 November 2023}} his first mainstream film review (of The Trial{{cite episode |last=Hakem |first=Tewfik |date=22 May 2023 |title=Michel Ciment, une vie en ciné-textes: 1.{{nbsp}}Naissance d'une passion |url=https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/a-voix-nue/naissance-d-une-passion-5809531 |series=À voix nue |language=fr |station=France Culture |location=Paris |access-date=9 November 2024}}) was published in Positif magazine in 1963. He was made a board member at the influencal periodical in 1966 and went on to become its de facto chief editor, later assuming the role of publishing director in 2004.{{cite book |last=Prédal |first=René |editor-last1=Cléder |editor-first1=Jean |editor-last2=Fiant |editor-first2=Anthony |name-list-style=amp |date=2012 |chapter=La tradition de la cinéphile |trans-chapter=The tradition of the cinema fan |title=Regard sur la critique et les revues de cinéma en France: 1. Cartographie |series=Études cinématographiques |language=fr |volume=72 |location=Caen |publisher=Lettres Modernes Minard |isbn=978-2256911705 |pages=31–50}}{{cite magazine |last=McGilligan |first=Patrick |date=January–February 1993 |title=Positif: The Little Magazine That Could |magazine=Film Comment |volume=29 |issue=1 |location=New York |pages=62–65}} In 1972, Cimemt became a film critic on the France Inter radio programme Le Masque et la Plume, to which he contributed until a few weeks before his death.{{cite book |last1=Garcin |first1=Jérôme |last2=Garcia |first2=Daniel |name-list-style=amp |date=2005 |title=Le Masque et la Plume |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=Éditions des Arènes |isbn=978-2912485939 |pages=82,134}}{{cite web |last=Lair |first=Noémie |date=13 November 2023 |title=Le critique de cinéma Michel Ciment, figure du "Masque et la plume", est mort |language=fr |url=https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/le-critique-de-cinema-michel-ciment-est-mort-5118562 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231113203445/https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/le-critique-de-cinema-michel-ciment-est-mort-5118562 |archive-date=13 November 2023 |website=France Inter |location=Paris |access-date=5 November 2024}} From 1990 to 2016, he also hosted Projection privée on the radio station France Culture. He was the author of reference works on the film directors John Boorman, Jane Campion, Elia Kazan, Stanley Kubrick, Joseph Losey, and Francesco Rosi, based on extensive interviews with his subjects.{{cite web |last=Manuceau |first=Jean-Christophe |date= |title=Michel Ciment {{!}} Interview |url=https://www.lebleudumiroir.fr/michel-ciment-interview/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113121130/https://www.lebleudumiroir.fr/michel-ciment-interview/ |archive-date=13 January 2022 |website=Le Blue du Miroir |access-date=17 November 2024}} An anthology of interviews, Film World, was published in English 2009.

Ciment was a Chevalier of the Order of Merit, Knight of the Legion of Honour, Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters, and past president of International Federation of Film Critics.{{cite web |last=Valens |first=Grégory |date=November 2023 |title=Michel Ciment's Voice |url=https://fipresci.org/news/michel-ciments-voice/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121144615/https://fipresci.org/news/michel-ciments-voice/ |archive-date=21 November 2023 |website=FIPRESCI |location=Munich |access-date=11 November 2024}} He was the first recipient of the Prix Maurice Bessy, presented at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.{{cite news |last=Dussault |first=Serge |date=16 May 1994 |title=Un certain intérêt pour Atom Egoyan |trans-title=A positive reception for Atom Egoyan |url=https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2177818 |format=PDF |newspaper=La Presse |language=fr |volume=110 |issue=203 |location=Montreal |page=A12 |access-date=13 November 2024 |via=BAnQ}} He died in Paris on 13 November 2023, aged 85,{{cite news |last1=Goodfellow |first1=Melanie |title=Michel Ciment Dies: French Film Critic & Historian Was 85 |url=https://deadline.com/2023/11/michel-ciment-dies-french-film-critic-and-historian-was-85-1235601539/ |access-date=13 November 2023 |publisher=Deadline |date=13 November 2023}} being survived by his second wife, Evelyne Hazan-Ciment, and son, {{ill|Gilles Ciment|fr|lt=Gilles}}. His first wife, Jeannine, who worked with him at Positif, died in 1986. Paying tribute to his friend, John Boorman described Ciment as "an original", commenting: "To say that Michel was passionate about the cinema was to do him an injustice. He lived and ate and dreamed cinema."{{cite news |last=Boorman |first=John |author-link=John Boorman |date=14 November 2023 |title=Sir John Boorman pays tribute to Michel Ciment (1938-2023) |url=https://filmstories.co.uk/news/sir-john-boorman-pays-tribute-to-michel-ciment-1938-2023/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231114195546/https://filmstories.co.uk/news/sir-john-boorman-pays-tribute-to-michel-ciment-1938-2023/ |archive-date=14 November 2023 |website=Film Stories |location=Halesowen |access-date=8 November 2024}}

