×
Loading in progress
  • BIRTH 15/03/1933
  • DEATH 26/11/2004
  • Country France
  • MOVIES 9
  • DIRECTOR 28
  • SCRIPT 17
  • PRODUCTION 1

Philippe de Broca

Philippe de Broca (15 March 1933 – 26 November 2004) was a French movie director.

He directed 30 full-length feature films, including the highly successful That Man from Rio (L'Homme de Rio), The Man from Acapulco (Le Magnifique) and On Guard (Le Bossu). His works include historical, romantic epics such as Chouans! and King of Hearts (Le Roi de cœur), as well as comedies with a charismatic, breezy hero ready to embark upon any adventure which comes his way, so long as it means escaping everyday modern life: Practice Makes Perfect (Le Cavaleur), The Devil by the Tail (Le Diable par la queue), The African (L'Africain). He had links with the actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, with whom he made six films, as well as with Jean-Pierre Cassel, Philippe Noiret and Jean Rochefort.

Philippe de Broca was born on 15 March 1933 in Paris, France. He was the son of a cinema set designer and the grandson of a well-known painter, Philippe de Broca. He studied at the Paris Photography and Cinematography School (école Vaugirard), graduating in 1953. He carried out his military service with the service cinématographique des armées (army film service) in Germany and then in Algeria, directing or acting as head cameraman on short films. Greatly affected by the war he witnessed, he vowed to show life in its best light in his future films “because laughter is the best defence against upsets in life”. After his discharge from the military, he set off on a journey taking in the length of Africa in Berliet trucks before returning to Paris.

He began working as an intern with Henri Decoin, before finding assistant positions with Claude Chabrol: Bitter Reunion (Le Beau Serge), The Cousins (Les Cousins), Web of Passion (À Double Tour), François Truffaut: The 400 Blows (Les 400 Coups) and Pierre Schoendoerffer: Ramuntcho. In 1959, Claude Chabrol produced de Broca's first film for him, The Love Game (Les jeux de l’amour) with Jean-Pierre Cassel. De Broca went on to work with Cassel again in The Joker (Le Farceur, 1960), Five Day Lover (L’Amant de cinq jours, 1961), and Male Companion (Un Monsieur de Compagnie, 1964).

De Broca's first commercial success came with Swords of Blood (Cartouche), filmed in 1962. This film also saw two more names become associated with de Broca: the actor Jean-Paul Belmondo and the producer Alexandre Mnouchkine. International acclaim came with That Man from Rio (L'Homme de Rio) in 1964, Up to His Ears (Les tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine) in 1965, The Man from Acapulco (Le Magnifique) in 1973 and Incorrigible (L'Incorrigible) in 1975.

In 1966, he co-wrote, directed and produced King of Hearts (Le Roi de Cœur). This parody of the Great War, which some cinema-lovers consider his masterpiece, was a commercial and personal failure, to de Broca's dismay. Yet it eventually achieved genuine cult-film status during the mid 1970s when it was presented in repertory movie theaters as well as non-theatrical college and university film series across the United States, eventually running for five years at the now defunct film house, the Central Square Cinemas in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...

Source: Article "Philippe de Broca" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Philippe de Broca

Movies (9)

À bout de souffle
À bout de souffle
A Journalist (uncredited)
Le Roi de cœur
Le Roi de cœur
Adolf Hitler
Les Veinards
Les Veinards
Le passant qui reçoit l'affiche (« Une nuit avec la vedette »)
Le beau Serge
Le beau Serge
Jacques Rivette de la Chasuble
Le diable par la queue
Le diable par la queue
Un passant suédois
Les Petites Demoiselles
Les Petites Demoiselles
Le timide
Le Cinéma de papa
Le Cinéma de papa
Jean Timent
Le Terminus des prétentieux
Le Terminus des prétentieux
Self (archive footage)
Les Jeux de l'amour
Les Jeux de l'amour
L'homme au cabaret Le Bateau Mouche

Director (28)

Le Magnifique
Le Magnifique
Tendre Poulet
Tendre Poulet
On a volé la cuisse de Jupiter
On a volé la cuisse de Jupiter
Le Bossu
Le Bossu
Cartouche
Cartouche
L'Incorrigible
L'Incorrigible
Chouans!
Chouans!
L'Homme de Rio
L'Homme de Rio
Vipère au poing
Vipère au poing
Les 1001 nuits
Les 1001 nuits
La Gitane
La Gitane
Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine
Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine
L'africain
L'africain
Les clés du Paradis
Les clés du Paradis
Le diable par la queue
Le diable par la queue
Le Cavaleur
Le Cavaleur
Les Veinards
Les Veinards
La poudre d'escampette
La poudre d'escampette
L'Amant de cinq jours
L'Amant de cinq jours
Le Roi de cœur
Le Roi de cœur
Amazone
Amazone
Psy
Psy
Les Caprices de Marie
Les Caprices de Marie
Le Plus Vieux Métier du monde
Le Plus Vieux Métier du monde
Le Farceur
Le Farceur
Les Sept Péchés capitaux
Les Sept Péchés capitaux
Les Jeux de l'amour
Les Jeux de l'amour
Julie pot-de-colle
Julie pot-de-colle

Script (17)

Le Magnifique
Le Magnifique
Cartouche
Cartouche
Le Bossu
Le Bossu
L'Incorrigible
L'Incorrigible
L'Homme de Rio
L'Homme de Rio
Vipère au poing
Vipère au poing
Les 1001 nuits
Les 1001 nuits
La Gitane
La Gitane
La poudre d'escampette
La poudre d'escampette
L'Amant de cinq jours
L'Amant de cinq jours
Les clés du Paradis
Les clés du Paradis
Le Cavaleur
Le Cavaleur
L'africain
L'africain
Les Veinards
Les Veinards
Les Caprices de Marie
Les Caprices de Marie
Les Jeux de l'amour
Les Jeux de l'amour
Amazone
Amazone

Production

Le Roi de cœur
Le Roi de cœur