Le Monde reports that Pierre Étaix, the Oscar-winning French comedian and filmmaker, has died at the age of 88. He’s best known for his acclaimed short- and feature-length films in the 1960’s, all of which were tied up in rights disputes for over 20 years until their eventual restoration and revival in 2012, courtesy of Janus Films. These films include “Le Grand Amour,” “As Long as You’ve Got Your Health,” “Land of Milk and Honey,” “Rupture,” “The Suitor,” and “Yoyo.”
Read More: A Comic Master Gets His Due
Étaix began his career as a designer before meeting director Jacques Tati in 1954 when he worked as a gagman and assistant director on his film “Mon Oncle.” His apprenticeship with Tati eventually led to his collaboration with Jean-Claude Carrière, whom he wrote his short film “Happy Anniversary,” which won the Oscar for Best Short Subject in 1963. Étaix and Carrière would collaborate on the...
Read More: A Comic Master Gets His Due
Étaix began his career as a designer before meeting director Jacques Tati in 1954 when he worked as a gagman and assistant director on his film “Mon Oncle.” His apprenticeship with Tati eventually led to his collaboration with Jean-Claude Carrière, whom he wrote his short film “Happy Anniversary,” which won the Oscar for Best Short Subject in 1963. Étaix and Carrière would collaborate on the...
- 10/14/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
In theaters my week included Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig's excellent Frances Ha, Iron Man 3 (read my review here) and Star Trek Into Darkness. At home I watched Pierre Etaix's Yoyo, The Suitor and two of his short films -- Rupture and appy Anniversary -- as I continue to make my way through Criterion's latest Blu-ray release, which I've already mentioned this week with my "Pierre Etaix pour Quentin Tarantino" post and I'll hopefully have a full review for you next week. At home I watched a little of the NBA Finals and on Friday night, just before bed, I watched an episode of "Arrested Development" for the first time in a long time and, of course, I watched the latest episode of "Hannibal" on Hulu. Interestingly enough, "Hannibal" will no longer air on the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City. The local station, Ksl, posted on their Facebook page,...
- 5/5/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Pierre Etaix (Criterion Collection) My familiarity with Pierre Etaix is virtually zero. I only just received this brand new collection of the French director's five films a couple of days ago and only last night was I able to begin screening any portion of it, watching 30 minutes of Yo Yo, and taking in the zaniness for the first time. I watched his introduction to the film, him talking about the death of his father, his love of the circus and of Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 and I knew there was going to be something of a kinship here, but I can't give you a full report just yet. This Criterion set includes all of Etaix's films including five features -- The Suitor,Yoyo, As Long as You've Got Your Health, Le grand amour and Land of Milk and Honey -- and three shorts -- Rupture, the Oscar-winning Happy Anniversary and Feeling Good.
- 4/23/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: April 23, 2013
Price: 3-Disc DVD $49.95, 2-Disc Blu-ray $59.95
Studio: Criterion
Nicole Calfan and Pierre Étaix snuggle in Le Grand Amour.
A French master whose comedy films went unseen for decades as a result of legal tangles, director-actor Pierre Etaix and his movies have been rediscovered in recent years.
Pierre Etaix’s work can be placed in the spectrum of physical comedy with that of Jacques Tati and Jerry Lewis, but it’s also undeniably his own. The films, influenced by Etaix’s experiences as a circus acrobat and clown and by the silent film comedies he adored, are delightfully deadpan, but as an on-screen presence, Etaix radiates remarkable warmth. This collection includes all of his films, led by the following five feature-length efforts:
The Suitor (1962) • A shy young man who must get married within a few days in order to inherit a fortune.
Yoyo (1965) • In the 1920s, a...
Price: 3-Disc DVD $49.95, 2-Disc Blu-ray $59.95
Studio: Criterion
Nicole Calfan and Pierre Étaix snuggle in Le Grand Amour.
A French master whose comedy films went unseen for decades as a result of legal tangles, director-actor Pierre Etaix and his movies have been rediscovered in recent years.
Pierre Etaix’s work can be placed in the spectrum of physical comedy with that of Jacques Tati and Jerry Lewis, but it’s also undeniably his own. The films, influenced by Etaix’s experiences as a circus acrobat and clown and by the silent film comedies he adored, are delightfully deadpan, but as an on-screen presence, Etaix radiates remarkable warmth. This collection includes all of his films, led by the following five feature-length efforts:
The Suitor (1962) • A shy young man who must get married within a few days in order to inherit a fortune.
Yoyo (1965) • In the 1920s, a...
- 1/21/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Above: The Suitor (Pierre Etaix, France, 1962). French double grande poster (63" x 94.5") by André François
Film Forum’s retrospective of the films of Pierre Etaix, which starts today, brings belated recognition to a filmmaker, writer and comedian who is beloved in France (where he is regarded as the French Buster Keaton) but has too long remained unknown in the States. I was shamefully unaware of M. Etaix (although I would have seen his appearances in such disparate films as Pickpocket and Henry & June) until I saw him in Aki Kaurismaki’s Le Havre last year and someone—une Française naturally—told me of his renown. When I started to look into him I was bowled over to discover that not only had Etaix—who, at the age of 83 will be appearing at Film Forum tonight—been a close confidante of Jacques Tati in the mid 1950s, but had also designed...
Film Forum’s retrospective of the films of Pierre Etaix, which starts today, brings belated recognition to a filmmaker, writer and comedian who is beloved in France (where he is regarded as the French Buster Keaton) but has too long remained unknown in the States. I was shamefully unaware of M. Etaix (although I would have seen his appearances in such disparate films as Pickpocket and Henry & June) until I saw him in Aki Kaurismaki’s Le Havre last year and someone—une Française naturally—told me of his renown. When I started to look into him I was bowled over to discover that not only had Etaix—who, at the age of 83 will be appearing at Film Forum tonight—been a close confidante of Jacques Tati in the mid 1950s, but had also designed...
- 10/19/2012
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
The celebrated 'French Buster Keaton' has finally won his battle over distribution rights to get his films shown again
Pierre Étaix is back, by popular demand. Jerry Lewis acclaimed him as a genius and Terry Gilliam is a devoted fan, but until very recently, the 83-year-old Étaix, a comedian, magician and clown who Paris-Match called "the French Buster Keaton", was in danger of being forgotten entirely. His films are timeless treasures of whimsical, physical comedy, but copyright difficulties meant that his movies had not been distributed, let alone released on home video, for decades. Étaix's signature on a disastrous distribution contract cast his films into oblivion, but 56,000 more, including those of Jean-Luc Godard, David Lynch and Woody Allen, on a petition in 2009, have rescued them for posterity. The end to this long-running legal dispute should be a cause for celebration among film fans, even though many, quite understandably, will never...
Pierre Étaix is back, by popular demand. Jerry Lewis acclaimed him as a genius and Terry Gilliam is a devoted fan, but until very recently, the 83-year-old Étaix, a comedian, magician and clown who Paris-Match called "the French Buster Keaton", was in danger of being forgotten entirely. His films are timeless treasures of whimsical, physical comedy, but copyright difficulties meant that his movies had not been distributed, let alone released on home video, for decades. Étaix's signature on a disastrous distribution contract cast his films into oblivion, but 56,000 more, including those of Jean-Luc Godard, David Lynch and Woody Allen, on a petition in 2009, have rescued them for posterity. The end to this long-running legal dispute should be a cause for celebration among film fans, even though many, quite understandably, will never...
- 12/23/2011
- by Pamela Hutchinson
- The Guardian - Film News
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