Ciment regarded cinema as a synthesis of all the arts, stating that he could not imagine being a film critic without a knowledge of theatre, literature, painting, and music. He preferred to know as little as possible about a film when viewing it for the first time, and avoided reading press releases in advance.

In 2012, Ciment participated in Sight & Sound magazine's critics' poll of the greatest films of all time, when he listed his ten favorite movies as: 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Earrings of Madame de..., Fellini's Casanova, Persona, Providence, The Rules of the Game, Salvatore Giuliano, Sansho the Bailiff, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, and Trouble in Paradise.{{cite web |title=Michel Ciment |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/voter/296 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818151711/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/voter/296 |website=BFI |location=London |archive-date=18 August 2016}}

• {{cite book |last=Ciment |first=Michel |date=1973 |title=Kazan on Kazan |series=Cinema One |location=London |publisher=Viking / British Film Institute |isbn=0436099381}}
• {{cite book |last=Ciment |first=Michel |date=1976 |title=Le dossier Rosi: cinéma et politique |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=Stock |isbn=2234005167}}
• {{cite book |last=Ciment |first=Michel |translator-last=Adair |translator-first=Gilbert |translator-link=Gilbert Adair |date=1980 |title=Kubrick |location=New York |publisher=Holt, Rinehart, and Winston |isbn=0030616875}}
• {{cite book |last1=Ciment |first1=Michel |last2=Schatzberg |first2=Jerry |author-link2=Jerry Schatzberg |name-list-style=amp |date=1982 |title=Schatzberg de la photo au cinéma |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=Hachette |isbn=2851083120}}
• {{cite book |last=Ciment |first=Michel |date=1985 |title=Boorman: un visionnaire en son temps |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=Calmann-Lévy |isbn=2702113486}}
• {{cite book |last=Ciment |first=Michel |date=1985 |title=Conversations with Losey |location=London |publisher=Methuen |isbn=0416404707}}
• {{cite book |last1=Ciment |first1=Michel |last2=Tierchant |first2=Hélène |name-list-style=amp |date=1989 |title=Theo Angelopoulos |series=Filmo |language=fr |volume=21 |location=Paris |publisher=Edilig |isbn=2856012086}}
• {{cite book |last=Ciment |first=Michel |date=1992 |title=Le Crime à l'écran: Une histoire de l'Amérique |series=Découvertes Gallimard Cinéma |volume=139 |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=Gallimard |isbn=978-2070531950}}
• Passeport pour Hollywood : entretiens avec Wilder, Huston, Mankiewicz, Polanski, Forman & Wenders, (1992)
• {{cite book |editor-last1=Ciment |editor-first1=Michel |editor-last2=Herpe |editor-first2=Noël |name-list-style=amp |date=1999 |title=Projections 9: French Film-makers on Film-making |translator-last=Hodgeson |translator-first=Pierre |location=London |publisher=Faber and Faber |isbn=0571193560}}
• {{cite book |last=Ciment |first=Michel |translator-last1=Adair |translator-first1=Gilbert |translator-last2=Bononno |translator-first2=Robert |name-list-style=amp |date=2001 |title=Kubrick: The Definitive Edition |location=New York |publisher=Faber & Faber |isbn=0571199860}}
• {{cite book |editor-last1=Ciment |editor-first1=Michel |editor-last2=Kardish |editor-first2=Laurence |name-list-style=amp |date=2002 |title=Positif 50 Years: Selections from the French Film Journal |location=New York |publisher=The Museum of Modern Art |isbn=978-0870706882}}
• {{cite book |last=Ciment |first=Michel |date=2003 |title=Fritz Lang: Le meurtre et la loi |series=Découvertes Gallimard |language=fr |volume=442 |location=Paris |publisher=Gallimard |isbn=2070532631}}
• {{cite book |last=Ciment |first=Michel |date=2003 |title=Petite planète cinématographique |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=Stock |isbn=978-2234055278}}
• {{cite book |last=Ciment |first=Michel |date=2009 |title=Film World: Interviews with Cinema's Leading Directors |location=Oxford |publisher=Berg Publishers |isbn=978-1845204570}}
• {{cite book |last=Ciment |first=Michel |date=2015 |title=Les conquérants d'un nouveau monde: Essais sur le cinéma hollywoodien

