Encyclopedia of French Film Directors

Filmography
1934 Maman les petits Bateaux (short)
1935 L’Amour gagné (short)
Les Héros modestes (short)
1937 Le Chemin de Lumière (short)
Le Compositeur du Dessus (short)
1938 La Belle Revanche (also production manager)
1941 Le Valet Maître (also co-screenwriter, coadapter)
1942 Patricia (also co-adapter)
1943 Fou d’Amour (also co-screenwriter, dialogist)
Le Ring en Folie (short)
1947 La Kermesse rouge (also screenwriter)
1952 Poil de Carotte (also co-adapter)
1956 Bébés à Gogo (also co-adapter, producer)
1957 Une Nuit aux Baléares (also co-screenwriter,
co-adapter, producer)
1960 Le Septième Jour de Saint-Malo (also screenwriter,
dialogist)
1962 Cargo pour la Réunion (short)
MÉTAYER, ALEX (March 19, 1930, Marseille,
Bouches-du-Rhône, France–February 21, 2004, Paris,
France)
The son of an air force offi cer, he spent his childhood
in Algeria. Having trained as a musician, he played
saxophone with a jazz orchestra and obtained a fi rst
prize in clarinet. In the 1960s, he became a cabaret
performer and progressively won huge popularity as a
comedian thanks to his one-man shows of the 1970s–
1990s. His talent was ignored by fi lmmakers, and besides
the two feature fi lms he wrote and directed, he
played in only one episode of a TV series (1976 Faux
et Usage de Faux, episode “Seznec, faux Coupable,”
Bernard Claeys) and a motion picture (1980 5 % de
Risques, Jean Pourtalé, France / West Germany). His
son, Eric Métayer (b. 1958), is also an actor.
Filmography
1988 Le Bonheur se porte large (also co-screenwriter,
co-dialogist, actor)
1991 Mohamed Bertrand Duval (also screenwriter,
dialogist, actor)
MEUNIER, JEAN-HENRI (November 2, 1949,
Oultins, Rhône, France–)
A former stage photographer (1965–1969), he directed
feature fi lms and documentaries.
MEYNARD, SERGE • 717
Filmography
1977 L’Adieu nu (also screenwriter, dialogist)
Aurais dû faire gaffe, le Choc est terrible (also
screenwriter, co-dialogist)
1980 La Bande du Rex (as 108-13; also co-screenwriter,
co-adapter, co-dialogist)
2006 Ici Najac, à vous la Terre (documentary; also
screenwriter, cinematographer, sound engineer)
Television Filmography
2003 La Vie comme elle va (documentary)
MEYER, JEAN (January 14, 1914, Paris, France–January
8, 2003, Paris, France)
The son of a baker, he had to earn his living as a bank
clerk at age seventeen. In 1932, he joined the Paris
Conservatory and made his theatrical debut as an actor
the next year. A pupil of Louis Jouvet, he entered
the Comédie-Française in 1938 and turned a stage
director in 1941. He played supporting roles in eighteen
movies (from 1941 Ne bougez plus, Pierre Caron,
to 1964 Le Corniaud / Colpo grosso ma non troppo
/ UK and USA: The Sucker, Gérard Oury, France /
Italy). After performing 300 plays at the Comédie
Française, he left the prestigious “Molière’s House”
to run several Parisian theaters (Théâtre du Palais-
Royal in 1960, Théâtre Michel in 1964) and then the
Théâtre des Célestins in Lyon. He taught acting at
the Paris Conservatory and was artistic director of
the ENSATT (the Rue Blanche school). Also a playwright
(1962 Micmac; 1963 L’Âge idiot; 1965 Le Vice
dans la Peau), he directed the two fi rst movies of the
Comédie Française.
Filmography
1958 Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (also actor)
1959 Le Mariage de Figaro / La Folle Journée (also
actor)
MEYNARD, SERGE (November 22, 1955, Paris,
France–)
After completing his secondary studies, he carried on
several jobs and from those salaries fi nanced his fi rst
shorts. He was a member of a club of amateur fi lmmakers,
including future professional directors Sylvain
Madigan and Gérard Krawczyk. Then he served as
an assistant director (1980 Touch’ pas à mon Biniou,
Bernard Launois; Tusk, Alejandro Jodorowsky; 1981