Jean-Pierre Mocky (6 July 1929 – 8 August 2019), pseudonym of Jean-Paul Adam Mokiejewski, was a French film director, actor, screenwriter and producer.
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Early life and education
Mocky was born on 6 July 1929 in Nice, France, to Polish immigrant parents, Jeanne Zylinska and Adam Mokiejewski. His father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic.
Career
Mocky appeared as an actor in the 1955 film Gli Sbandati and in many other movies, including some of those he also directed (Solo, L'albatros, L'Ombre d'une chance, Un Linceul n'a pas de poches). His 1987 film Le Miraculé was entered into the 37th Berlin International Film Festival.
He began as an actor in the cinema and theater. In particular, he played in Jean Dréville's Les Casse-pieds (1948), Jean Cocteau's Orphée (1950) and Bernard Borderie's The Mask of the Gorilla (1957). But it was especially in Italy that he became famous, thanks to his role in I vinti by Michelangelo Antonioni.
After working as an assistant with Luchino Visconti on Senso (1954) and Federico Fellini on La strada (1954), he wrote his first film, La Tête contre les murs (1959) and planned to direct it himself, but the producer preferred to entrust the task to Georges Franju. He went on to direct the following year with Les Dragueurs (1959).
As early as the 1960s, he was able to reach a wide audience with crazy comedies such as A Funny Parishioner (1963) and La Grande Lessive (1968). After May 1968, he turned to darker films with Solo (1969), in which he shows a group of young anarchists, then L'Albatros (1971) which shows the corruption of politicians.
In the 1980s, he returned to success with a film denouncing, a year before the drama of Heysel, the excesses of some football fans (À mort l'arbitre, 1984) and a comedy denouncing the hypocrisy around the pilgrimage to Lourdes (Le Miraculé, 1987). In the 1990s and 2000s, his films met with less success, but Mocky continued to shoot with much enthusiasm.
In the beginning, his films were dedicated to the uprising against the restrictions imposed by society. Later, he concentrated on farce, as in Bonsoir where the homeless Alex (Michel Serrault) pretends to be the lover of the lesbian Caroline (Claude Jade) in order to save her inheritance from her homophobic relatives.
Mocky's cinema, often satirical, is generally inspired by the truth of society. He worked with few resources and filmed very quickly. He worked with Bourvil (A Funny Parishioner, The City of Unspeakable Fear, La Grande Lessive and The Stallion), Fernandel (The Exchange and Life), Michel Simon (The Red Ibis), Michel Serrault (twelve films including Le Miraculé), Francis Blanche (five films including The City of Unspeakable Fear), Jacqueline Maillan (five films), Jean Poiret (eight films) and with the stars Catherine Deneuve (Agent Trouble), Claude Jade (Bonsoir), Jane Birkin (Noir comme le souvenir), Jeanne Moreau (Le Miraculé) and Stéphane Audran (The Seasons of Pleasure).
Awards and recognition
In 2010, he received the Prix Henri-Langlois for his entire career, and in 2013 was awarded the Alphonse Allais Prize.
The International Festival of Film Entrevues in Belfort in 2012 and the Cinémathèque française in 2014 dedicated full retrospectives to him.
Mocky was described as a "perpetual guest" of the Festival Polar de Cognac, and was given a Polar lifetime achievement award in 2015.
Death
He died on 8 August 2019.
Filmography (as director)
1960s
1960 : Les Dragueurs starring Jacques Charrier, Charles Aznavour
1960 : Un couple starring Juliette Mayniel, Francis Blanche
1961 : Snobs ! starring Véronique Nordey, Francis Blanche
1962 : Les Vierges starring Charles Aznavour, Jean Poiret
1963 : Un drôle de paroissien starring Bourvil, Jean Poiret
1964 : La Grande Frousse / La Cité de l'Indicible Peur starring Bourvil, Francis Blanche
1966 : Your Money or Your Life starring Fernandel, Heinz Rühmann
1966 : Les Compagnons de la marguerite starring Claude Rich, Michel Serrault
1968 : La Grande Lessive starring Bourvil, Francis Blanche
1970s
1970 : L'Étalon starring Bourvil, Francis Blanche
1970 : Solo starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Anne Deleuze
1971 : Love Hate starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Marion Game
1972 : Chut starring Jacques Dufilho, Michael Lonsdale
1973 : L'Ombre d'une chance starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Robert Benoit
1974 : Un Linceul n'a pas de poches starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Myriam Mézières
1975 : L'Ibis rouge starring Michel Serrault, Michel Simon
1976 : Le Roi des bricoleurs starring Sim, Michel Serrault
1978 : Le Témoin starring Alberto Sordi, Philippe Noiret
1979 : Le Piège à cons starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Catherine Leprince
1980s
1982 : Litan starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Marie-José Nat
1982 : Y a-t-il un Français dans la salle ? starring Victor Lanoux, Jacques Dutronc
1983 : À mort l'arbitre starring Michel Serrault, Eddy Mitchell
1985 : Le Pactole starring Richard Bohringer, Patrick Sébastien
1986 : La Machine à découdre
1986 : Le Miraculé starring Michel Serrault, Jeanne Moreau
1987 : Agent trouble starring Catherine Deneuve, Richard Bohringer
1987 : Les Saisons du plaisir starring Charles Vanel, Denise Grey
1988 : Une nuit à l'Assemblée Nationale starring Michel Blanc, Jacqueline Maillan
1988 : Nice is Nice (short movie)
1988 : Méliès 88
1988 : Divine enfant starring Laura Martel, Jean-Pierre Mocky
1990s
1990 : Il gèle en enfer starring Jean-Pierre Mocky, Laura Grandt
1991 : La Méthode Barnol (short movie)
1991 : La vérité qui tue (short movie)
1991 : Dis-moi qui tu hais (short movie)
1991 : Ville à vendre starring Tom Novembre, Michel Serrault
1992 : Le Mari de Léon
1992 : Bonsoir starring Michel Serrault, Claude Jade
1995 : Noir comme le souvenir (Black for Remembrance) with Jane Birkin, Sabine Azema, Mattias Habich
1997 : Robin des mers
1997 : Alliance cherche doigt
1998 : Vidange
1999 : Tout est calme
1999 : La candide madame Duff
2000s
2000 : Le Glandeur
2001 : La Bête de miséricorde
2002 : Les Araignées de la nuit
2003 : Le Furet starring Michel Serrault, Jacques Villeret
2004 : Touristes, oh yes !
2004 : Les Ballets écarlates
2005 : Grabuge! starring Michel Serrault, Charles Berling
2006 : Le Deal
2007 : Le Bénévole starring Michel Serrault, Jean-Claude Dreyfus
2007 : 13 French Street
2007 : Le Diable en embuscade (short movie)
2010s
2011 : Crédit pour tous
2011 : Les Insomniaques
2011 : Le dossier Toroto
2013 : Le Mentor
2012 : À votre bon cœur, mesdames
2013 : Dors mon lapin
2013 : Le Renard jaune
2014 : Le Mystère des jonquilles
2014 : Calomnies
2015 : Tu es si jolie ce soir
2015 : Les Compagnons de la pomponette
2015 : Monsieur Cauchemar
2016 : Le Cabanon rose
2016 : Rouges étaient les lilas
2017 : Vénéneuses
2017 : Votez pour moi
2019 : Tous flics !
Filmography (as actor)
The Eternal Husband (1946)
God Needs Men (1950)
Wedding Night (1950)
I vinti (1953)
Stain in the Snow (1954)
The Big Flag (1954)
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (1954)
Gli Sbandati (1955)
Le rouge est mis (1957)
La Tête contre les murs (1959)
Solo (1970)
À mort l'arbitre! (1984)
Vidange (1998)
Americano (2011)