|trans-title=Conquerors of a New World: Essays on Hollywood Cinema |edition=Revised |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=Gallimard |isbn=978-2070461622}}

• {{cite book |last=Ciment |first=Michel |date=2019 |title=Une vie de cinéma |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=Gallimard |isbn=978-2072799679}}
• {{cite book |last=Ciment |first=Michel |date=2023 |title=Jane Campion on Jane Campion |location=New York |publisher=Abrams |isbn=979-8887070032}}

• 1976 Berlin International Film Festival{{cite web |title=International Jury 1976 |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1976/04_jury_1976/04_Jury_1976.html |website=Berlinale |access-date=11 November 2024}}
• 1978 Cannes Film Festival{{cite book |last1=Heymann |first1=Danièle |author-link1=Danièle Heymann |last2=Dufreigne |first2=Jean-Pierre |author-link2=Jean-Pierre Dufreigne |name-list-style=amp |date=1996 |title=Le Roman de Cannes: 50 années de Festival |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=TF1 Éditions |page=262 |isbn=2877611469}}{{cite journal |last=Micalhalczyk |first=John J. |date=1978 |title=Cannes, 1978: Thirty-first International Film Festival |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/388901 |url-access=registration |journal=The French Review |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=389–390 |jstor=388901 }}
• 1990 Locarno International Film Festival
• 1991 Venice International Film Festival{{cite news |last=Malcolm |first=Derek |date=16 September 1991 |title=Tilda's New Crown |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/259884000/ |url-access=subscription |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |page=32 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• 1995 Montreal World Film Festival{{cite news |last=Griffin |first=John |date=17 August 1995 |title=Film-festival jury is named |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/424619281/ |url-access=subscription |department=Show |newspaper=The Gazette |location=Montreal |page=D7 |via=Newspapers.com}}

• Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur{{cite web |date=1 January 2002 |title=Décret du 31 décembre 2001 portant promotion et nomination |url=https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000000409238 |website=Journal officiel de la République française |location=Paris |id=NOR: PREX0105272D |access-date=8 November 2024}}{{cite web |date=3 January 2002 |title=Légion d'honneur |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2002/01/03/legion-d-honneur_4217483_1819218.html |url-access=subscription |website=Le Monde |location=Paris |access-date=8 November 2024}}
• Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Mérite
• Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
• Président de la FIPRESCI

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{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Michel Ciment}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0162345|name=Michel Ciment}}
• [http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/interview.html Interviews] with Stanley Kubrick
• [http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice&from=fulltext&full=Michel+Ciment&num_notice=1&total_notices=53 Interview (in French) about his function as Jury at the Cannes festival 1978]
• [http://screencomment.com/2017/05/cannesfestival-michelciment News brief: "The Michel Ciment Incident,"] Ali Naderzad, Screen Comment, 2017 Cannes Festival

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ciment, Michel}}

Category:1938 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:Lycée Condorcet alumni

Category:French film critics

Category:French male journalists

Category:20th-century French journalists

Category:20th-century French writers

Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour

Category:Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite

Category:Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

Category:Writers from Paris

Category:Radio France people

Category:20th-century French male writers

Category:French male non-fiction writers

Category:French people of Hungarian-Jewish descent

Category:University of Paris alumni

Category:Amherst College alumni

Category:Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni